Despite playing with one of the league’s best quarterbacks last season with the Chargers, tight end Tyler Conklin had his worst season since 2019.
He played a career-low 13 games and saw the second-fewest offensive touches of his career (169), finishing with seven receptions for 101 yards in his only season with the Chargers.
Conklin, 30, signed with the Lions in free agency and expressed confidence in being able to rebound this season.
“I think I can definitely be very productive in the pass game still,” Conklin said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I think just because one situation didn’t quite work out the way anybody wanted it doesn’t mean you just, like, can’t do it anymore.”
Conkin, who arrives as the No. 3 tight end behind Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright, caught 50-plus passes for four consecutive seasons for the Vikings (2021) and Jets (2022-24) before landing with the Chargers. New Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing ran more three-tight-end sets than any play-caller in the NFL the past three seasons with the Cardinals.
“Whether I’m catching passes, whether I’m blocking more, whether I’m playing special teams, whether I’m just mentoring, whatever that role is, I want to help this team win,” Conklin said. “But I’ve definitely got a lot of good football left in me.”
The Lions hosted offensive lineman Ben Bartch on a free agent visit on Monday.
Bartch, 27, spent the past two-plus seasons with the 49ers, where he started at left guard for four games.
He has 26 career starts, with 15 at left guard and 11 at right guard.
The Jaguars made Bartch a fourth-round pick in 2020, making him the highest-drafted player in Saint John’s (Minnesota) history.
He spent three-plus seasons in Jacksonville before the 49ers signed him off the Jaguars’ practice squad in 2023.
Bartch appeared in 41 games with 20 starts for the Jaguars, including 11 starts at right guard in 2021.
Linebacker Grant Stuard is joining the Rams.
The team announced on Monday that they have signed Stuard to a two-year deal. They did not announce any other terms of the deal.
Stuard was a core special teamer for the Lions in 2025 and he finished the season with 19 tackles in 17 appearances. He has played a similar role throughout an NFL career that started as a Buccaneers seventh-round pick in 2021 and continued with three seasons in Indianapolis.
Stuard made five starts on defense during his time in Indianapolis as well. He has 92 tackles and a forced fumble in 83 career games.
The Texans have revised the contract of running back David Montgomery, who they traded for at the start of the league year.
He will receive a raise, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC, now due $16.5 million over the next two seasons on a deal that includes a $6.5 million signing bonus.
Montgomery, 28, will have a fully guaranteed $1.5 million base salary this year and can earn a total of $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. His first-year payout is up to $8.5 million.
In 2027, Montgomery is scheduled to have a $7.5 million salary, $2 million of which is guaranteed, and a total of $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses.
He was previously due a non-guaranteed $5.49 million base salary this year and $7.49 million in 2027 with void years in 2028 and 2029.
Montgomery totaled 158 carries for 716 yards and eight touchdowns for the Lions last season, playing behind Jahmyr Gibbs. He requested a trade for an expanded role elsewhere, and the Lions sent him to Houston for offensive guard Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round selection and a seventh-round pick.
“Houston was definitely the place that I wanted to go,” Montgomery said Friday, via Wilson. “I was in Detroit, a very successful organization, and I practiced against Houston a couple of times and they’ve always been the hardest team to practice against.”
Cornerback Darius Slay said recently that no team other than the Eagles should call him about playing in 2026, but now it seems that even the Eagles shouldn’t bother reaching out to him.
In a post to X.com on Monday, Slay announced that he is retiring from the NFL. Slay wrote that he has reached the time for a “new chapter” and that he’s “ready to turn the page” on an NFL career that began as a Lions second-round pick in 2013.
Slay remained with the Lions through the 2019 season and made an All-Pro team before moving on to the Eagles in a trade in 2020. He helped the Eagles to an NFC title after the 2022 season and won a Super Bowl in his final game with the team.
Slay signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in 2025, but was waived by a mutual agreement in December. He was claimed off of waivers by the Bills and declined to report amid speculation that he hoped to return to the Eagles.
Slay had 655 tackles, 28 interceptions, two forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and six touchdowns over the course of his career.
