5 Detroit Lions players who will not be back in 2023

1. WR DJ Chark

With a clear need at wide receiver, the Lions took an easy one-year free agency flier on Chark last offseason. With a 1,000-yard Pro Bowl season on his resume, and with injuries/dysfunction hampering his last couple years in Jacksonville, it was a move well-positioned to work out for both sides.

But Chark struggled to connect with Jared Goff in games that counted early in the season (seven catches on 18 targets), as the two were unable to carry chemistry over from the training camp practice field.

Then Chark started having some trouble with the surgically-repaired ankle that cost him most of last season, missing two games. Then he landed on IR after a setback, and will miss at least four more games. He is back at practice this week, but it’s likely Sunday against the New York Giants will be a fifth straight missed game and Chark’s seventh missed game overall this season.

It just hasn’t worked out for Chark this season in Detroit, and even before his injury sidelined him the team couldn’t have been happy with the results. A real effort to bring him back is not coming, or at least shouldn’t be. But once he returns to action he will have some kind of opportunity to get on a better track before hitting free agency again in March.