SAN FRANCISCO − Jalen Reeves-Maybin isn’t sure yet if he’ll return for a 10th NFL season in 2026, but if he does the former Detroit Lions linebacker and current NFL Players Association president said he’ll be “picky” about where he plays.
“I’m deep into my career and I know I can still do it and I think I played well this year when I did, but it has to be the right situation for me,” Reeves-Maybin told the Free Press at the Super Bowl in early February. “I have other priorities that are kind of creeping up there with just me as a football player. My family’s growing, I put a lot into my role [with the NFLPA], so we’ll see what happens. I’m open to it, but I’m going to be picky and I’m going to get to a place where I feel like I’m set up nice and have comfort.”
A fourth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2017, Reeves-Maybin played seven of his first eight NFL seasons for the Lions.
He signed with the Houston Texans in 2022, then returned to Detroit for two seasons, before the Lions released him in a cost-cutting move last March.
One of the league’s best special teams players at the peak of his career, Reeves-Maybin signed with the Chicago Bears practice squad in November, played in three regular-season games and was signed to the active roster for the playoffs.
He said the Bears program under Ben Johnson “is not a carbon copy” of the way Dan Campbell runs things in Detroit. Johnson, who joined the Lions as an assistant in 2019 and was Campbell’s offensive coordinator from 2022-24, led the Bears to an NFC North title and wild-card playoff win in his first season as coach in 2025.
“Obviously Dan is an incredible leader and if you’re around him he’s going to make an impact on you and you’re probably going to take things from him,” Reeves-Maybin said, “but Ben is his own person and he’s extremely smart and he definitely has his own approach. I do not go into the meetings thinking that, ‘Oh, this is just like Dan.’ That’s not what’s happening. It’s fun to see him create his own culture and I’ve been with Ben since 2019 when he came to Detroit, and I was fortunate to grow a relationship with him even being on the other side of the ball, so it’s been amazing to see him.”
Reeves-Maybin, who was elected NFLPA president in 2024, said he has enjoyed his role with the organization despite having to navigate what he called “a pretty tumultuous time” in his nearly two years on the job.
Lloyd Howell re-signed last July as NFLPA executive director amid a federal investigation into the union’s financial dealings with its licensing company, scrutiny over his expense reimbursements and after reports detailed a confidentiality agreement the NFLPA and NFL struck to hide details of a favorable arbitration ruling from players.
Howell was elected executive director in 2023. Reeves-Maybin is among the group leading the search for his full-time replacement.
He said in a news conference at the Super Bowl the search is ongoing but the union plans to keep details of the process confidential.
Under NFLPA bylaws, the NFLPA president must remain an active player.
At 31 years old, Reeves-Maybin seems unlikely to stay in that role long enough to lead negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement − the current CBA expires in March of 2031, though the league appears open to negotiating a new agreement once a new permanent executive director is in place.
But Reeves-Maybin said he has learned enough on the job that he has found some clarity on what he wants to do in life once he’s done playing football, which is part of what first prompted him to get involved with the union.
“For me, people always talk about you want to work in something where it kind of doesn’t feel like work or you don’t have to find fake motivation to do it and running a search process, it’s something that [I’ve really enjoyed],” he said. “I used to always think my next thing is I want to be a scout. It’s something that I do without thinking. When I watch film, I watch film and I’ll be forgetting that I’m supposed to be watching the schemes or trying to see how I want to play. I’ll get stuck on watching a player.
“So I have a really natural inclination to evaluate people. I do it on the field and off the field, so I’ve discovered that about myself, that is naturally what I lean to. So I can kind of take that approach to off the field and maybe it’s something I can find enjoyment in.”
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: NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin to be ‘picky’ about playing in 2026
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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