Free agent linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin is headed back to the 313. After spending the first five years of his career in Detroit, Reeves-Maybin will return to the Lions following a one-year stint in Houston. His agent confirmed the reunion on Twitter.
Reeves-Maybin proved unable to find any sort of consistency during his one year with the Texans, as he was mainly relegated to special teams duty in the Lonestar State. Christian Kirksey, Christian Harris, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Jake Hansen, Blake Cashman, and Garret Wallow all finished with more defensive snaps than Reeves-Maybin during the past campaign.
Houston ended up cutting Reeves-Maybin this offseason after initially signing him to a two-year contract a year ago. Chalk it up to financials -- he was due for a $4.25M cap hit in 2023 and Houston was willing to eat $2M in dead money for the $2.25M in cap savings it received from cutting him.
Reeves-Maybin should be excited about the move back up north, as should his new and former head coach Dan Campbell, who had this to say about the linebacker following his initial departure from Detroit, “I know he missed a couple of games here due to injury, but when he’s been out there on defense and on special teams, he just, he makes plays. He’s a football player, and that doesn’t go unnoticed.”
Both parties should receive some benefit out of this reunion. Campbell was able to retain his top linebacker from 2022, Alex Anzalone, under a new three-year deal and Detroit returns rookie starter Malcolm Rodriguez, but the team also lost Chris Board in free agency to New England.
Board played a similar role in Detroit to what Reeves-Maybin did in Houston, seeing spare defensive work while contributing to a larger extent on special teams. With Reeves-Maybin, Campbell essentially gets a variation on the hard-working, reliable linebacker he just lost in Board
For his part, Reeves-Maybin should benefit from moving back to the last team and head coach who gave him an extended starting opportunity. If Campbell’s previous final impression of Reeves-Maybin remains on the money, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he may find himself part of the third linebacker rotation behind Anzalone and Rodriguez.
More must-reads: