It’s hard to grade individual moves in an NFL offseason without seeing the larger picture. How the Detroit Lions handled offensive tackle this offseason is the perfect example.
Releasing Taylor Decker, on its own, seemed like the Lions were potentially going to get worse at tackle. The finances of the decision made sense, but for a team that spoke publicly about their strong desire to improve the offensive line this offseason, it put them in a pretty big hole before free agency even began.
Then there
was the signing of Larry Borom. While general manager Brad Holmes gushed about Borom’s 2025 season at right tackle, that was a tough sell for a Lions fanbase that wanted them to make serious investments in the offensive line rather than adding a career backup.
But once the Lions were able to land Blake Miller with their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the vision fell into place. Miller provides youth, consistency, and value to replace Decker—an expensive, aging player who couldn’t reliably practice each week. Borom now becomes a higher-end OT3, and Penei Sewell’s move to left tackle could help some of the team’s struggles at left guard.
Individually, you may not have liked some of those moves at the time, but now that the picture is fuller, it gives proper context to each one.
So on this week’s PODcast, we graded the Lions’ offseason moves at each position on offense, while acknowledging whether the Lions got better, worse, or stayed the same at each position. That discussion kicks off our second segment, which occurs around the 31-minute mark of this week’s show. The first segment discusses the following news pieces from the last week:
- Breaking down rumors of the Lions’ desires to trade up in the first round
- Jahmyr Gibbs’ fifth-year option exercised, Jack Campbell’s denied
- Lions are the only team without rookie minicamp
Catch this week’s episode on your favorite podcasting platform, or you can use the Spotify embedded player below:
You can also watch the entire show—with a bunch of bonus content—by checking out the video offerings. This week’s episode is available on our YouTube page and Twitch channel.
