The latest of the five Tennessee players who were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft has officially signed his rookie deal with his new team. Defensive lineman Tyre West was a seventh-round pick of the Detroit Lions, and the team announced on Tuesday that it had signed West and the rest of its draft class. The Lions are the only NFL team not holding a rookie minicamp this year, but West was on the field for his first NFL offseason workouts this week.
According to financial figures from Over The Cap, the estimated value of West’s four-year rookie deal as the No. 222 overall pick is $4,550,228, which includes a guaranteed signing bonus worth $170,228.
West joins wide receiver Chris Brazzell II, a third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers, and edge defender Joshua Josephs, a fifth-round pick of the Washington Commanders, as the Tennessee draft picks to sign their rookie deals. Second-round cornerback Colton Hood also signed his four-year deal with the New York Giants on Tursday. That leaves fourth-round cornerback Jermod McCoy (Las Vegas Raiders) as the only unsigned Vols draft pick.
The 6-foot-1, 278-pound West is wearing No. 52 with the Lions after wearing No. 42 during his four seasons at Tennessee, where he totaled 65 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in 48 career games.
West started just five games averaged just 17 snaps per game in a rotational role at defensive end for the Vols, but set career-highs in tackles (23), tackles for loss (7.5) and sacks (four) as a senior in 2025.
“He was kind of part of a rotation with a lot of defensive linemen that were NFL-caliber players,” Detroit general manager Brad Holmes said after the draft. “It wasn’t really a knock that he wasn’t like getting all of the snaps. It was just they had a lot of guys, but when he would come in, he would take advantage of the opps that he got in terms of being able to apply pressure and get to the quarterback. He was one that we brought him in for a visit, enjoyed the time that we spent with him and felt really good about him.”
Though he was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, West earned an invite to the American Bowl and was a late addition to the Senior Bowl to get on the NFL radar.
He took pre-draft visits to the Lions and New York Jets.
“I talked to everybody in the facility, and like everybody just had great energy” West said on his post-draft conference call. “I loved all the energy and the emotion that they came to me with. When I first got there, I just knew for a fact it was going to be a good fit.”
West is the 24th Tennessee player the Lions have drafted, the most of any franchise in the NFL.