2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[number20]

Hard pass on Crosby. Turns 29 before the season, YOY pressures have been in steady decline. Just had surgery for a torn meniscus in his knee. The Raiders' asking price is insane. No way I would mortgage the future for this guy.

[number20]

Ryan Kelly retires. Lions, Bears, Vikings all need a center

Edited 23 hours ago by number20

[Motown Bombers]

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Bears just traded for Garrett Bradbury out of New England. He’s not very good but if he’s the starter that’s one less Linderbaum suitor.

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, number20 said:

Hard pass on Crosby. Turns 29 before the season, YOY pressures have been in steady decline. Just had surgery for a torn meniscus in his knee. The Raiders' asking price is insane. No way I would mortgage the future for this guy.

Agreed. It's not just the asking price, it's also his salary. It would really limit our ability to sign some of our guys as well as signing any free agents 

[buddha]

5 hours ago, RatkoVarda said:

the 2024 draft fiasco looms even larger now:

Arnold - he will soon will find out what happens when you are a non-impact player who has off-field issues

Rakestraw - injured player has been injured

Manu - not good enough to fill Skipper's shoes, let alone Decker's

Vaki - instead of filling DMo role, he's a ST player, which you can find in 7R or undrafted guy

Wingo - too small

Mahogany - if he stays healthy, could start for next few years at LG

2025 isnt looking too spectacular either.  ratledge looks like a keeper...keeping in mond that he was a pick everyone thought was great at the time.

other folks are higher on teslaa, but given what you had to give up to get him, maybe not worth it?  too early to tell.

perhaps the last two drafts will ha e brad being less cocky and more willing to listen to others, like the folks that told him "dont trade up for levi and alim, they'll fall to you..."

[buddha]

Crosby to the ravens for two first round picks, so now you all dont have to worry about the lions making such a crazy move.

[MichiganCardinal]

2 minutes ago, buddha said:

Crosby to the ravens for two first round picks, so now you all dont have to worry about the lions making such a crazy move.

Have to ponder if that means Linderbaum is officially gone. They’re going to have IOL problems next year.

[buddha]

Just now, MichiganCardinal said:

Have to ponder if that means Linderbaum is officially gone. They’re going to have IOL problems next year.

i dont see how they can afford him now.

[MichiganCardinal]

Just now, buddha said:

i dont see how they can afford him now.

Lions, Bears, Giants, Browns, and Chargers were considered the Linderbaum frontrunners.

Two of those teams have gained a center in the last 24 hours. One of them has lost a left tackle. I think it’ll either be the Lions or the Giants, unless the Browns just throw a stupid amount of money at him.

[Motown Bombers]

That's a big overpay by the Ravens. The Lions don't even currently have the cap space to make the trade work. 

[MichiganCardinal]

2 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

That's a big overpay by the Ravens. The Lions don't even currently have the cap space to make the trade work. 

Teams only need to be under the cap by Wednesday. The Ravens are $12MM over right now, but will extend or restructure Lamar before then to comply.

[Motown Bombers]

The Ravens have plenty of cap flexibility to sign Linderbaum. Currently Lamar Jackson is counting $74 million against the cap. A restructure of his contract and Crosby gives them $52 million in cap space. Pushing a ton of cap in void years on Lamar is risky given mobile QBs like him tend to decline quicker. 

[Jason_R]

46 minutes ago, buddha said:

2025 isnt looking too spectacular either.  ratledge looks like a keeper...keeping in mond that he was a pick everyone thought was great at the time.

other folks are higher on teslaa, but given what you had to give up to get him, maybe not worth it?  too early to tell.

perhaps the last two drafts will ha e brad being less cocky and more willing to listen to others, like the folks that told him "dont trade up for levi and alim, they'll fall to you..."

When Brad and Dan talked about getting back to competition, hopefully that meant drafting talent regardless of position and not getting cute about filling a developmental tackle or special teams role. 

[MichiganCardinal]

Another name to keep an eye on might be Trent Williams if the Niners ultimately release him.

Likely? No. But the Lions do have the money and need now.

[MichiganCardinal]

9 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

When Brad and Dan talked about getting back to competition, hopefully that meant drafting talent regardless of position and not getting cute about filling a developmental tackle or special teams role. 

I mean… at the distinct risk of sounding like a smart ass…. I think that’s what they did when they drafted a developmental tackle and a special teams role player.

Generally I think the expectations of 4th round picks (both Manu and Vaki) are unrealistic. I quickly scrolled the picks after them in 2024, and none jumped off the page. If I missed any, so did 32 NFL teams at least three times.

Manu will probably make the team as a backup tackle. Would it have been nicer if he was Mailata 2.0? Of course. But that was probably always a pipe dream. Vaki is entering his second year after a position change out of college. If he replaces Raymond on special teams, that’ll be a good pick. Not every 4th round pick can be Amon-Ra.

[sagnam]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

Crosby to the ravens for two first round picks, so now you all dont have to worry about the lions making such a crazy move.

Crazy. Not worth it.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

3 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I mean… at the distinct risk of sounding like a smart ass…. I think that’s what they did when they drafted a developmental tackle and a special teams role player.

Generally I think the expectations of 4th round picks (both Manu and Vaki) are unrealistic. I quickly scrolled the picks after them in 2024, and none jumped off the page. If I missed any, so did 32 NFL teams at least three times.

Manu will probably make the team as a backup tackle. Would it have been nicer if he was Mailata 2.0? Of course. But that was probably always a pipe dream. Vaki is entering his second year after a position change out of college. If he replaces Raymond on special teams, that’ll be a good pick. Not every 4th round pick can be Amon-Ra.

I agree with you on fans expectations for 4thround picks or later. I think the average fan out there has an unrealistic expectation of what type of player a 4th round pick or later will actually develop into. If they're a contributing depth piece, much less a starter, that's a success for most any GM and team.

I haven't complained here or anywhere about the 4th round picks or later that they've made. I could not really care if Brad spends a 4th round pick on a project tackle or RB who could develop into a contributing player. It's the Josh Paschal picks in the 2nd round and Hendon Hooker or Broderic Martin in the 3rd round that really impact this team in a negative way. 

[Jason_R]

10 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I mean… at the distinct risk of sounding like a smart ass…. I think that’s what they did when they drafted a developmental tackle and a special teams role player.

Generally I think the expectations of 4th round picks (both Manu and Vaki) are unrealistic. I quickly scrolled the picks after them in 2024, and none jumped off the page. If I missed any, so did 32 NFL teams at least three times.

Manu will probably make the team as a backup tackle. Would it have been nicer if he was Mailata 2.0? Of course. But that was probably always a pipe dream. Vaki is entering his second year after a position change out of college. If he replaces Raymond on special teams, that’ll be a good pick. Not every 4th round pick can be Amon-Ra.

But they maneuvered up the draft board for these developmental players like they were moving up for Gibbs or Jameson Williams. You put players like that on a bit of a pedestal. Now everyone is dancing around Manu like, uh are we allowed to acknowledge that he is not progressing? I don't know what that looks like in the locker room, but is he getting attention that another player should get?

[Longgone]

19 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

But they maneuvered up the draft board for these developmental players like they were moving up for Gibbs or Jameson Williams. You put players like that on a bit of a pedestal. Now everyone is dancing around Manu like, uh are we allowed to acknowledge that he is not progressing? I don't know what that looks like in the locker room, but is he getting attention that another player should get?

Manu needs to play to progress, and unfortunately that opportunity was lost this past year due to the injury. Development isn't linear, and his ceiling is still unknown. Whatever the outcome, taking chances on high risk/high reward players is going to have some innate failures built in.

[Shinzaki]

Looking explosive!!

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Shinzaki

[buddha]

focusing on the failures on the 2024 draft just shows how otherwordly good holmes' previous drafts were.  you got multiple potential hall of fame players in three draft classes.  that's almost unheard of.

we all knew this day would come, when those players became expensive and/or injured.  branch isnt likely to come back.  who knows about kirby.  we spent quite a bit to retain jamo, that might come to be a regrettable decision.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[RatkoVarda]

2 hours ago, Jason_R said:

But they maneuvered up the draft board for these developmental players like they were moving up for Gibbs or Jameson Williams. You put players like that on a bit of a pedestal. Now everyone is dancing around Manu like, uh are we allowed to acknowledge that he is not progressing? I don't know what that looks like in the locker room, but is he getting attention that another player should get?

exactly. Brad and Dan said they could not sleep, knowing that Manu and Vaki were still available for the next day's picks. really??? If they both really thought that, then that speaks to a huge mis-evaluation for both guys. if they stood still and grabbed Manu, the expectations/narratives might be different.

and again, Brad is the best Lions GM in my lifetime by a mile.

[NYLion]

I'm torn on Decker being released. On one hand, he was poor last season and had that shoulder injury that never seemed to go away so there's a good chance at 33 that he was never going to be what he was prior to last season again and I think Lions management probably recognized that and asked if he'd take a paycut but, on the other hand, there's a big hole at tackle that now has to be filled immediately pigeonholing the Lions into drafting tackle early (I don't see anybody in free agency that is starter material) so they're in a bind now.

Either way, it's sad to see a lot of the old guard leaving and a lot of the new guard injured. I'm really not sure which direction this franchise is going in now whereas they were clearly on an upward trajectory the prior 3 seasons so.... I guess we'll see what Holmes does because he has his work cut out for him big time to get this team back to contender status.