They should enter next season as the favorites to win their division for the first time in decades, and they have ample cap space to address their roster deficiencies, but when the free agent negotiating period opens at noon Monday, the Detroit Lions don’t plan to stray too far from what got them here.
Lions coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes said at the NFL combine last week their goal in free agency is to continue down the path that’s taken them from also-rans to contenders in 24 months.
“There’s always a number of ways you can go with it, but I think, honestly, we both kind of came away and said, ‘All right, here we go, we’re going into Year 3,’” Campbell said. “Yeah, we’ve got a little bit more to play with, we’ve got a little more wiggle room, but it’s like, ‘Man, let’s not lose sight of it. Let’s just get better.’”
The Lions entered the weekend with $21.3 million in available cap space, according to Spotrac, and could add to that by releasing or restructuring the contracts of veterans like Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Romeo Okwara.
They have eight of 11 starters from their explosive offense under contract for 2023 and the youngest snap-adjusted roster in the NFL.
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But as tempting as it is to go big-ticket shopping for playmakers to add to all three levels of their defense, Campbell indicated that’s not in the cards.
“Let’s find a guy that can serve a certain type of role for us,” Campbell said. “He’s somebody that’s maybe played some ball, he can start at a certain position for us, but we don’t need to acquire, man, these high-level blue (-chip players), you’re paying the most for these guys cause they’re rated the No. 1 guy in free agency at that position. We just need to get better. Let’s just get better in an area that we need to get better at and focus on that. I think that’s always been the focus.”
Campbell and Holmes have mostly eschewed big-money free agents in their two seasons in Detroit.
In 2021, after trading Matthew Stafford and embarking on a rebuild, the Lions signed one free agent — running back Jamaal Williams — to a multi-year deal.
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Williams (two years, $6 million) turned out to be an invaluable addition, leading the team in rushing yards and the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2022. But the Lions signed him (and paid him) not to be a star but to play as a complement to D’Andre Swift and because he fit the vision they had for their locker room.
Last year, the Lions followed a similar plan, re-signing some of their own free agents, patchworking holes on their roster with veterans on one-year deals and relying on young players to form the nucleus of their team.
Badly in need of receiving help, they pulled back from an exploding market and signed D.J. Chark to a one-year, $10 million deal.
Chark and Williams are the Lions’ most prominent unrestricted free agents this spring, and if history holds the franchise will be aggressive in trying to re-sign both.
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In the past two years, the Lions have re-signed most of their top free agents, including Okwara, Charles Harris, Tracy Walker and Alex Anzalone.
Anzalone, who joined the Lions as a free agent in 2021 on a one-year deal then re-signed for one year last spring, is the Lions’ top unrestricted free agent on defense. Guard/center Evan Brown is the Lions’ third offensive starter on an expiring deal, and his future could be tied to what the Lions do with Vaitai.
“Really (our goal in free agency is) just not to take a step back, just making sure that we’re taking a step forward,” Holmes said. “That’s really the biggest one.”
There is danger in doing too little in free agency, and being complacent in a constantly changing league.
In 2012, with the Lions coming off their first playoff berth in more than a decade, the team mostly sat out free agency and took a large step back, to 4-12, that fall.
The Lions were tight against the cap that year and counting on the development of young players that never materialized. Nick Fairley, their first pick in 2011, was effective only when he wanted to be. Titus Young, their second-rounder, had mental health issues that derailed his career. Mikel Leshoure, another second-rounder, never recovered from a torn Achilles tendon. And the team’s 2012 draft class provided minimal help on the field.
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This year, the Lions are flush with assets, including two first-round draft picks and five of the first 81 picks overall. Three rookies started and five played key roles on defense last season, and a sixth — Jameson Williams — is ticketed for major minutes on offense after missing most of 2022 while recovering from a knee injury.
The Lions do have some contractual obligations to plan for in the future, with Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and perhaps Jonah Jackson closing in on new deals. But NFL observers do not expect them to horde their cash this offseason, not with the holes they have on the defensive side of the ball.
The Lions are expected to be in the cornerback market, where they need one or two starters, and depending on what they spend there — and what they do with their own free agents — they could add an interior pass rusher for their defensive line. If Anzalone, Williams or Chark leave in free agency, they will need to be replaced. And Holmes has made it clear he wants to upgrade the backup quarterback spot.
However they proceed, Holmes said the Lions will do it in a measured way, careful to continue adding the right pieces to their team with a focus on keeping their own free agents around.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction, so again, this is going to be a big offseason,” Holmes said. “Never like to put too much pressure on myself, but I think we just remain confident in our process, which we’ve done and which has worked so far and, yeah, just make sure that we’re still keeping that momentum going, which I feel very confident that we will be doing.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.