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The Detroit Lions should have open competition at more than a few spots, and these three veterans could lose their starting job to a rookie.
Despite going 3-13-1 last season, the Detroit Lions re-signed a bunch of their own players in free agency with few notable departures (Jalen Reeves-Maybin) and a few dips outside the organization (DJ Chark, etc.).
The build through the draft approach is right now the right one for the Lions. Depending on the results of the 2022 season, then more aggression may come from general manager Brad Holmes in free agency as he looks to add specific pieces next offseason.
Having lower-end free agents who are generally younger paired with younger incumbent players and incoming rookies is an environment that breeds competition. Head coach Dan Campbell and the rest of the Lions’ coaching staff wants that, as evidenced by his comments from rookie minicamp.
As a tentacle to his “turds” comment last year, here’s what Campbell said, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News:
We are trying to avoid floaters. We don’t want to draft floaters. Floaters are a guy who gets here and just kind of, there he goes, he’s just in the open ocean. We want guys that are highly competitive and they love ball. They’re not going to be perfect. They might not always say the right things. They mean well, but they love ball…
It’s fairly easy to tab who is locked into their starting jobs for the Lions, with only injury to take them out of it. Particularly on the defensive side, competition should be wide open for some starting jobs (and overall places on the depth chart).
With the starting job thing in mind, here are three Lions veterans who could lose their starting job to a rookie.