2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[Motown Bombers]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

I was very surprised when they said an 18 year old was Arnold’s girlfriend.   I was even more surprised when I saw her mugshot.  It makes much more sense that he wasn’t dating her. 

Well, after reading this I had to look up this mugshot and I think Arnold has been exonerated. 

[Hongbit]

I’m sure she has a wonderful personality.  I believe she’s foodie as well.  

[Motor City Sonics]

40 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Well, after reading this I had to look up this mugshot and I think Arnold has been exonerated. 

Link?

[MichiganCardinal]

If Manu turns into a reliable backup that’s a fine 4th round pick.

Proverbial jury is still out on Rakestraw. I wouldn’t count him out yet.

Literal jury hasn’t been sat on Arnold.

[RedRamage]

4 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

Pretty emphatic denial by Arnold's attorney. I have a feeling Arnold was involved but there isn't sufficient evidence. 

 

Yeah, I hate this crap because it's all a bunch of he said/she said stuff right now. On one hand, I'm happy to see TA releasing a statement that he wasn't involved. On the other hand, that's kinda what I'd expect anyone to do, even if he or she was involved in some way.

On one hand "...Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests. He didn't participate in, nor was he present for, any conducted related to the alleged offenses." But on the other hand, the statement doesn't say he wasn't involved in discussing it in a car trip like was alleged in the order. Nor does it deny knowing about the plans of the others.

But am I just nitpicking? Am I just parsing the language of the statement too much fearing that they're using specific language to hide the truth? Again... I hate this crap.

[MichiganCardinal]

21 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

Yeah, I hate this crap because it's all a bunch of he said/she said stuff right now. On one hand, I'm happy to see TA releasing a statement that he wasn't involved. On the other hand, that's kinda what I'd expect anyone to do, even if he or she was involved in some way.

On one hand "...Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests. He didn't participate in, nor was he present for, any conducted related to the alleged offenses." But on the other hand, the statement doesn't say he wasn't involved in discussing it in a car trip like was alleged in the order. Nor does it deny knowing about the plans of the others.

But am I just nitpicking? Am I just parsing the language of the statement too much fearing that they're using specific language to hide the truth? Again... I hate this crap.

I think "whatsoever" means whatsoever.

Whether it means that one of those charged won't ultimately tell prosecutors that Arnold was the ringleader in the conspiracy to try to get a lesser sentence remains to be determined.

Whether it means Arnold is actually charged with a crime, let alone convicted, is a long ways away.

[Sports_Freak]

The NFL raised the salary cap by 22 million to 301 million per team. So, if the Lions were 10 million over the cap, they suddenly are 12 million under the cap. Time for some shopping, Brad. 😆😆

[Motown Bombers]

4 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

The NFL raised the salary cap by 22 million to 301 million per team. So, if the Lions were 10 million over the cap, they suddenly are 12 million under the cap. Time for some shopping, Brad. 😆😆

The Lions are still over the cap. That increase was already baked in. The Lions also rolled over a lot of cap and are still over. That's why a 1 year deal for someone like Zeitler would have impact in 2026. Now, they can restructure Goff and create more than $40 million in cap space. It pretty much locks you into Goff for the rest of his contract but I think the Lions are fine with that. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Motown Bombers

[MichiganCardinal]

42 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

The Lions are still over the cap. That increase was already baked in. The Lions also rolled over a lot of cap and are still over. That's why a 1 year deal for someone like Zeitler would have impact in 2026. Now, they can restructure Goff and create more than $40 million in cap space. It pretty much locks you into Goff for the rest of his contract but I think the Lions are fine with that. 

Goff is pretty much a given to free up ~$40MM. The real question is whether they restructure anyone else.

They can have a quality offseason (locking up the ‘23 class, adding a few mid-level pieces in FA, signing draft picks) by just restructuring Goff. But if they plan to make any real splashes (Linderbaum, Crosby, etc.), they’ll likely have to restructure at least one if not both of ASB ($21MM) and Sewell ($15MM). McNeill ($17MM) is probably an outside candidate too.

Of course, the more money you push into 2029 and 2030, the more you risk becoming the Saints.

[Motown Bombers]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Goff is pretty much a given to free up ~$40MM. The real question is whether they restructure anyone else.

They can have a quality offseason (locking up the ‘23 class, adding a few mid-level pieces in FA, signing draft picks) by just restructuring Goff. But if they plan to make any real splashes (Linderbaum, Crosby, etc.), they’ll likely have to restructure at least one if not both of ASB ($21MM) and Sewell ($15MM). McNeill ($17MM) is probably an outside candidate too.

Of course, the more money you push into 2029 and 2030, the more you risk becoming the Saints.

You also may want to keep the flexibility and wait until next year or the year after to restructure St Brown or Sewell. You also have guys like Hutchinson that will be eligible for restructure down the line. The Lions have been great at managing the cap because they don't overpay in free agency. 

[RedRamage]

16 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I think "whatsoever" means whatsoever.

Whether it means that one of those charged won't ultimately tell prosecutors that Arnold was the ringleader in the conspiracy to try to get a lesser sentence remains to be determined.

Whether it means Arnold is actually charged with a crime, let alone convicted, is a long ways away.

Again I'm probably parsing the language WAY too much, but:

"Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests."

I could easily argue that the activity that led to the arrests there the luring of the guys, the kidnapping, and the torture.

Now, what about the activity of planning those activities? I fully get that I'm nitpicking here. I'm an NOT trying to say that TA planned it all (or participated in planning) and now he's being super cute with wording to avoid lying. But the beat up and bruised Lions Fan that I am can't help but fear that maybe we really can't ever have nice things. 

[RedRamage]

2 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

They can have a quality offseason (locking up the ‘23 class...

...Of course, the more money you push into 2029 and 2030, the more you risk becoming the Saints.

Well on the plus side it's looking like we don't need to worry about locking up anyone from the '24 class, so...

[MichiganCardinal]

4 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

Again I'm probably parsing the language WAY too much, but:

"Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests."

I could easily argue that the activity that led to the arrests there the luring of the guys, the kidnapping, and the torture.

Now, what about the activity of planning those activities? I fully get that I'm nitpicking here. I'm an NOT trying to say that TA planned it all (or participated in planning) and now he's being super cute with wording to avoid lying. But the beat up and bruised Lions Fan that I am can't help but fear that maybe we really can't ever have nice things. 

There's probably a really good Neil Gorsuch statutory interpretation joke somewhere in these analyses, but I'm not going to try to make it here. 😆

[MichiganCardinal]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

You also may want to keep the flexibility and wait until next year or the year after to restructure St Brown or Sewell. You also have guys like Hutchinson that will be eligible for restructure down the line. The Lions have been great at managing the cap because they don't overpay in free agency. 

Right. Only free up what you need to spend. If they're planning on making a play for Linderbaum, then they make need more than Goff's $40MM. But if they're just planning to sign Biadasz or Mays, there's no need to free up more cap space than you need at the expense of creating $500MM problems in 2030.

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

The Lions are still over the cap. That increase was already baked in. The Lions also rolled over a lot of cap and are still over. That's why a 1 year deal for someone like Zeitler would have impact in 2026. Now, they can restructure Goff and create more than $40 million in cap space. It pretty much locks you into Goff for the rest of his contract but I think the Lions are fine with that. 

Are there non-guaranteed contracts or other guys that they likely release/ renounce that changes that number?

I would guess... yes.

[Motown Bombers]

11 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

Are there non-guaranteed contracts or other guys that they likely release/ renounce that changes that number?

I would guess... yes.

They don't have many they can release to clear cap space. Decker was the biggest one. They do save some if they release Montgomery. Glasgow is likely gone and will save some. That is about it. Most of their players are on recent second contracts or rookie contracts.