The Detroit Lions had a controversial first week of free agency. Some liked it, some loved it, and some thought it was an abomination. We’re right there in the middle somewhere. Leaning more towards liking it.

Now that some of the dust has settled, we want to take a look at the whole thing and think about some of the winners and losers from the Lions’ free agency period. Here’s what we came up with.

Winners

Jared Goff

If you’re Jared Goff, you had to come away from that first week smiling. The Lions got you an upgrade at center and put a lot of investment into the depth of the offensive line. On top of that, they brought you another target with Tyler Conklin and a running back who is a big upgrade in the pass protection department. All good stuff. Get this man a starting tackle, and I’d say he’s good to go.

Drew Petzing

At the end of the day, Petzing needed extra tight end help to run his offense in Detroit. The Lions got that for him. In his first media interview, he talked about wanting to have a two-headed monster in the backfield. He got that with Pacheco.

Tyler Conklin

We brought this up in our initial piece on Conklin, but the chargers were just not the right place for him. A team that had a starting tight end and ran the 32nd most 12 personnel in the league is just not a good place to be a TE2. In Detroit, he’s expected to get a lot more playing time and could return back to the same guy he was with the Jets.

Brad Holmes and Mike Disner

The Lions went looking for value, and they found it, and you have to give Brad Holmes and the Lions’ cap genius, Mike Disner, a lot of credit. They got Cade Mays for a third of the cost of Tyler Linderbaum. They signed everyone else for a couple million each. The Lions got seven players who are going to make real contributions or be starters for them, and they still have a ton of money left to work with if they have a big hidden move coming. They’re also going to be able to get some of these big extensions done.

Losers

Giovanni Manu

The Lions bringing in Larry Borrom while they’re also expected to bring in a rookie tackle high in the draft is a pretty big sign they don’t feel too good about Manu at tackle. If they wanted to move him to guard, that’s not likely to happen either, since they have five guys there right now. At this point, I can’t tell you if he’s going to be on this team in September.

Brock Wright

The Conklin signing is not great news for Wright. Conklin is a better receiving target and a better blocker, and Wright makes a lot of money for a guy who could be a TE3 in 2026. On top of that, the Lions have Zach Horton and Thomas Gordon, and they might be looking ot see what they can get out of them. Horton brings some fullback potential that Wright does not.

Kacy Rogers

If there’s one thing clear about the Lions’ defensive line, it’s that it’s probably about to be a lot younger. That means Rogers is going to have his work cut out for him in 2026. He’s likely going to have to spend a lot of time getting younger players ready to be key contributors and starters. It’s not to say that he can’t do that. I’m sure he can. But it does make life a little harder than having a group of guys you know can just ball immediately.