The offensive line figures to be a big part of the Detroit Lions\u2019 offseason acquisition plan. And while the interior offensive line will probably see the most change over the upcoming months, Detroit has publicly committed to improving their situation at tackle, as well.<\/p>\n
In the latest installment of our 2026 Detroit Lions free agency preview, we take a look at some options for the Lions at offensive tackle.<\/p>\n
While Taylor Decker\u2019s announcement that he\u2019ll return in 2026 takes some of the immediate need away, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said at the NFL Combine that the team will need some reinforcements regardless.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as I love Deck, he\u2019s got some things that are going to need some management. That\u2019s kind of where we\u2019re at. One way or another, we\u2019re going to need somebody that can play over there and that can help us if we need them in a crunch or we need them as a starter,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t exactly bode well for Giovanni Manu, but it does suggest the Lions will be in the market for a capable spot starter at tackle. So let\u2019s explore some options.<\/p>\n
Top free agent OT available: <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a great year to need a starting offensive tackle, and, thankfully, Decker\u2019s return means Detroit likely won\u2019t be spending a ton at the position in free agency. Eluemunor played with the Giants under Mike Kafka, but I don\u2019t suspect Detroit will bother jumping into that bidding war.<\/p>\n
The common theme with most of these options: aging tackles who have plenty of starting experience, but are no longer playing at a starting level.<\/p>\n
Brown is entering his 12th year in the NFL. He spent about half of 2025 on the Texans practice squad before getting the call up and starting seven games for them at right tackle. He held up relatively well, only allowing one sack and 12 pressures\u2014earning a 66.o PFF pass blocking grade. Capable of playing both sides, Brown is nothing if not reliable depth.<\/p>\n
Conklin is the high-ceiling, low-floor option. Once an All-Pro talent, Conklin has seen his career decimated by injury. He\u2019s had a couple of knee surgeries and missed games last year due to two separate concussions. Over the last five seasons, he\u2019s missed more games (43) than he\u2019s played (42). But he\u2019s a good player, a Michigan native, and overlapped with Drew Petzing from 2020-22 in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Capable of playing either tackle position, Lamm has spent the majority of his career as a backup swing tackle. But when forced into action\u2014like his seven starts in 2024 and eight in 2023\u2014he\u2019s proven to be somewhat reliable. He allowed just four sacks over that time, although his run blocking leaves a lot to be desired. He also briefly overlapped with Petzing in Cleveland, and even had a short training camp stint with the Lions in 2022.<\/p>\n
Skule is the youngest of the bunch at a ripe 29 years old. A backup swing tackle for most of his career, Skule was forced into the Vikings\u2019 lineup last year and did alright. Though he allowed seven sacks in nine starts, he did hold up against Myles Garrett and would bring some cheap experience to a team that needs a Dan Skipper replaceent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offensive line figures to be a big part of the Detroit Lions\u2019 offseason acquisition plan. And while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,449,11309,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-793903","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-analysis","11":"tag-detroit-lions-free-agency","12":"tag-detroitlions","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-lions","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116177036075815659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793903","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=793903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}