As expected, the Detroit Lions did not do anything particularly big during the legal tampering period of free agency this year. But once the new league officially started they did make an expected move, with announcement they have released defensive end Josh Paschal.
Paschal was a second-round pick of the Lions in 2022 (No. 46 overall). He suffered a sports hernia late in his final season at Kentucky, but he didn't have surgery until July of that year and he missed the first five games of his rookie season. He missed two games later that season due to a knee injury, finishing with two sacks (in the same game) over 10 games in his first year.
Paschal missed another five games in his second season, with one sack in the 12 games he did play. He was healthier in 2024, playing 14 games and starting 10, but he had just two sacks over 549 defensive snaps. Pro Football Focus credited him with a solid 34 quarterback pressures, but his overall grade (53.0) and pass rush win rate (5.5 percent) were outside the top-100 qualified edge rushers.
The 2025 campaign, the final year of his rookie contract, was of course a massive one for Paschal. But he landed on the non-football injury list to start training camp after having back surgery. The 21-day window to activate him was opened in November, but he was not deemed to be fully recovered and he never suited up.
Due to spending the whole season on the NFI list, Paschal's contract tolled to this year and the Lions could have kept him.
Brad Holmes foreshadowed Josh Paschal's inevitable fate
At the NFL Combine, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lions general manager Brad Holmes was concise and non-commital when he talked about Paschal.
"Josh, we’ll have the ability to bring him back," Holmes said. "There's still discussions to be had about that one, but yeah, it's a possibility."
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Over his four seasons as a Lion, Paschal missed almost as many games (32) as he played (36). He could never get anything going before some kind of injury would knock him off course, and during the one season he missed less than five games he was simply not impactful.
Releasing Paschal will give the Lions about $1.75 million in extra cap space. Unless he can show other teams he's healthy, his NFL career could very well be over at age-26.