Lions guard Graham Glasgow speaks frankly about free agency

As his time with the Denver Broncos moved toward being done before free agency last offseason, Graham Glasgow seemed like a nice fit for the Detroit Lions. He indeed came back to the team that drafted him, on a one-year, $2.75 million deal worth "up to" $4.5 million.

To say Glasgow turned into a bargain is an understatement. He started 15 of 17 regular season games, two at center and one at left guard with the other 12 at right guard once he took that job from Halapoulivaati Vaitai. He started all three playoff games at right guard.

Glasgow finished ninth among qualifying guards in Pro Football Focus grade (74.9), and his versatility is an obvious asset. So he's surely a high-priority re-signing for the Lions this offseason, and he's made it clear from the start he likes the situation with the team.

Graham Glasgow speaks frankly about his upcoming free agency

Via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, during exit interviews with the media this week, Glasgow confirmed the interest in having him back is mutual.

"They said, ‘We’d like to have you back and we appreciate what you did this year,’” Glasgow said. “That’s cool. I appreciate that. But they even said it, ‘From here on out, it will just be us talking with your agent and seeing what we can do.’”

The Lions can sign any of their in-house free agents at any point beforehand, but unrestricted free agents like Glasgow aren't freely available until the new league year starts on March 13. So while talks may have already started and will be ongoing, there's some time to get something done that works for both sides.

Glasgow definitely earned himself a better deal than he got last March with his play this season. Per Rogers, Glasgow didn't beat around that particular bush.

"I would love to be back," Glasgow said. "I think I had a really good year, probably top one or two of my career. I would like to make more money than I did this year and I would assume the guys upstairs know and understand that. I feel like stuff like this kind of works. Hopefully, we'll be able to work through it."

It's rare to have an athlete just flat-out say he'd like to make more money, especially knowing it will be a quote used in subsequent reporting of the conversation, so it's striking when one does. But good for Glasgow to be so frank, knowing his value has increased.