Free agency is pretty much in the books for the Detroit Lions. They walked into the process with quite a few of their own free agents and they've managed to bring back 16 players that were on their roster in 2023. I think there's one more that the Lions should consider bringing back and that's nose tackle Tyson Alualu. Here's why:
The Lions cycled through a lot of different guys on the interior last year. Isaiah Buggs, Benito Jones, Brodic Martin and Quinton Bohanna. The Lions didn't really start to see any good play from that area until they brough in Tyson Alualu at the end of the season.
Alualu was initially a practice squad elevation for his first couple games and then the Lions signed him to the 53-man roster and he started throughout the entire playoffs and played well.
The Lions made a big splash signing this offseason when they signed DJ Reader and he is a day one starter at nose tackle for this team, but there's a depth issue behind him. Brodric Martin is expected to get more time in 2024 and that's great, but he's still a work in progress. After Martin there is nobody else on the roster.
Reader as already talked about how he is looking forward to helping Martin out. What could help Martin out even more is to have both Reader and Alualu on the roster helping him get to where the team wants him. That's two guys that have been starters for years at nose tackle, and have seen it all, helping the young Martin figure out how to use his tools.
The only thing that gives pause is that Alualu is up there in age. He'll be 37-years-old when the 2024 season starts. The age hasn't seem to have affected his play to a point where there's major concern though and he would be in a rotation and not be the starter in this case.
The Lions may decide to draft a player at this position in the 2024 NFL Draft, but there's some thought there that if they do that, are they then giving up on Brodric Martin already? Alualu allows the Lions to continue that progression with Martin and then you can see where things are next offseason.
Alualu on a one year deal seems like the way to go if he plans to continue to play football.
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