A few thoughts on what the Detroit Lions and the rest of the NFL did on Day 1 of the free agent negotiating period:
Admittedly I haven’t watched much of his tape yet, but I think the Lions made the right decision to sign Cade Mays in free agency.
It was imperative in my view the Lions left this week with a starting-caliber center and Mays proved capable of manning the position in 12 starts for the Carolina Panthers last year.
Mays was the third- or fourth-best center eligible for free agency this year – the Lions were never going to afford the best player at the position, Tyler Linderbaum, and the second-best, Connor McGovern, re-signed with the Buffalo Bills before free agency began. And entering his age-27 season, there’s plenty of reason to believe his best football is ahead of him.
I doubt Mays will make anyone forget about Frank Ragnow, but his presence should give the Lions some stability in the middle of their line and it allows Tate Ratledge to stay at his preferred position of right guard, where he played well last year and has a chance to be really good.
The Lions’ offensive line isn’t on par with the one they fielded two years ago, and I’d probably take last year’s so-so unit over the one the Lions have on paper now. But I doubt they’re done adding to the group and if they can get a tackle with the 17th pick of April’s draft they’ll have a young nucleus up front to build on.
New starting right tackle?
I put Larry Borom as the starting right tackle on my current Lions’ depth chart, but he might end up a swing tackle in his return to his native Detroit. He started 11 games at right tackle for the Miami Dolphins last year, played left tackle for the Chicago Bears early in his career and could man either position as a place holder if needed this fall.
The most interesting part of Borom’s signing is what it means for Penei Sewell. One agent told me at the NFL combine last month the Lions gave him the impression they would move Sewell to left tackle and add a right tackle in free agency if Taylor Decker retired. Well, Decker is officially gone and the deck has been cleared for Sewell to switch sides.
That’s a risk, moving your All-Pro right tackle to a position he hasn’t played full-time since 2019. I think Sewell is more than capable of playing left tackle at a high level, but I thought the better move would have been for the Lions to keep Decker one more year, draft his replacement and let Sewell go down as one of the greatest right tackles of all-time.
There’s a lot of time until the 2026 season opener. Free agency hasn’t officially opened and the draft is six weeks away. But as things stand now, Borom and Gio Manu will battle it out for one starting tackle job.
Tyler Linderbaum gets PAID
I can’t fault the Lions for passing on Linderbaum given the three-year, $81 million contract he got with the Las Vegas Raiders. Linderbaum reset the center market by 50% with a deal that averages $27 million per season, with most of that guaranteed (Creed Humphrey, the NFL’s second-highest paid center, makes $18 million per season_.
Linderbaum’s deal strikes me as a Kirk Cousins/Deshaun Watson-type contract that could remain an outlier in the market for a while. I get it from the Raiders’ standpoint, though. They had money to burn, they have a rookie quarterback coming in they need to protect and it’s not their concern what it does to the market.
I like what Chiefs did with Kenneth Walker
I’ve long been an advocate of the Lions opening their purse strings to pursue more impact outside help (via free agency or trade), but I’m also realistic about what free agency is and isn’t.
There’s about a half-dozen real difference makers available in free agency every year and the big winners are rarely the teams that splurge on Day 1.
That said, I like what the Kansas City Chiefs did to acquire the best running back on the market in Kenneth Walker, I like what the Los Angeles Rams did to double down on secondary help and sign Jaylen Watson after re-signing Kam Curl and trading for Trent McDuffie, and I still think it’ll be a long second season in New York for Aaron Glenn despite the Jets’ moves to acquire Minkah Fitzpatrick, Joseph Ossai and Demario Davis for their defense.
Time for defense
Last thing from Day 1: With the offense line patched, it’s time for Lions general manager Brad Holmes to turn his attention to defense.
The Lions lost three important players from their defense in Alex Anzalone, Roy Lopez and Amik Robertson and have holes or depth needs to address at all three levels of the unit.
I doubt the Lions will be in the mix for overpriced defensive end Trey Hendrickson, the best free agent still on the market – then again, they’ve won by staying patient in free agency before (Kevin Zeitler, and to a lesser extent C.J. Gardner-Johnson).
But I could see them bringing back Al-Quadin Muhammad or adding a lower-cost every-down end – Cam Jordan, Logan Hall and A.J. Epenesa are among those still on the market. They also are extremely light at linebacker and I still believe cornerback insurance is a sneaky position of need.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Don’t blame Detroit Lions for not spending big on Tyler Linderbaum
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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