Detroit Lions Say Wait Until Games Start to Evaluate Free Agency

Detroit Lions indicate nobody will know how effective free agency was until games start.

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes talks to president Rod Wood after practice | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions were consistent in their plan to add free agents who could add competition and depth to the 2026 roster.

While many of the signings were players on short-term contracts, general manager Brad Holmes remains confident the analysis provided by the personnel staff will pay off once games kick off in the fall.

Appearing on the "Lions Collective" podcast, Holmes was asked about the signings in free agency and if he felt the team failed to upgrade any spot defensively.

“I guess I’m saying that to say you don’t really know what the value is going to be until the games are starting to kick off,” Holmes explained. “I think that’s where the months and months and months of evaluation, the deep-dive analysis, and all that work that has to go on behind the curtains, that’s when it’s going to show. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. We’re doing the best we can to position ourselves to be the best team that we can be right now.”

In the past, Detroit was able to add players like Amik Robertson, Roy Lopez and Al-Quadin Muhammad.

They were unheralded as players well, but ended up being productive players who earned free agent contracts elsewhere this offseason.

Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard will now be tasked with trying to get the defensive unit to gel, despite a myriad of changes.

At the scouting combine, the former NFL linebacker expressed he also had to adapt to the learning curve he experienced calling defensive plays for the first time.

“You don’t understand a job until you’re in it. Nobody could tell you how to call a game. Like, you could sit back all you want, you play Madden all you want, but until you’re on that sideline and it’s second-and-7 and they’re back on the ball and it’s first-and-10 and you got, you know, it’s repetition," said Sheppard. "It’s time on task to the point it becomes muscle memory for you and you’re able to go to that next level.”

Financial contraints prevented the team from making many splashed, but the hope is the roster building strategy that takes place after the conclusion of the draft will also add hidden gems.

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