{"id":803324,"date":"2026-03-10T00:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T00:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803324\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T00:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T00:34:23","slug":"roy-lopez-leaving-lions-in-free-agency-to-return-to-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/803324\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Lopez leaving Lions in free agency to return to Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roy Lopez\u2019s tenure with the Detroit Lions<\/a> has come to an end after one season. The 28-year-old defensive tackle is returning to the Arizona Cardinals after agreeing Monday, March 9, to a two-year, $11.5 million deal with $7 million in guarantees, according to the NFL Network.<\/a><\/p>\n

Serving in a backup role, Lopez delivered solid returns last fall. In fact, there were times he outperformed teammates who had started in front of him, including DJ Reader, Tyleik Williams and Alim McNeil.<\/p>\n

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Despite playing fewer snaps than all three of those players, Lopez surpassed each of them in sacks, quarterback hits and tackles for loss. Before joining the Lions<\/a> last March on a one-year, $3.5 million contract<\/a>, Lopez had earned a reputation as a strong run stuffer during his previous stints with the Houston Texans and Cardinals. But in Detroit, he expanded his repertoire, showcasing impressive pass-rushing<\/a> ability while consistently pushing the pocket.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW ALONG: Detroit Lions news, free agency updates as NFL signings, trades begin<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t get the credit that he deserves as far as his athleticism and his first step quickness,\u201d Lions<\/a> defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said in November. \u201cHe\u2019s been phenomenal and you\u2019re talking about ultra-team guy, selfless. \u2026 He doesn\u2019t care if he plays one or 50 snaps, he\u2019s going to make the most of his opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez made sure he did by playing with relentless energy.<\/p>\n

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Asked if he thought this past season was the best of his career, Lopez responded, \u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this place for what it did for me as a person, as a player,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve grown so much being here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now back in Arizona, Lopez will try to blossom even more in the desert. <\/p>\n

Contact\u00a0Rainer Sabin at\u00a0rsabin@freepress.com<\/a>. Follow him\u00a0@RainerSabin\u00a0on X.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Roy Lopez signing with Arizona Cardinals after one year with Lions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Lopez\u2019s tenure with the Detroit Lions has come to an end after one season. The 28-year-old defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[390,2793,146,113,2506,14967,7,253,14986,147,6,6299,1491],"class_list":["post-803324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-lions","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-defensive-tackle","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-lions","tag-detroitlions","tag-dj-reader","tag-football","tag-houston-texans","tag-kelvin-sheppard","tag-lions","tag-nfl","tag-roy-lopez","tag-tyleik-williams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116202076075425262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803324","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=803324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}