2. Graham Glasgow, Guard
The Lions offensive line is the foundation of their team. When Dan Campbell took over, he inherited two key pillars in Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker. But the first pick of his tenure was selecting Penei Sewell with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft.
If you don’t think the Lions care about their offensive line, watch the reaction of the front office when they realized Sewell would still be on the board and how Ben Johnson drew trick plays to take advantage of his athleticism the past couple of years. The offensive line is the engine that drives Detroit’s offense and it’s in need of a tuneup this offseason.
The Lions were one of the best teams in the trenches, ranking fourth in PFF’s final offensive line rankings for the 2024 season. Decker, Sewell and Ragnow are locks to return next season but the Lions have major questions at guard with Kevin Zeitler hitting free agency and Graham Glasgow coming off a tough year.
The Lions have a good chance at bringing back Zeitler but they’ll need to do something about Glasgow. His 57.2 overall PFF grade was 55th among 77 qualifiers last season and he ranked fourth among guards with 45 quarterback pressures allowed.
A 7.1% pressure rate isn’t great but it becomes worse when you have a traditional pocket passer like Jared Goff as your quarterback. It’s also concerning because Glasgow has struggled for most of the past five seasons with the outlier of a 74.9 PFF grade with Detroit in the 2023 season. While the Lions could run it back and hope Glasgow rediscovers that form, it probably leads them to search for a new guard in free agency.
Bringing back Zeitler should be the Lions’ top priority. But things could get interesting if Detroit decides to create $2.1 million in cap space by releasing Glasgow. The Lions would probably like to allocate most of their $51.1 million in cap space on the defensive end. But adding Teven Jenkins, Patrick Mekari or Aaron Banks would be an upgrade on what Glasgow gave them last year.
For an important part of the roster, it’s an investment worth making and could put the 32-year-old on thin ice.