Trent Williams
Getty
Trent Williams could retire after the season.
The Detroit Lions have meaningfully improved what was already a good roster since NFL free agency opened earlier this month, and have done so without overextending themselves — but a Super Bowl swing might still be coming.
Detroit appears to have two potential options in that regard, though neither is a guarantee. The team is among a handful of remaining candidates to trade for five-time Pro Bowl edge-rusher Maxx Crosby after a deal between the Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens, which the two sides had previously agreed on, broke down over a failed physical.
That move, if the Lions can swing it, is probably going to cost a couple of high draft picks, including at least one first-rounder. It also may not be feasible until late in the preseason, or potentially even closer to the mid-season trade deadline, based on recent speculation from Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.
A second potential move, this one on offense, would involve Detroit addressing its deficiency at left tackle. As far as weaknesses go, that premium position is arguably the Lions’ biggest after granting longtime starter Taylor Decker the release he requested this offseason.
Detroit might have a chance to fill that hole with Trent Williams, a 12-time Pro Bowler currently embroiled in a contract dispute with the San Francisco 49ers that has rendered him the franchise’s biggest remaining offseason question and most likely cut candidate.
Williams is in the final year of an $83 million contract and now carries a salary cap hit north of $46 million in 2026. San Francisco can save more than $33 million by releasing Williams with a post-June 1 designation, but doing so would cost the 49ers one of the best left tackles in NFL history.
Trent Williams Makes More Sense for Lions Than Trade for Maxx Crosby
Trent Williams
GettyLeft tackle Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers.
Recent reports out of the Bay Area indicate that the 49ers are trending toward keeping Williams, but doing so will be difficult to justify if the team can’t get him to renegotiate his current deal and bring down such an onerous salary cap hit heading into his age-38 campaign.
Winning at the highest level, even for a team that made it to the Divisional Round of the NFC playoffs last year and should be considerably healthier in 2026, is going to be just as difficult if San Francisco is paying upwards of $50 million for a single player who is pushing 40 years old and missed seven games due to injury in 2024 alone.
Williams would fill a greater need in Detroit at left tackle than the team currently has off the edge of its defense after signing DJ Wonnum to a one-year deal to play opposite superstar Aidan Hutchinson.
Lions Have Put Together Strong Offseason Thus Far, Must Address Left Tackle Need
Miami Dolphins
GettyDetroit Lions offensive tackle Larry Borom.
Thus, going after Williams makes more sense than trading two high picks for Crosby, particularly because all the Lions will have to do is pay Williams a salary in 2026 — and perhaps not even much of one given how much the Niners will owe him upon a hypothetical release.
Of course, San Francisco is more likely to try and trade Williams for a draft asset rather than simply cut him, but even in doing so the Lions would need to assume the vast majority of financial responsibility for his remaining compensation.
Any way it might shake out, Williams is a less expensive home run swing for the Lions, if they get a chance to take it, than is Crosby at a position of equal importance and greater need.
Ben Solak of ESPN on Wednesday, March 25 dubbed Detroit the third-most improved team this offseason, but pointed to the departure of Decker and signing of reserve offensive lineman Larry Borom as what he liked least for the Lions this March.
“Borom is a good swing backup, but the Lions don’t want to live in a world where he starts 17 games on Jared Goff’s blind side. Goff, for all of his improvements and strengths, is simply not a springy mover. He needs clean pockets,” Solak wrote. “With the 17th pick, the Lions are squarely in contention for a franchise left tackle, and I’d put a lot of theoretical chips on that being their first-round target.”
Whoever the Lions could get in the middle of the first round probably will not be the player Williams will be next season, which argues for Detroit making a play for Williams should he come available and using its first-round pick to fill another need, perhaps in the secondary.