While the feelings are familiar, the Lions are not going through a rebuild right now after losing fan favorites
This was all expected for the Lions at the end of the day
Remember what it felt like after the 2020 season, Detroit Lions fans? Suddenly, everyone you loved was leaving. Matthew Stafford was heading out west, Kenny Golladay to New York, Marvin Jones to Jacksonville. Everyone was leaving.
You knew at that time, sure as the day you were born, that a full-on rebuild was coming for the Lions. Flash forward to 2026, and Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, David Montgomery, Kalif Raymond, Alex Anzalone, Kyle Allen, Amik Robertson, and Roy Lopez are all gone now. What the hell is happening? How could this team that just went 15-2 two years ago be rebuilding?
The Lions are not rebuilding, and most of what is happening was fully expected
I think you all do remember what 2020 was like. Let’s all calm down for a minute here. Understandably, there would be some emotions when a player who has been around for a long time leaves. In your heart, you always hoped these guys would just play forever or at least retire as Lions. That’s just not how the cookie crumbles more often than not.
The important thing here is, like the big bold letters say above, most of this was fully expected. Let’s really look at it.
Why beloved Lions players leaving was expected
- Taylor Decker: It was fully expected just a few weeks ago that he was going to retire, and most Lions fans I talked to were perfectly ok with that. The injuries were hurting him and his play, and he’d earned his retirement. Then he shocked everyone and returned. I don’t think the Lions were planning on that or necessarily wanted that to happen. (That last part is a hunch)
- Graham Glasgow: The Lions’ need for a new center was because Glasgow’s play had begun to decline. Nobody expected him to be back in 2026 unless he took a veteran role off the bench. The Lions’ choice to work on the depth there over that idea.
- Amik Robertson: He had a great 2024 season, but 2025 was really hard on him. He struggled mightily and became the opposing quarterbacks’ favorite targets. Coming out of the season, it was expected that the Lions would look to go elsewhere for cornerback help.
- Alex Anzalone: This should have shocked nobody at all when the Lions flat-out refused to sign him to a new deal last summer. They want Derrick Barnes in that role, or they want to go out and draft a guy. Either way, the Lions are looking to get younger at linebacker.
- Kalif Raymond: The Lions drafted his theoretical replacement last season. He’s going to be 32 this year. You had to know this was coming.
- David Montgomery: You hate to see it happen, but the Lions did build themselves an out in his contract when they extended him in 2024. This was coming soon, whether it happened now or next year. At the end of the day, we learned that Montgomery did not want to be in Detroit, and barely anyone believed that until it was too late.
- Kyle Allen: I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been talking about QB2’s in the draft since September. Allen has been great for Detroit, but he was going to be a desired option for teams, and the Lions are in a good spot to maybe find that guy of the future who can bake on the bench for a little while until it’s time to take him out of the oven.
The real shocking loss here is Roy Lopez. We expected him to be back and that the Lions would look at him as a priority guy for them. That didn’t happen. He decided to go back to Arizona, where most of his family is close. If you talked to Lopex for five minutes this year, you knew that he was a devout family man and loved being with his dad and his uncles. So this makes sense in the end.
At the end of the day, this is business as usual. Guys come in, and sometimes they stay for a long time and never leave. More often, they stay for a long time and then leave. What matters now is that the Lions still have their core players here in Detroit. They’re still young and still capable of doing big things. They haven’t lost any true impact players that could drag the whole franchise down to a point where you have to start over again.