Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions enter the offseason with 49 players under contract, having retained 36 from 2025, re-signed three exclusive rights free agents (ERFA), nine players from their own practice squad, and signed a practice squader from outside the organization. However, most fans will be paying close attention to how the Lions work to retain their own free agents, which include 25 unrestricted free agents (UFAs), three restricted free agents (RFAs), and one remaining ERFA.
When examining the Lions’ roster development under general manager Brad Holmes, a pattern has emerged over the last four offseasons.
If these patterns hold, expectations are that the Lions will likely re-sign around half of their pending UFAs and RFAs.
While applying a tender on an RFA can help the Lions retain a player (See: Brock Wright), the growing costs make it harder to justify each season. According to projections from OverTheCap.com, tagging a player with an RFA tender in 2026 would cost at least $3.4 million and could go as high as $7.9 million for a higher-level tender. At this time, we do not expect the Lions to use an RFA tender, and therefore, we will instead rank them alongside the UFAs.
Let’s take a look at which Lions players fall into which categories and rank them in the order we believe Detroit will prioritize them.
Muhammad is coming off a career season, registering 11 sacks and 59 pressures (per Next Gen Stats), despite only seeing the field on 40% of the Lions’ defensive snaps—the third-lowest snap count of his eight-year NFL career.
When the Lions had a healthy defensive line, Muhammad was used primarily as a pass rusher, and with him turning 31 years old this offseason, that would likely be his role in 2026 as well. Still, he lands at the top spot in our rankings because of how valuable his production is to the Lions’ defense; the next closest pass rush producers were Jack Campbell (five sacks) and Derrick Barnes (24 pressures).
A five-time team captain for the Lions, Anzalone briefly held out of training camp this summer while seeking a contract extension. The Lions gave him a bump in incentives on his current deal in order to get him back on the field, but it appeared to do little to help the two sides in the long term, and Detroit made it publicly known that they were turning green dot responsibilities over to All-Pro Jack Campbell moving forward.
Anzalone remains one of the best cover linebackers in the NFL, and his above-average instincts show up in run defense, but the price to retain him may be too much for the Lions to afford.
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