3 underrated free agents the Detroit Lions should have signed

1. LB Damien Wilson

Wilson played all 17 games for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021, with a career-high 106 total tackles, a career-best three sacks, five tackles for loss, seven quarterback pressures and five pass breakups. He also played a career-best 867 snaps.

Wilson is not a star, and he did have 13 missed tackles last season (a 10.9 percent missed tackle rate, per Pro Football Reference). Prior to landing in Jacksonville, he started 29 games over two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He went to Kansas City after four seasons with the Dallas Cowboy, who drafted him in the fourth round of the 2015 draft.

The Lions re-signed Alex Anzalone, then lost Jalen Reeeves-Maybin to the Houston Texans. Board was signed to essentially replace Reeves-Maybin, with an idea he’ll compete for (and ideally win) a starting job.

Wilson signed a two-year, $6.9 million deal with the Carolina Panthers ($3.27 million guaranteed). That’s fairly close to the deal Reeves-Maybin got from Houston (two years, $7.5 million; $5 million guaranteed), which the Lions seemed to deem too expensive to match or try to top.

Wilson is a better player than Reeves-Maybin, and more experienced than Board. He would’ve been an ideal addition to Detroit’s linebacking corps, and they didn’t seem to have any interest.