The Lions are unlikely to re-sign Tim Boyle unless they come up short on an upgrade, but he may land with an NFC North rival that looks like a nice fit.
After three seasons with the Green Bay Bay Packers, Tim Boyle signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions last offseason. A late preseason thumb injury delayed his arrival to the active roster, but he wound up making three starts in place of Jared Goff as he saw the first substantive action of his NFL career.
Over those three games, Boyle threw for 526 yards with three touchdowns, six interceptions and a 63.5 passer rating. He is now a free agent, and before the season was even over he said he’d like to re-sign with the Lions. But upgrading the talent on the depth chart behind Goff is certainly somewhere on the offseason agenda for Detroit–however that might look.
NFC North rival tabbed as potential landing spot for Tim Boyle
Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic (subscription required) recently built a free agency shopping list for the Chicago Bears. A backup for second-year starting quarterback Justin Fields was on the radar, under the premise of the new regime parting ways with Nick Foles.
Courtesy of Heavy.com, Fishbain pointed to two free agent quarterbacks from NFC North teams in 2021 with ties to the new Bears’ coaching staff as options to replace Foles–Boyle and Sean Mannion.
"Two free-agent quarterbacks to note are Boyle, who was with Getsy and the Packers from 2019 to 2020, and Mannion, who played for the Vikings with Bears quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko,”"
Boyle spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons in Green Bay with new Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who was the Packers’ quarterbacks coach for the last three seasons. So he carries that familiarity, and can help Fields learn an offense that may carry some similarity to what Green Bay has done if Getsy wants to bring over some of those concepts.
Boyle is unlikely to be back with the Lions, who should have no trouble upgrading from him with another veteran as a backup to Goff. The Bears look to be a nice fit though, and that signing could happen fairly quickly if Chicago wants him.