Cardinals to Sign Lions DL Roy Lopez

The Detroit Lions have lost one of their most valuable defensive linemen from a season ago.

On Monday, as part of the NFL's legal tampering period, the Arizona Cardinals agreed to a two-year contract with Lopez reportedly worth up to $11.5 million. He returns to Arizona, where he played prior to signing with the Lions last offseason.

The Lions originally brought Lopez to Detroit on a one-year, $4.5 million contract last offseason, and he played the role of rotational nose tackle. He split snaps with veteran DJ Reader, and became one of the team's more productive defenders.

Lopez played 425 snaps for the Lions, which equates to 39 percent of the team's overall defensive snaps. He appeared in all 17 games backing up Reader, recording 30 total tackles, two sacks and four tackles for loss.

A big quality that pushed Lopez to Detroit initially was the coaching style of Dan Campbell, who is entering his sixth season as the leader of the Lions. Lopez has voiced a desire to enter the ranks of coaching when he's done playing, and being around Campbell fueled that fire even more.

"From the top-bottom, hearing Dan talk, from a player that wants to be a coach one day, you talk about coaching from your heart and talking from your heart, there's no one better in the business when he does it," Lopez said during his final interview at the end of the regular season. "You listen when he talks, because you can hear it in his voice that he loves you. He loves this game and he loves this team, so it was a blessing."

The #AZCardinals are signing #Lions FA DT Roy Lopez to a 2-year, $11.5M deal with $7M guaranteed, per me and @TomPelissero.

Deal done by Zeke Sandhu of @KlutchSports.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2026

The Arizona native has multiple family members who are football coaches, including his father who was his head coach in high school.

Detroit's defensive line also features Alim McNeill, who is in the second year of a four-year, $97 million contract signed during the 2024 season. McNeill's start to the season was interrupted by a torn ACL suffered in December of 2024, but he he finished with 14 combined tackles and a sack in his 10 appearances.

The team also drafted nose tackle Tyleik Williams in the first-round of the 2025 NFL Draft. In his first NFL season, Williams played in all 17 games with 10 starts and notched 18 total tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack.

Lopez began his career as a sixth-round draft pick of the Houston Texans, playing the first two years of his career for the Texans before landing in Arizona. He would play two years for the Cardinals before signing with the Lions.

NFL free agency begins with the legal tampering period on March 9, and teams can officially sign players when the new league year begins March 11 at 4 p.m.