Things are changing for the Lions, and with new players added, some guys are going to be put in some tough situations
The Detroit Lions had a pretty good 2026 NFL Draft. Good enough to make you wonder which players should be looking over their shoulders come training camp time. We have four of them.
Here's the thing: the Lions have sort of moved themselves past Manu, whether they did it on purpose or not. If you're Manu, you now have Blake Miller and Larry Borom in front of you, and there's also Mason Miller and Colby Sorsdal to compete with for a roster spot. It's a lot. To go along with that, a shift to tackle for Miles Frazier makes a lot of sense for the player and the Lions. With all that, I just don't see how Manu makes it unless he has a big breakthrough summer.
The idea when the Lions drafted Lovett was to maybe have him take over for Kalif Raymond . But struggled at receiver in the preseason and got no real chances during the regular season. On top of that, the Lions seemingly never gave a shot at return man at any point, as expected. Now the Lions have Greg Dortch and just drafted Kendrick Law. Two guys that cancel Lovett out unless he simply outplays both of them.
When the Lions drafted Wingo in the sixth round, it felt like a big steal for them. Unfortunately, an injury in his rookie year slowed his progress, and the Lions making him a healthy scratch basically every week of the 2025 season slowed it down even further. Then, the Lions drafted Skyler Gill-Howard, who is essentially the same type of player who does the same stuff. Wingo can still win out, but he's really going to have to compete for his spot this year.
The Lions are giving Onwuzurike basically one more shot at camp. In 2024, it seemed things were trending in the right direction. But an ACL injury at the end of the year took his 2025 season. This year, he now has to compete with Wingo, Gill-Howard, Tyre West, and Myles Adams . That is a lot to beat. If he proves he's healthy and doesn't miss a beat from 2024, that would just be huge for Detroit .
Detroit Lions News
Mike Payton April 25, 2026
