When you comb through the Detroit Lions depth chart, especially on offense, it’s not hard to see why Brad Holmes is consistently in the NFL Executive of the Year conversation. I mean, he won it in back-to-back years after arriving with the Lions. They’ve done an incredible job via the draft so many of their guys are on affordable rookie deals.

Now, some of those players still need second contracts. But, for 2026, they have many of the key pieces in place. It’s out job here to look at the depth chart, the contracts, and the salary cap to see where they might be able to improve and potentially get over the hump. This past year didn’t go as planned but, in 2026, they are once again favorites to make a nice run. 

Along the way, we’ll also give our fantasy football takes on the Lions weapons where relevant. If you’d like to see where we have these guys ranked, become a Fantasy Alarm Member today to access our full Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings along with our buy, hold, or sell recommendations!

 

*The salary cap numbers referenced in this article come courtesy of our friends over at Spotrac.com*

Detroit Lions Depth Chart 2026 (Fantasy Football Relevant)

QB

Jared Goff

Kyle Allen

  

RB

Jahmyr Gibbs

David Montgomery

Jacob Saylors

Sione Vaki

WR

Amon-Ra St. Brown

Kalif Raymond

  

WR

Jameson Williams

Tom Kennedy

  

WR

Isaac TeSlaa

Dominic Lovett

  

TE

Sam LaPorta

Brock Wright

Shane Zylstra

Anthony Firkser


 KEY

  • White = free agent
  • Green = role is safe
  • Yellow =  role in flux
  • Orange = likely a depth piece
  • Red = roster spot not guaranteed

Detroit Lions Free Agency 2026

CURRENT PROJECTED 2026 SALARIES: $331M

CURRENT ESTIMATED 2026 CAP SPACE: -$9M

Free Agent Types

Unrestricted free agent: Any player with four or more accrued seasons whose contract has expired. They are free to negotiate with any team.

Restricted free agent: A player with three accrued seasons and an expired contract. The CBA allowed for NFL teams to tender these players to one year qualifying offers to retain them. Another team can sign them but would need to provide the tendering team with compensation. In layman’s terms, if a new team signs a player, the current team can match it or they receive the corresponding pick from the new team. These are the projected RFA tender levels per OverTheCap.com

  • 1st Round - $7,893,000
  • 2nd Round - $5,658,000
  • Right of First Refusal - $3,453,000

Exclusive rights free agent: Any player with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expired contract. If his original team offers him a one-year contract at the league minimum, the player cannot negotiate with other teams. If the team wants the player back, these contracts are a no-brainer as the player either needs to play on the contract or sit out. 

Lions Quarterback Depth Chart

Jared Goff: From the very start, Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes believed in Jared Goff. And, in my opinion, Jared Goff is good enough to lead a team to a championship. I mean, he did already take a Rams team to the Super Bowl. So the Lions aren’t likely to make major moves this offseason.

In the back of your mind though, you have to wonder if there are higher upside options both in real life and in fantasy football. The Kansas City Chiefs were winning double digit games and making the playoffs regularly with Alex Smith. But good teams with good coaches can do that with quarterbacks that are just okay. Eventually they took the risk on a young kid named Patrick Mahomes and the rest was history. 

There really are only three heads you can cut off to make major change. The general manager, the coach, and the quarterback. Back to back executive of the year Brad Holmes isn’t going anywhere. And they love Dan Campbell. If the Lions continue to come up short, Jared Goff is the one that will be examined. And, since he offers virtually zero in the run game so everything needs to come through the air, he might not really be as solid of a dynasty fantasy football asset as some may lead you to believe. 

Kyle Allen: Allen is a “professional backup” in the NFL having made stops in Carolina, Washington, Houston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and now Detroit. Even if they do want to bring on some sort of younger player to develop, Allen could be back as QB2. He’s an unrestricted free agent. 

LIONS QB FREE AGENCY TAKE: Now, I mention that maybe the Lions should consider taking a stab on a high risk, high reward QB at some point. Well, they did try that with Hendon Hooker and it didn’t pan out. In fact, when push came to shove, they put Teddy Bridgewater out there over Hooker and then Hooker lost the QB2 battle to Kyle Allen. So, for the short term, I expect them to simply look for a QB2 to backup Goff. Bonus points if it’s someone who has worked with Drew Petzing before and can help implement the scheme, like Jacoby Brissett. 

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Kyle Allen, Jacoby Brissett, Tyler Huntley, Tyrod Taylor

 

Lions Running Back Depth Chart

Jahmyr Gibbs: The setup used to be that David Montgomery was the starter and goal-line back while Jahmyr Gibbs skewed pass downs. But that changed in 2025 as Gibbs essentially took all high leverage situations and Montgomery was relegated to more change of pace, pure backup type player. The split looked more like what the Falcons do with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. That’s obviously good news for Gibbs and bad news for Monty. 

David Montgomery: As we mentioned above, Montgomery’s workload was cut in 2025. He still was used as a power runner at times and for select redzone work but his days of being considered the “starter” are behind him. In fact, he started all 28 games in 2023 and 2024 then did not start a single one in 2025. 

There’s not really a huge risk of him being released but, if it were to happen, it will happen soon. He has a $1.75M roster bonus due on March 13th so they would surely not allow that to hit. If they were to release him they could maximize their savings by designating him a post-June 1 release which would spread the ~$4.8M dead cap over the next two years and free up $6M for 2026. If I had to bet on it, I would bet that he remains a Lion in 2026 but could be released in 2027 when they can save $7.75M with only $2.5M in dead cap. 

Jacob Saylors: The top two backs stayed surprisingly healthy so we didn’t see much of the other guys. Jacob Saylors did play a handful of offensive snaps but, more importantly, he played the third most special teams snaps of any player on the team - including returning the bulk of the kicks. They already signed him to a one year extension for 2026 and he’s an exclusive rights free agent in 2027 so they have affordable control of him for the next two years if they want.  

Sione Vaki: Like Saylors, Vaki barely played on offense but did contribute on special teams (though not at the level that Saylors did and he only returned two kicks). That said, Vaki is the one out of these two that we’d bet on for fantasy football. He’s simply more athletic, being both bigger and faster than Saylors. So, if you are going to stash one, it should be Vaki. 

LIONS RB FREE AGENCY TAKE: I was a little surprised to see them release long time backup Craig Reynolds after he hung around the team for five years. But they seemingly like what they have in Saylors and Vaki who are on cheap deals. As of now they don’t need to do much in free agency unless they were to actually release David Montgomery. The thing is, they are only saving $6M and are you really going to do that to downgrade to someone like Dameon Pierce or AJ Dillon to save a couple million dollars? There would almost have to be something else going on behind the scenes for that to happen. 

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: N/A

Lions Wide Receiver Depth Chart

Amon-Ra St. Brown: Amon-Ra St. Brown is a focal point of the offense and he’s locked up to a long-term deal. Even if they hypothetically wanted to move on from him, they would ADD $11M in dead cap by releasing him. He’s as locked in as it gets. 

Jameson Williams: The inconsistent production week to week for Jameson Williams is really more a product of the role. Guys like Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jahymr Gibbs running lower average depth of target (aDot) routes are naturally going to be easier to connect with reguarly. Williams has the task of stretching the field with his average target being 12.2 yards down field. That’s naturally going to lead to a lower catch rate but also a higher yards per catch.

The good news is that Jameson Williams does transcend just the “field stretcher” label making him a guy you can start in pretty much all fantasy football formats - you just need to stomach some down weeks. Obviously that does make him better in best ball and standard formats though. They gave him a three year extension to lock him down. 

Isaac TeSlaa: The rookie TeSlaa managed to carve out the WR3 role as the season went on. He was largely still part of a rotation but, in Weeks 13 adn 14 when Kalif Raymond was out, he did play as high as 92% and 77% of the routes. With ARSB, Jameson Williams, LaPorta, and Gibbs there, you are playing the waiting game with TeSlaa in dynasty to see if they eventually move on from guys or TeSlaa hits free agency himself. 

Kalif Raymond: Kalif Raymond is an unrestricted free agent. And, as he was seemingly surpassed by Isaac TeSlaa, maybe he will walk though I’m not sure there is a big role out there for a 31 year old Raymond. If he does leave, the Lions will need someone else to return punts as he did virtually all of that work in 2025. 

Tom Kennedy: One discount answer to the punt return question could be Tom Kennedy though he has mostly returned kicks when active. Kennedy has bounced around the fringes of the Lions roster going all the way back to 2019 so I would not be surprised to see him back in some capacity - he’s a free agent right now.

Dominic Lovett: Lovett was a seventh round draft pick that primarily played special teams. Like many guys in his spot, he doesn’t have much guaranteed money tied to him and is not a roster lock.

LIONS WR FREE AGENCY TAKE: The Lions do not need to make a major splash at wide receiver in free agency with their top three guys locked up. If Kalif Raymond walks, they could use a punt returner though. Here are some options for that. 

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Kalif Raymond, Tyquan Thornton, Devin Duvernay, Skyy Moore, Greg Dortch, Gunner Olszewski, Braxton Berrios

 

Lions Tight End Depth Chart

Sam LaPorta: The Lions are happy with Sam LaPorta and will probably extend him at some point soon as he’s in the last year of his rookie deal. Trey McBride just got four years, $76 million so the extension for LaPorta would probably be in the 4 year ~$65-$70M range. McBride obviously just had a top five all time season production wise but LaPorta does offer a little more as an inline blocker.

And part of that is the issue for the upside with LaPorta in fantasy football. In games where the Lions are playing from behind, we’ve seen him run a lot of routes from WR, like Week One of this past year. But that was actually the only time he ran more than 50% of his routes from a WR spot. As an inline tight end for a team with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Jahmyr Gibbs, his upside is capped a bit unless guys go down. So, even though he’s a “safe” option, there are higher upside players in fantasy. Believe it or not, it would actually be better for his fantasy upside if he were to not extend with the Lions and walk in free agency. 

Brock Wright: The Lions like Brock Wright which is why the extended him. Unfortunately, right when Sam LaPorta got hurt and he got his time to shine, he suffered a serious throat injury that ended his 2025 season. He’s under contract for 2026 and I expect him back in his backup capacity. 

Shane Zylstra: Zylstra is a converted wide receiver who has floated around the team for the last few years. He missed virtually all of 2025 with a serious ankle injury. He’s an unrestricted free agent but could be back in as depth for 2026.

Anthony Firkser: Firkser also skews pass catching and was signed on an emergency basis due to injuries. They might not even carry this type of player and they definitely don’t need both of Firkser and Zylstra. He’s also a free agent.

  • Reserves/Futures: N/A

LIONS TE FREE AGENCY TAKE: With Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright, they have the top of the depth chart squared away. Any third tight end is likely going to be a fringe roster guy that plays special teams or a retread like Zylstra or Firkser. They don’t need to make a major splash in free agency, maybe they could use a late draft pick on some depth. 

  • POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: N/A

Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings

Become a Fantasy Alarm Member today to access our full Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings along with our buy, hold, or sell recommendations!