Graham Glasgow is very glad to be back with the Detroit Lions

Graham Glasgow didn’t want to leave the Detroit Lions when he did, so he’s clearly glad to be back now under a different regime.

On the scale of how former Lions head coach Matt Patricia alienated players, at least based on what we know, odd usage of Graham Glasgow in a guard rotation his final season is pretty low on the totem pole. But it was clear that regime viewed him as expendable, so Glasgow hit free agency without an offer from the Lions in 2020 and got a nice deal from the Denver Broncos.

As he trended toward being a Broncos’ cap casualty this offseason, Glasgow was easy to match for a reunion with the Lions and last week a deal to bring him back indeed got done.

Glasgow took a turn at the podium on Monday as the Lions had press conferences with a few of their newest signings. Wearing a polo with the University of Michigan emblem on it, as a nod to his alma mater and his return to the state, was a clear appropriate choice.

Graham Glasgow glad to be back with the Lions

Glasgow had interest from the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers when he hit the open market. But he told his agent to check in with the Lions immediately (h/t to 97.1 The Ticket).

"I told my agent right away that this was a place I was very interested in,” he said, “and I wanted to gauge their interest in me.”And they were interested,” It came down to, like, here, San Francisco a little bit, Carolina a little bit, but I was mainly just on the train of, like, if we can get the contract to somewhere that I would be fine with it, I want to go through with it as soon as possible. And that’s what happened.”"

Glasgow was drafted by the Lions the same year as left tackle Taylor Decker (2016), as he started 58 games in the trenches over four seasons in his first stint with the team. Frank Ragnow joined them in 2018. Glasgow cited reuniting with those two guys, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, and joining a new era in Detroit.

"To play with Taylor, to play with Frank, it just came down to I wanted to be a part of that O-line room,” Glasgow said. “I wanted to be back with my buddies. And I wanted to be a part of this team.”"

Glasgow is strong candidate to be the Lions’ starting right guard, with Halapoulivaati Vaitai’s status on the roster up in the air after missing all of last season with a back injury. Vaitai’s hold on that job is certainly subject to competition, if he is retained at a lower cap hit.

Glasgow expects to come in and compete for a job, that’s all (as if he’d say anything else). But he’s clearly happy to be back with the Lions, and they are surely glad to have him.