The Free Agent Names That Won’t Stop Coming Up
Training camp is less than two weeks away. The roster is mostly set. And yet Lions fans keep circling back to the same free agent names like we’re about to pull a rabbit out of a hat in mid-July. I get it. This is what we do. We obsess. We refresh Twitter. We convince ourselves that one more veteran signing is the difference between a playoff exit and the thing we don’t talk about out loud because we’ve been hurt too many times.
So let’s walk through the big names still available, who actually fits what Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell are building, and which popular targets make absolutely zero sense no matter how many times you see them mentioned in the comments.
Joey Bosa: The Name That Sounds Better Than It Is
Bosa is the guy Lions fans bring up the most. Everybody knows the name. He’s been a good pass rusher for most of his career. But here’s the thing: he’s not really that good anymore.
Last season, Bosa posted 54 pressures and five sacks. His tackle grade sat at 26.5, one of the worst in the NFL. He missed 14 tackles. That’s the opposite of what you want on this team. His run defense grade was a 52. That just doesn’t fit the Lions’ mode.
Detroit wants somebody who can do more than one thing. If you want to make the case for bringing in Bosa as a pure pass rush specialist, I can sort of get there. But not at the money he’s probably going to want. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Kyle Van Noy: The Homecoming That Probably Isn’t Happening
Van Noy started his career in Detroit, and it didn’t go well for him in his first two and a half seasons. He got traded to the New England Patriots, figured it out over there, won a couple of Super Bowls, and turned himself into a productive veteran. In 2024, he had 14 sacks on 56 pressures and played really well. His 2025 season was a down year altogether, but Van Noy fits the idea of what the Lions would want. He can pass rush, and he carries a 76.7 run defense grade. He can set the edge in the run game. That plays well for Detroit.
Here’s the thing, though. That’s what the Lions want D.J. Wanham to do.
They want Wanham to come in and set the edge in the run game while Derrick Moore serves as the pass rush specialist until Moore is ready to do both and become the full-time starter opposite Aidan Hutchinson. Van Noy feels like a good idea if you can get him at some sort of veteran minimum, or if he wants to come in for a cheaper amount and be a purely rotational player. I see that making sense. But the Lions are looking for somebody who fits into the long-term plan, somebody who could play a lot more. That’s why I don’t know if I see it happening.
Jadeveon Clowney: The Guy I’d Pick If I Were Running This Thing
It’s a bit surprising Clowney isn’t on a team yet, although a lot of these veterans tend to wait until after training camp to sign somewhere. They want to train their own way and skip the grind of camp. I think once training camp wraps up, you’ll see Clowney, Bosa, and Van Noy all land with teams.
Clowney would be a great fit for Detroit. He posted 40 pressures and nine sacks last season with an 80.6 pass rush grade from Pro Football Focus and a 70.6 run defense grade. He can set the edge, he can rush the passer, and he can get out of the way once it comes time for Moore to take over that role full-time. Personally, if I were the GM of the Detroit Lions, I would look at Clowney over Wanham and make that call.
But I don’t run the team.
The guys who do want Wanham in the spot Clowney would fill. So while I think Clowney is a great fit for the Lions, I just don’t think he’s going to wind up here. The Lions have already mapped out their edge rotation with Hutchinson, Moore, and Wanham, and nothing about the way Holmes and Campbell have operated suggests they’re ready to revisit that plan.
We’ll see if anything changes once roster cuts start flying around the league. But right now, the Lions seem comfortable with what they have.
Adoree’ Jackson: The Veteran Corner Who Actually Makes Sense
Here’s the thing with Jackson: the Lions don’t need him to come in and be a shutdown corner. They need him to be exactly what he has been throughout most of his career. A reliable veteran who can line up at multiple spots, survive when injuries inevitably hit, and keep the defense from falling apart.
He’s started 92 NFL games and has played on the outside. He’s coming off 11 starts for the Eagles in 2025. He could either start for the Lions or rotate with Rock Ya-Sin.
Ifeatu Melifonwu: The Familiar Face Still Out There
Melifonwu is still out there right now. He actually worked out with the Seahawks recently. He’s someone who has played both safety and cornerback in the NFL, and more importantly, he’s been in this system already. So he knows what is expected. On top of that, Melifonwu is still just 27 years old.
Cam Gill: The UFL Star Who Got a Look Before
Gill actually spent some time with the Lions. He spent a couple of weeks with Detroit during the 2024 season. This year, he led the UFL in sacks and won the Defensive Player of the Year award. Gill has experience playing in the NFL and even sacked Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl in 2020. He could come in for a shot at a depth role on the 53-man roster.
Kenny Moore: The Name You Need to Stop Bringing Up
This is the guy I hear about all the time. Why won’t the Lions go get Kenny Moore? Because they don’t need him.
Moore is a slot corner. The Lions already have a good situation with Roger McCreary. They also have Christian Izien, Avonte Maddox, and rookie Keith Abney, whom they just drafted and expect to play in the slot.
I know he’s the name everyone keeps bringing up, but Moore plays a position Detroit doesn’t need to fill. The Lions need an outside corner. That’s not what Moore is. He’s been a slot corner his whole career for the most part, and he was very good at it. If the Lions needed a slot corner, I’d say go get him, 100%.
They don’t. Lay off the Kenny Moore idea.
So which one of these free agents would you actually pull the trigger on if you were Brad Holmes? Or are we all just spinning our wheels two weeks before camp starts? Drop your take below.
