Day Three Draft Picks All Locked Up
The Lions wrapped up their rookie signings Monday, getting all their day three draft picks under contract. And yes, one of these deals looks even better now than it did on draft night.
Fourth-round linebacker Jimmy Rolder signed a four-year, $5.532 million deal with a $1.152 million signing bonus. Fifth-round cornerback Keith Abney got four years, $4.878 million with a $498,900 signing bonus. Fifth-round receiver Kendrick Law signed for four years, $4.83 million with a $450,132 signing bonus.
Sixth-round defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard got four years, $4.643 million with a $263,292 signing bonus. Seventh-round defensive lineman Tyre West rounds out the group with four years, $4.547 million and a $167,292 signing bonus.
The Abney Contract is Highway Robbery
Here’s where it gets fun. Keith Abney was projected by basically everyone with working eyeballs to go in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Instead, he fell to the Lions in the fifth.
Had he gone where he was supposed to, around pick 50, he would have gotten paid like Jets second-rounder D’Angelo Ponds. That deal? Four years, $9.836 million with $8.946 million guaranteed.
So the Lions got a player who’s arguably just as good, possibly better, for literally half the money. This wasn’t just a draft steal. This is a contract steal, a depth chart steal, and probably a future Pro Bowl steal all rolled into one.
The expectation is Abney becomes the starting slot corner in 2026. At that price point, even if he’s just decent, Brad Holmes looks like a genius.
Standard Business Otherwise
The rest of these deals are exactly what you’d expect. Rookie contracts went up about $300,000 across the board compared to last year. Nothing shocking there.
The real story remains Abney falling into Detroit’s lap in the fifth round. Sometimes the draft gods smile on franchises that have suffered long enough.
Did Brad Holmes just pull off the heist of the draft or are we setting ourselves up for disappointment again? Drop your take below.
Abney falling to the fifth round is the kind of thing that makes you believe the football gods are finally paying attention to Detroit. Brad Holmes seeing what everyone else missed and getting him on a deal like that? That’s the move that wins you a championship eventually.
Look I like the move but let’s pump the brakes a little. He hasn’t played a down yet. Second rounders fall to the fifth all the time and a lot of them still bust. Holmes has earned the benefit of the doubt but we gotta see it on the field first before we’re calling this a steal.
Man this is what it looks like when a front office actually knows what they’re doing. I’ve been watching this team for more years than I care to count and I gotta say the way Holmes and Campbell operate is completely different from what we’ve dealt with before. Getting a guy like Abney at that price is exactly how you build a roster the right way.
The fact that everyone had him pegged for round two and he drops to round five is insane. That’s not just good scouting that’s Brad Holmes getting lucky and capitalizing on it. Slot corner depth at that contract value is exactly what wins playoff games.