23 free agents who have been on the Lions 53 man roster at some point or are likely to have a shot next season
Players in red are currently on IR
Practice squad players and other IR players (Badgley, Multi, Galvin and Bada) not included because they are highly unlikely to make the 53 man roster next season
2025 Draft Picks
Lions 1st
Lions 2nd
Eagles 4th - Swift trade
Bucs 6th - Davis trade
Lions 7th
Cowboys 7th - Arnold trade
Cap Space
OTC currently has the Lions $64.4 million under their projected cap for next season. The Lions are also $26.7 million under the cap for the current season, which should rollover into 2025. All in, there’s probably around $90 million in cap space, which becomes about $80 million when you account for the practice squad and an allowance for players being put on IR. Plenty of room.
Starter Needs
Guard - Zeitler could come back, or it might be time to promote Sorsdal, Awosika or Mahogany Defensive End - Smith will do for now, but it feels likely that this opening is filled with an early draft pick (possibly trading up) Linebacker - Barnes leaves a hole, and could easily be re-signed, but they might go with the cheaper option in Nowaske and let Campbell and Anzalone play the lions share of snaps Cornerback - The cap space is there to extend Davis and that might be plan A, but if he wants a long deal that could be prohibitive given the cap situation in 2026 not looking great. A draft pick or a one-year prove-it free agent would be the alternatives
Overall, I would say the roster is in great shape for 2025. There are a handful of major needs that can fairly easily be addressed with re-signings or draft picks, and the rest of Brad’s resources can be spent on quality depth pieces.
And I mean this in a good way. We were so crappy. So unhappy. Cap strapped. Talent strapped. Leadership strapped. I am so thankful for Sheila and down. Everything she has done from Spielman to Holmes to DC to the coordinators has been gold. And most importantly the patience to see it through when people were doubting. What a time to be a Lions fan. Can’t say that enough. Regardless of if we make the SB or not, this is just a great thing to watch.
Nowaske is a very tuff guy to let go. We made that mistake once before.
Barnes not a guy you want to see leave, either.
Alex, Jack, and Rodrigo aren’t going anywhere.
Hard to see Jerm going.
It sucks, but, we may have seen the last of Barnes in a Lions uniform.
Hope not.
We’ve talked about this…
We have guys that we know aren’t going anywhere. Alex, and Jack in the LB room, Hutch, Alim, Reader, and Smith in the Dline room.
It’s performance vs $ from there.
I think Barnes is definitely back… 2 years $10 million, something like that.
I’d guess Levi is a little more expensive… 3 years $18 million is where I’d guess the Lions would be, but he may get more on the open market… Wouldn’t be surprised to see him get $8 million or more per year.
3/18 on Levi? Really? Is that thr market, cuz IDK one way or the other, but bro has played like 13 games. Total.
I think they really like Rake but knew he would need a year to come together. This could be the spot they upgrade with a big splash though. I don’t see them spending big anywhere else besides extensions.
Idk anything about that… What I do know, Campbell is going to be the Mike and Barnes has looked good at SAM… I think that’s where they want their LBers playing positionally
Holmes and the staff love Barnes. He is the poster child for the grit of this team. One of Holmes’ first draft picks. Started off slow and continued to work, with a great attitude, and hit his stride this season.
As a SamLB he is probably worth more to the Lions than any other team.
Other teams don’t use SamLB nearly as much as AG does in this new scheme.
I think Barnes’ fate may be tied up in how well Nowaske plays the rest of the year.
There are still quite a few core players that need to be re-signed in the next couple of years and cap space will begin to get tight in 2026.
If Nowaske shows that he can play as well as Barnes through the back half of the season and playoffs Barnes could be let go.
I know, I know… But he’s flashing on tape… He’s providing good pressure from inside and the edge and hes not a liability against the run. If he were healthy for more than 1 season I think he’d get double that
He’s played 37 games, missed 17 through injury and been a healthy scratch for 8 games.
2021 he was a healthy scratch week one, although he was dealing with his back injury and a hip issue at the time. He played every other game that season while dealing with the back injury.
2022 he missed the season after spinal fusion surgery.
2023 he played 10 regular season games and the three playoff games, and was a healthy scratch for seven games. This was load management, after the back surgery he lost a load of muscle as he couldn’t train for a year so it was about slowly building him back up into shape.
This season he’s played every game and is averaging 64% of snaps.
He’s now played 21 games since his surgery and hasn’t ever had any other injuries as a Lion. He’s one tough SOB playing a season through a back injury that required fusion surgery, and then having the surgery and building himself back up into shape. I’d give him a new contract for sure.
This will be an interesting situation.
I think the plan is to let Davis go and slide Rake into the role and save considerably on salary.
Will TA be ready for CB1 and will Rake be ready without a lot of game reps.
If there is any doubt I can see Holmes giving Davis a mini extension like he did Decker.
This is a definite early draft pick.
Smith is 32 and no other player on the roster has come close to providing what AG wants besides Davenport.
Holmes may irritate Lions fans again by bringing Davenport back (on a reduced contract like he did Moseley). the Lions just don’t have the capacity to make any kind of significant free agent signing at DE.
I don’t think Davis is going to go for that… My people reading skills tells me he’s going for one big payday, 5 year $100 million deal range. I’d be shocked if he resigns with Detroit… We’ll get a 3rd round comp pick for him though, more than likely
