NFL Analyst Ranks Detroit Lions Free Agency Third-Best in NFL

The Detroit Lions offseason decisions have been quite polarizing this year.

Some view the changes as a welcomed neccesity after the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in a couple of seasons.

Others view the roster as being a little worse than it was when the 2025 season concluded.

ESPN recently ranked each NFL free agency class.

Writer Benjamin Solak used multiple measures to complete his rankings, including the value they got for the money spent, the flexibility of their roster approaching the draft, the contract details that provide them leverage, how a team manipulated the compensatory pick formula and that they could have done but didn't do.

Detroit's class came in ranked third, only behind the San Francisco 49ers (2nd) and Pittsburgh Steelers (No.1)

"The dart throws. Detroit has more needs than it has money to throw around, but it did extremely well to take high-upside swings in the margins. Pacheco can't be 100% of what David Montgomery was for them, but the Lions don't want that anymore," writes Solak. "They want a capable short-yardage, pass-protecting back to relieve Jahmyr Gibbs, and they got that for near the veteran minimum."

Not everything the Lions accomplished in free agency impressed Solak.

"I didn't love left tackle. Larry Borom is a good swing backup, but the Lions don't want to live in a world where he starts 17 games on Jared Goff's blind side. Goff, for all of his improvements and strengths, is simply not a springy mover. He needs clean pockets," Solak explains. "With the 17th pick, the Lions are squarely in contention for a franchise left tackle, and I'd put a lot of theoretical chips on that being their first-round target. (GM Brad Holmes also said Borom could play right tackle, with Penei Sewell moving to the left side, so there's that option, too.)"

General manager Brad Holmes has regularly expressed that his goal in free agency is to find players that fit the culture, but will also the team to have financial resources left to pay their own free agents.

Like many front office leaders, Holmes has a desire to keep the team competitive, not only in the short-term, but for the foreseeable future as well.

The team has taken their fair share of criticism this year for not being more aggressive in free agency.

In year six of the current regime, there is certainly added pressure to deliver the fans a Super Bowl victory.

While many do not agree, some pundits found Holmes' decisions to be in the best interest of the organization.