3 free agents the Detroit Lions must re-sign this offseason
As the Detroit Lions shape their offseason plan, these three in-house free agents must be re-signed.
The Detroit Lions were widely expected to take a notable step of progress in 2022. After a 1-6 start they got there, winning eight of their last 10 games to finish above .500 for the first time since 2017. The future, for the first time in a while, looks very bright.
But after narrowly missing out on the playoffs, the Lions will shift to offseason mode. Ideally the coaching staff will remain intact, but both coordinators (Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn) are getting head coaching interviews and Johnson in particular is in-demand.
In his first two offseasons as Lions general manager, Brad Holmes has not made any splash moves. Last offseason especially, re-signing guys was the priority in the name of “culture building.” He doesn’t seem inclined to change that mode this offseason, based on his comments this past week (h/t to SI.com).
"When asked if the team would again prioritize its own free agents similarly to last offseason, Holmes expressed, “as long as they’re fits for our culture and what we’re trying to build and where we’re going, yeah absolutely. Now, like I say all the time, those guys are UFAs, they’re UFAs for the whole league."
The Lions have a somewhat long list of internal free agents, and a fair chunk of them may be back. But priority should be placed on some, with a case to be made for quite a few if someone wanted to go that way.
But the Lions must re-sign these three free agents this offseason.