On Thursday, we discussed the Detroit Lions\u2019 best free agent signings last year. The majority of the answers involved either defensive tackle Roy Lopez or cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. Both of those signings were the exact kind of moves that can define a winning offseason. Both players signed for relatively cheap contracts, but provided strong play when called upon. Oftentimes, we declare winners based on who spends the most money or makes the biggest splashes, but those savvy signings can truly propel a franchise into success.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Lions, Lopez and Ya-Sin weren\u2019t enough to carry the team to the playoffs. Instead, there were other roster moves Detroit likely regrets, and certainly there were moves that weren\u2019t made that the Lions would likely have made in retrospect.<\/p>\n
For now, let\u2019s just talk about the moves that didn\u2019t work out. Today\u2019s Question of the Day is:<\/p>\n
What was the Lions\u2019 worst free agent signing of 2025?<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t anything completely egregious here, the answer almost has to be the D.J. Reed signing by default.<\/p>\n
To be clear, I think Reed is a good player, and I\u2019m optimistic about how he\u2019ll play in 2026. But after one injury-filled season and a rough finish to the year, Reed\u2019s three-year, $48 million contract doesn\u2019t look the greatest. It\u2019s not necessarily anyone\u2019s fault, but it just hasn\u2019t paid off yet. It doesn\u2019t help that Carlton Davis\u2014the player who Reed replaced\u2014had a very strong season with the Patriots, finishing 18th in the NFL in PFF grade (74.0).<\/p>\n
If the question was open to moves the Lions didn\u2019t make, you could certainly point to Detroit\u2019s inability to properly protect themselves from Frank Ragnow\u2019s eventual retirement. Additionally, the decision to re-sign Marcus Davenport or find an external free agent certainly was a mistake.<\/p>\n
But, overall, because of Detroit\u2019s modest free agent approach, there aren\u2019t a lot of regrettable signings from last year.<\/p>\n
What are your thoughts on last year\u2019s free agency? What would you do differently now with the benefit of hindsight? Share your answer in the comment section at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday, we discussed the Detroit Lions\u2019 best free agent signings last year. The majority of the answers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,52105,84539,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-751880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroit-lions-conversation-starters-and-community-questions","11":"tag-detroit-lions-discussion","12":"tag-detroitlions","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-lions","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116069735242804691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}