Notes: Top 50 NFL free agent lists feature just 1 Lions player

Jan 31, 2023 - 11:00 PM

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The Detroit Lions have 28 players who are set to become free agents at the start of the new league year in mid-March. Of those 28, 18 are unrestricted—meaning if the Lions don’t come to an agreement with those players by March 13, they can start negotiating with other teams.

We’ve already heard from plenty of Lions free agents publicly expressing their desire to come back to Detroit, and we know general manager Brad Holmes likes to keep around players that fit the team’s culture. So it’s quite possible many of those players come back.

Those players could also come back because there may not be a huge market for them elsewhere. This week, two different publications published their top 50 NFL free agents list, and between those two lists, the Lions had just a single player show up (and only on one of the lists).

Wide receiver DJ Chark came in at 36 on Matt Bowen’s list over at ESPN. Despite a down season dealing with another injury, Bowen believes Chark is still a big play threat.

“Chark, a vertical stretch target, averaged 16.7 yards per catch in 11 games for the Lions this season,” Bowen wrote. “He can be schemed to attack intermediate windows on deep in-breakers. At 6-foot-4, he has the ability to win outside matchups as a boundary target. He has 18 touchdowns over five seasons.”

On Bowen’s list, Chark is the fourth-highest wide receiver in free agency, trailing Jakobi Meyers (21st), Odell Beckham Jr. (26th) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (27th).

PFF’s list, however, has no Lions on it at all. In fact, only two receiver (Meyers, Smith-Schuster) made their entire top-50 list.

But no mention from either publication of the NFL rushing touchdown leader Jamaal Williams or underrated edge defender John Cominsky.

• Speaking of Jamaal Williams, he spent a full hour with the gang over at “Good Morning Football” on Tuesday. Here are a few fun clips from the show:

There are even more clips over on “Good Morning Football’s” Twitter page.

• With it being Senior Bowl season now, DetroitLions.com’s Dannie Rogers sat down with Executive Director Jim Nagy:

• Good stuff here from Kyle Meinke, as he caught up with Romeo Okwara, who talked about spending most the season rehabbing from his 2021 Achilles tear, and his hopes to stay in Detroit next year and beyond. He even is going as far as staying in Detroit this offseason to train locally.

• Lions rookie safety went live on Instagram Tuesday afternoon, and it looks like he’s having a great time in Las Vegas with teammate Tracy Walker:

• DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman already has his Day 1 observations from Senior Bowl practices.

• In Colton Pouncy’s mailbag over at The Athletic ($), he goes over which Lions free agents he’d re-sign, and offers his thoughts on a potential Jalen Ramsey trade.