he\u2019s joining the Buccaneers<\/a>.<\/p>\nPRO: A mercenary, Clowney has been productive for six different NFL teams, registering at least 8.5 sacks with four of them. That lends a confidence that he can fit just about anywhere. An added bonus to Clowney is that he is fantastic as someone you can scheme up looks for on stunts, twists, and loops. Like Cam Jordan, he is also great against the run.<\/p>\n
CON: There really isn\u2019t one. He is still a high-level player and should be had at a more than affordable rate. He played last season on a one-year, $3.54 million contract. While he probably played his way to some more money this year, it shouldn\u2019t be too much more.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: Clowney was one of my top desired targets last cycle, and I am inclined to believe he would have made significant contributions to the 2025 Lions team. I am all in once again this year.<\/p>\n
PRO: A veteran high-level run stuffer who could replace what Roy Lopez did for you in 2025. He has alignment versatility on the interior and is capable of giving up 30+ snaps a game if needed, which would keep Tyleik Williams and Alim McNeill fresh. He also has some modest pass-rush chops and can push the pocket a bit.<\/p>\n
CON: He played last season on a one-year, $7.5 million deal. Considering what the Lions let Lopez walk for, I will assume that price tag is too high, and the market would have to be just right.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: For all I know, the Lions might like their depth on the interior with a full year under Tyleik\u2019s belt plus the return of Levi Onwuzurike. However, if they want to add a strong run stuffer to the rotation, other than bringing DJ Reader back, Joseph-Day is the best on the market.<\/p>\n
PRO: Douglas is a big, physical corner who excels at using his strength and length to squeeze space at the top of WR\u2019s stem. He can play man coverage against big body WRs, or play off zone and use his football IQ and length to shut down pass lanes. He has a ton of experience in the league and had a really nice bounce-back season as the lead dog in Miami.<\/p>\n
CON: He might be a little redundant to Rock Ya-Sin.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: You can never have too many starting-level CBs on your roster. The Lions know this better than any team in the league. If Douglas could be had for a similar contract to what he played on in 2025 (one-year, $3 million), I am all the way in.<\/p>\n
PRO: A nickel corner with the skill set and experience to play press-man. McCreary is physical and plays the way the Lions ask their corners to play. When in man, he is going to be disruptive early in the route and give up nothing for free. He takes his run defense responsibilities seriously and is one of the better run-defending nickels in the league.<\/p>\n
CON: McCreary isn\u2019t the best in zone coverages. When it comes to read and react, playing top-down, he is a little slow on the trigger and will give up some completions underneath. He doesn\u2019t have ideal length, which has led to his ball production being hit-or-miss throughout his career.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: As it stands right now, the Lions don\u2019t really have a starting nickel on the roster. It is possible they view Christian Izien or Ennis Rakestraw as the solution there, but I think all parties can agree they need to add another competent player to the mix to compete for the spot. McCreary would check that box in a big way and likely come at a very affordable price tag.<\/p>\n
PRO: Cisco specializes as a rangy free safety who patrols the back end and looks for opportunities to make plays on the football. In a lot of ways, he is Kerby Joseph-lite, which I am assuming is why he was one of the first players Aaron Glenn acquired in free agency last year. Throughout his career, he has also put functional reps on tape playing in the box as a matchup player, and under Glenn in 2025, he was used that way a ton.<\/p>\n
CON: Cisco tore his pectoral muscle last year and only played in eight games. He was also playing on a one-year, $8.5 million deal, which is too rich for a backup role for the Lions. The price would have to come down; however, injuries have a way of doing that.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: You won\u2019t find a better Kerby Joseph-specific backup on the market than Cisco. His added value of growing positional versatility makes him a viable candidate to play WITH Kerby Joseph as well. Given the situations of both Lions starting safeties, this seems like an absolute no-brainer to me if the price is right.<\/p>\n
PRO: Salyer has played at an average to above-average level at four different positions in the NFL. He has started 40 games in four years for the Chargers. In 2025, he played over 500 snaps for the Chargers\u2014starting games at LT and RG. He is big and brings a physicality the Lions covet. Between him and newly signed Larry Borom, the Lions would have two potential options for the other starting OT spot while also giving the Lions a ton of flexibility in the draft. Trust me on this one\u2014as someone who watches every snap of every game and charts OL\/DL for a living, you can do way worse than Jamaree Salyer. Among 71 OTs who had 300+ pass-pro snaps last season, Salyer\u2019s 6.2% pressure rate allowed ranked 34th.<\/p>\n
CON: I think he might have a bigger market than people think and could see his value approach $10 million per season. I could see a team like the Dolphins giving him a guaranteed starting job.<\/p>\n
BOTTOM LINE: No one is ever mad about having too many good offensive linemen. This would be a floor-raising move and wouldn\u2019t force the Lions\u2019 hand in the draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Editor\u2019s Note: This is Brett Whitefield\u2019s first article here at Pride of Detroit. He\u2019ll be helping us over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[449,11309,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-809891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-detroit-lions-analysis","9":"tag-detroit-lions-free-agency","10":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116221883911154002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809891","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=809891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}