A look at the Detroit Lions' 2024 free agents

The Detroit Lions are into their offseason now, with free agency coming in March. The started the offseason last week by adding 12 players on reserve/futures contracts. Now, we'll take a look at the 2024 free agents the Lions' have, sorted by designation-UFA (Unrestricted Free Agent), RFA (Restricted Free Agent), ERFA (Exclusive Rights Free Agent)

First, an explanation of those designations.

UFA: An unrestricted free agent is a player with an expired contract after four or more accrued seasons. He's "unrestricted" and can sign with any team.

RFA: A restricted free agent is kind of like it sounds, and is in other sports. A player with three accrued seasons is subject to a tender offer from their original team, and that team can then match an offer sheet that player would get from another team. The tender level (first round, second round or original round) determines the draft pick compensation for not matching an offer sheet. A Right of First Refusal tender does not have draft pick compensation attached to it.

ERFA: An exclusive rights free agent is a player with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expired contract. If his original team offers him a one-year contract at the league minimum (based on his credited seasons), the player cannot negotiate with other teams.

With that, let's take a look at the Lions' 2024 free agents.

Detroit Lions 2024 free agents

Unrestricted Free Agents (20)

• Tyson Alualu, DL
• Michael Badgley, K
• Teddy Bridgewater, QB
• Anthony Firkser, TE
• C.J. Gardner-Johnson, DB
• Graham Glasgow, OG/C
• Charles Harris, EDGE
• Will Harris, DB
• Jonah Jackson, OG
• Jake McQuaide, LS
• Emmanuel Moseley, CB
• Matt Nelson, OT
• Romeo Okwara, DE
• Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR
• Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB
• Josh Reynolds, WR
• Dan Skipper, OT
• Nate Sudfeld, QB
• Halapoulivaati Vaitai, OG
• Kindle Vildor, CB

Bridgewater will not be back, since he is retiring and taking the head coaching job at his high school alma mater. The headliners in terms of will they or won't they be re-signed are Jackson, Gardner-Johnson, Reynolds, Glasgow and Reeves-Maybin.

Restricted Free Agents (6)

• Scott Daly, LS
• Khalil Dorsey, CB
• Jerry Jacobs, CB
• Benito Jones, DT
• Anthony Pittman, LB
• Brock Wright, TE

The headliners here are Jacobs, who struggled for most of this season and may just be done in Detroit, and Wright, who has filled a valuable role as the No. 2 tight end since coming in as an undrafted rookie in 2021.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents (6)

• Kayode Awosika, OG
• James Houston, EDGE
• Zonovan Knight, RB
• Chase Lucas, CB
• Craig Reynolds, RB
• Shane Zylstra, TE

All six of these guys should be back in the mix during the offseason, as Zylstra and Knight work their way back from injuries that landed them on IR.

These six players are Street free agents, meaning they don't have to wait until March to sign with a new team. These six were not offered a futures deal after being on the Lions' practice squad this year (Ibrahim suffered a season-ending injury in the one game he played).

• Mohamed Ibrahim, RB
• David Blough, QB
• Zach Ertz, TE
• Jason Cabinda, FB
• Julian Okwara, DE
• Michael Schofield, OL