The 2025-26 NFL playoffs kick off on Saturday with the second game of the day featuring the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. For some Detroit Lions, it may be too hard to watch, as the Lions failed to meet expectations and won’t be in the postseason. But if you’re already in offseason mode, I’ve […]
The 2025-26 NFL playoffs kick off on Saturday with the second game of the day featuring the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. For some Detroit Lions, it may be too hard to watch, as the Lions failed to meet expectations and won’t be in the postseason. But if you’re already in offseason mode, I’ve picked eight pending free agents from the two teams combined that could interest the Lions when free agency opens up in mid-March.
Packers at Bears — 8 p.m. ET — Prime Video
Packers players:
- OT Darian Kinnard (#70) – If you’re looking for a younger Dan Skipper, Kinnard has served as the Packers’ jumbo package lineman for the back half of the 2025 season, while also making four spot starts at right tackle. Like most backup tackles, pass protection isn’t great (11 pressures, 1 sack allowed in 142 pass blocking snaps), but he holds his own in the running game. And he’s only 26 years old.
- C Sean Rhyan (#75) – Ryan has been a starter for the past two years in Green Bay, serving as both right guard and center—despite playing tackle at UCLA. This season, Rhyan lost his right guard job, but managed to find his way back into the starting lineup after center Elgton Jenkins went down with an injury. Pass protection has been a big problem since moving to center (15 pressures allowed in eight games), but his run blocking is strong. Rhyan wouldn’t be a clear starter if the Lions signed him, but he could compete for the job and still has time (25 years old) to develop.
- LB Quay Walker (#7) – Okay, I understand the visceral “HELL NO” reaction after Walker shoved a Lions trainer a couple of years back. But Walker is a productive player who could help a Lions linebacking corps that has five players no longer under contract in 2026. Walker is a tackling machine with even some pass rushing juice (9.0 sacks in four seasons). But coverage is a liability with him, and he’ll likely be costly. But he’s a longer-term solution than re-signing Anzalone.
- EDGE Kingsley Enagbare (#55) — The Packers’ 2025 fifth-round pick has been a bit of a disappointment as a pass rusher (11.5 sacks over four years), but he plays strongly in the run game thanks to his long arms and physical style of play. I could see the Lions being intrigued by him.
Bears players
- G/C Ryan Bates (#71) – We’re not talking about a starter with Bates, although he has started 21 games in his seven-year career. In the past three years, he’s been an emergency fill-in at all three interior offensive line positions, and in 2022, he played 14 games at right guard and two at center. Bates brings a ton of athleticism, but has some size and strength concerns.
- EDGE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (#93) – This is a bit of dot connecting, as Tryon-Shoyinka could be reunited with his former defensive line coach, Kacy Rodgers, who overlapped with him in Tampa. Chicago’s pass rush has arguably been worse than Detroit’s this year, but the Bears made a late-round swap for Tryon-Shoyinka at the trade deadline, and he’s produced five pressures, 13 tackles, and a tackle for loss in a limited role (about 16 snaps a game). The former first-round pick is tall (6-foot-5, 259) and long, but hasn’t turned those physical tools into a fully-formed product. Still, he has some qualities the Lions like, and Detroit’s defensive end room is bare.
- CB Nick McCloud (#24) – This list admittedly has too many defensive players on a Bears defense that has struggled most of the season, but McCloud is an interesting player despite a down year in Chicago. He was in the midst of having a pretty strong stretch with the New York Giants from 2022-24, but his time there ended with an ugly contract dispute when the Giants asked him to take a mid-season pay cut, leading to his eventual release. Still, he started 16 games for the Giants, tallied 10 passes defended, and three forced fumbles. Throughout his professional career, he’s played both nickel and outside cornerback, and the Giants even toyed with him as a safety. If Rock-Ya Sin and/or Amik Robertson aren’t retained, McCloud is a lower-cost option.
- S Kevin Byard (#31) – The Bears’ other starting safety, Jaquan Brisker, is also heading toward free agency, but at just 26 years old, he’ll likely be out of Detroit’s price range. Byard won’t come cheap, either, as a three-time All-Pro (including this season); however, he will be 33 next year. If the Lions get bad news regarding the long-term outlook for either Kerby Joseph or Brian Branch, this could be a splashy move to get the back-end right. At this point in his career, he’s more of a Joseph replacement, as he’s coming off an NFL-leading seven interceptions and mostly plays deep safety.
Bonus: Bears DT Andrew Billings won’t play after having surgery on a torn pectoral, but if the Lions are looking to pair their young DL room with a veteran run stuffer and they don’t re-sign DJ Reader, I like Billings a lot.
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