Credit: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
As the Detroit Lions start to shape their plan for free agency, these five free agents from the Bengals and Rams could make sense as targets.
The final game of the 2022 is now mere hours away, as the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will play in Super Bowl. For the Detroit Lions‘ franchise, their long-time quarterback Matthew Stafford finally has a chance to get a ring.
The Lions have surely started to shape a plan for free agency, which will launch in about a month. Something as elementary as looking at the list of free agents on others teams forms a base of knowledge for who might fits needs and where the cost will sit.
Narrowing down to the Rams and Bengals, the last two teams standing for this season, here are five free agents from the teams in Super Bowl LVI the Lions could pursue. Free agent lists for each team courtesy of Spotrac.
5 free agents from the teams in Super Bowl LVI the Detroit Lions could pursue
5. Bengals S Jessie Bates
Bates stands as one of the most underrated players in the league at any position, but he is starting to get more notice. He didn’t get to 100 total tackles for the first time in four seasons during the 2021 regular season, but he had 88 tackles and has followed with a good postseason during Cincinnati’s run to the Super Bowl.
Bates will not come cheap, and he’ll be freely available with plenty of suitors–assuming the typically frugal Bengals don’t franchise tag him to at least buy more time to get a long-term deal done. But if the Lions are lined up to lose Tracy Walker, they should be in on Bates.