{"id":855378,"date":"2026-04-05T16:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855378\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:22:19","slug":"brock-wrights-exit-looks-likelier-than-ever-as-fa-settles-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855378\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock Wright\u2019s Exit Looks Likelier Than Ever as FA Settles Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions have been active this offseason as they look to return to their physical roots. But one position that still has plenty of questions is tight end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sam LaPorta is locked into the starting role after missing the second half of last season with a back injury. But things get interesting behind him on the depth chart, especially when it comes to reserve Brock Wright.<\/p>\n

Wright will enter the offseason program as the No. 2 tight end, but he has a loose grip thanks to the Lions’ addition of Tyler Conklin. <\/a>While Conklin isn\u2019t an insurmountable challenger, he brings the pass-catching ability that Wright has yet to show during his career, making Wright\u2019s exit more probable as the first wave of free agency concludes.<\/p>\n

Lions\u2019 Tyler Conklin Addition Could End Brock Wright\u2019s Time in Detroit<\/p>\n

One look at the Lions\u2019 depth chart and you can see that things haven\u2019t been going well for Wright this offseason. While he\u2019s currently second on the depth chart behind LaPorta, he hasn\u2019t proven to be an adequate replacement, catching 70 passes for 632 yards and 11 touchdowns over his five seasons in Detroit.<\/p>\n

With subpar pass-blocking (53.2) and run-blocking (55.5) grades from Pro Football Focus, <\/a>Wright shouldn\u2019t be locked into a roster spot this fall. That led the Lions to pursue free agency to add competition and ultimately sign Conklin.<\/p>\n

Conklin will be entering his age-31 season, but he\u2019s shown more pass-catching ability than Wright has during his career, with 270 catches for 2,645 yards and 11 touchdowns. While only seven of those receptions came in last year\u2019s campaign with the Los Angeles Chargers, and his career-high run blocking grade of 56.1 came with the Minnesota Vikings in 2020, he\u2019s one of several tight ends who should push Wright this summer.<\/p>\n

Zach Horton and Gordon Thomas have an uphill battle to unseat Wright. But there\u2019s still a chance more competition could be coming in the draft. With LaPorta looking for a new contract that Spotrac estimates at $17 million per season,<\/a> that could lead to a surprising pick early, such as Oregon\u2019s Kenyon Sadiq, which could push Wright down the depth chart. Even if the Lions don\u2019t take a tight end early, they could add one on Day 3, creating more competition and making Wright earn his spot on the roster.<\/p>\n

This puts Wright in a tough spot. Entering the final year of his contract, nothing is holding the Lions back from cutting him if he underperforms. There\u2019s also a good chance Conklin could win the TE2 job thanks to his pass-catching ability. But if a rookie or an incumbent beats out Wright, he could be on his way out of Detroit and looking for a new job at some point in 2026.<\/p>\n

More Detroit Lions News & Rumors:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions have been active this offseason as they look to return to their physical roots. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-855378","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-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116353023538822071","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855378","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=855378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}