The Detroit Lions have a ton of defenders hitting free agency this offseason, with linebacker Alex Anzalone headlining a group that'll likely leave Brad Holmes scrambling to plug holes on that side of the ball in addition to the existent ones on the offensive line.
While the team has some depth in the linebacker room to make up for the potential loss of Anzalone, they're not swimming in that same optionality on the defensive line. Al-Quadin Muhammad, DJ Reader, Roy Lopez, and Marcus Davenport are all hitting the market, and Detroit only has...negative $8 million to work with.
Losing any of these guys is going to hurt Kelvin Sheppard's plans for a bounce back in 2026, but specifically losing Reader would be a blow to the teams' veteran presence up front. But, it just feels like he might be on his way out.
Reader feels as good as gone once free agency opens up
Reader, who joined the Lions back in 2024, had a down season. Despite playing in all 17 games for Detroit, he never recorded a sack, and he had just two stuffs on the year. He was expected to be one of the teams' best run stoppers, and instead, the Lions let teams run all over them down the stretch of the season.
Reader has been linked to his former team, the Cincinnati Bengals, this offseason. Cincinnati is always in need of some reinforcements on defense, and Reader's got postseason experience with the Bengals. He was in the Super Bowl with them back in 2021, and was a key contributor to their defensive line.
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FOX Sports' Greg Auman recently projected Reader to reunite with Cincinnati this offseason as one of the NFL's top free agents for 2026, writing:
"There's talk he could return to Cincinnati, where he played from 2020-23, and the Bengals could use his presence up front after finishing dead last against the run and bottom three in points and yards allowed in 2025. In his prime with the Bengals, he was graded as a top-10 defensive lineman, and he's not that anymore, but could still be a match in the $6 million range."
Detroit still has to restructure some deals and make some tough cut decisions ahead of free agency in order to be serious players in that department, and it's likely they try to retain Reader (assuming they believe he simply had a one-off bad season). If they don't, then Lopez is a likely pivot for them as he had a better year on the line, and could likely be re-signed on a team-friendly deal.