Detroit Lions: Myles Jack, Bobby Wagner Top Free Agent Target List
By Kyle Edmond
The Detroit Lions could target Myles Jack, Bobby Wagner and more in free agency.
The 2021 season was an interesting ride for the Detroit Lions. Dan Campbell and company had a rough start to the season, losing the first eight games of the season to go into the bye week 0-8. A tie turned the tide a bit and the Lions showed promise at the end of the season. It’s not often a 3-13-1 season is considered a success, but in many ways it was for Detroit.
There were bright spots on the offensive side of the ball with D’Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell looked the part on the offensive line. The Lions also have plenty of draft capital, including two first rounds picks, but free agency will be needed to complete this turnaround.
The Lions got the ball rolling by signing D.J. Chark. Chark has a lot of upside, even if it’s a one-year deal, and can greatly upgrade this wide receiver unit. However, Chark shouldn’t be the only addition and that only covers one position.
In my offseason needs for the Lions, I touched on the weaknesses of the Detroit roster that need to be improved this offseason, and much of it can be looked for in free agency. A lot of the emphasis out of the Detroit front office needs to be on the defense. Even with the second pick in the draft, there are no guarantees after the aggressive nature of the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency. Who knows what happens with the first pick.
The one things about the Lions is that they don’t have a ton of cap space to work with once you take out the needed money for draft picks. Detroit walked into free agency with about $17 million in cap space according to spotrac.com. Jared Goff, Taylor Decker, Trey Flowers and Romeo Okwara combine for a cap hit over $87.7 million across just four players. So whatever signings the Lions make will have to be done strategically with an eye on the salary cap.