Lions Clips
A bizarre case regarding alleged robberies and allegedly extreme efforts to recover stolen property has not yet resulted in charges being pursued against Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold. Arnold nevertheless continues to linger on the fringes of the case.
Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Arnold was mentioned “multiple times” in text messages generated in connection with a kidnapping, armed robbery, and assault case that has resulted in, to date, felony charges against six different people. The text messages were obtained by the Free Press via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Arnold was not a recipient of any of the text messages.
The alleged thefts that sparked the case happened at an Airbnb that Arnold had rented in Largo, Florida. Arnold himself filed the original police report that high-end bags, guns, jewelry, a cellphone, and $100,000 in cash had been stolen.
Boakai Hilton was the alleged mastermind; the presiding judge wrote in a prior order that an ensuing retrieval of the property through allegedly illegal means resulted directly from “Arnold and his friends” deciding to “take matters into their own hands.”
Attorney Tim Jansen downplayed the references to Arnold.
“His expectations are he’s not going to be charged,” Jansen told Birkett. “He hasn’t been charged and I haven’t seen these text message[s] but they obviously have them and they haven’t charged [him]. The fact that he knows some of these people is hardly evidence he committed a crime and we believe he’s not going to be charged.”
Jansen issued a separate statement to Birkett: “We have not yet been provided with the text messages in question, and it would be inappropriate to comment on isolated excerpts without first reviewing them in their full context. We are aware that law enforcement has conducted an extensive investigation, as reflected in the 49-page criminal information. Notably, our client has not been charged, and based on the evidence currently known, we do not anticipate that any charges will be brought against him. Any suggestion of involvement appears to rest solely on the fact that our client is acquainted with certain individuals connected to this matter. Mere association does not constitute participation in criminal activity. Importantly, there is no evidence, nor any witness testimony, indicating that our client has had any involvement.”
The fact that Arnold hasn’t been charged doesn’t mean he won’t be. Prosecutors may attempt to persuade one or more of the existing defendants to flip on Arnold, if there’s any reason to believe he ordered or instigated the effort to recover the property that had been stolen from the property he had rented.
Veteran defensive lineman D.J. Reader could find a job in Baltimore.
The NFL’s transaction report for Thursday shows that Reader visited with the Ravens. It’s the first reported visit of the month for Reader, who was No. 40 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents.
Reader started every game for the Lions last season and finished the year with 28 tackles. He also played 15 games for the Lions in 2024 and previously appeared in 105 games for the Bengals and Texans.
Reader has 328 tackles, 12.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery over all of those stops.
The Ravens saw Dre’Mont Jones sign with the Patriots after free agency opened this month. Brent Urban and Taven Bryan remain free agents after playing for the team last season.
There was a moment this offseason when it looked like the Lions would have both of their starting offensive tackles back for the 2026 season, but that possibility crumbled when they couldn’t agree to a revised contract with left tackle Taylor Decker prior to his release.
Decker had taken some time to consider retirement and one of the scenarios discussed before he announced plans to play was to move Penei Sewell from right tackle to left tackle. It’s back on the table now and General Manager Brad Holmes said the option of switching Sewell’s spot made it easier to approach free agency this month.
“I think that’s the beauty of having a player like him,” Holmes said on the Lions Collective podcast. “You always have that flexibility of the possibility of him playing left tackle, He’s done it before. It’s not anything foreign to him, so, even as we’re going through free agency, we weren’t really pigeonholed like, ‘We’ve got to get a left tackle. We’ve got to get a right tackle.’ We were just like, ‘What’s the best tackle for us?’ And then we’ll kind of adjust as needed. So that’s kind of the beauty of it.”
The Lions wound up signing Larry Borom, who started 11 games at right tackle for the Dolphins last season. Borom has played other spots over the course of his career, but Holmes said he thought the veteran’s “most consistent ball” came at that position last year and that would seem to be a sign of where things are heading on the offensive line in Detroit.
Not that there was much question, but the Lions have officially brought back their kicker.
Detroit announced on Wednesday that the club has re-signed Jake Bates.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bates, 27, had been tendered as an exclusive rights free agent, virtually guaranteeing he would be back with the club.
Bates has led the league in extra points attempted and made over his first two seasons with Detroit. He connected on 26-of-29 field goals in 2024 and 27-of-34 field goals in 2025.
The Chargers have added some depth for their offensive line.
Los Angeles announced on Wednesday that the club has signed Kayode Awosika.
Awosika, 27, spent the last four seasons with the Lions. He appeared in 13 games with four starts for the club last season, on the field for 35 percent of offensive snaps and 18 percent of special teams snaps in games played.
Awosika entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of the University at Buffalo in 2021. He’s played 50 games with 11 starts for the Eagles and Lions in his career.
Offensive lineman Ben Bartch visited the Lions earlier this month and he’ll be spending more time in Detroit in the future.
The Lions announced that they have signed Bartch on Wednesday. The team did not share any details about the terms of the deal, which was initially reported by Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bartch entered the league as a Jaguars fourth-round pick in 2020 and played 41 games for the team before the 49ers signed him off their practice squad in 2023. He appeared in 14 regular season games and three postseason contests during his time with San Francisco.
The Lions have also added Cade Mays, Larry Borom, and Juice Scruggs to their offensive line this offseason. They help balance out the departures of starters Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow since the end of the 2025 season.
The Lions did not make the playoffs at the end of the 2025 season and their approach to the offseason was a topic of conversation for General Manager Brad Holmes this week.
During an appearance on the Lions Collective podcast, General Manager Brad Holmes shot down the notion that there was a difference of opinion within the franchise about how to build the 2026 roster as well as how the team’s recent drafts have impacted their other moves. The Lions have seen players like Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alex Anzalone, Taylor Decker, Amik Robertson, and David Montgomery move on to other teams.
Center Cade Mays was the only addition who signed a multi-year contract with Detroit and Holmes said that thoughts about extensions for running back Jahmyr Gibbs, linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta, and safety Brian Branch — all of whom were 2023 draft picks — put the “sustainability” of the current roster in the forefront of the team’s thoughts.
“When we’re looking at the constraints we had financially entering in, we’re not going to be able to do a lot of multi-year deals,” Holmes said. “For what we’re trying to do with these extensions that we have upcoming, the implications that it would have on our cap would be — I don’t want to call it crippling, but it would have been hard to overcome. We were kind of limited in how many multi-year deals that we actually could get.”
The job Holmes has done through the draft since arriving in Detroit helped turn the franchise around and the work he can do to maintain that foundation will have a lot to do with how high the Lions can rise in the coming years.
The Lions have had changes this offseason, losing David Montgomery, Alex Anzalone, Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow, among others, while adding Isiah Pacheco, Juice Scruggs and Larry Borom, among others.
A comment made on Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket began a local debate about whether General Manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell were in sync on the offseason plan.
“Someone who covers the team told me that this was the first offseason there are definite differences of opinions in roster construction between Dan and Brad,” radio host Mike Valenti said last week, via Colton Pouncy of TheAthletic.com.
Holmes was asked by “The Lions Collective Podcast” whether his conversations with Campbell have been more intense after the results last season.
“I think the only intensity I would say is just that when you have a disappointment of a season like we had, it’s more intense in terms of — I think what I spoke about at the end-of-the-season press conference is that it is a deeper, harder look from top to bottom on everything,” Holmes said. “And that’s what me and Dan have done in joint alignment. So, that would be the only intensity that was probably a little further, because you get these eye-openers like, ‘Whoa, hold on now.’ And so, ‘Let’s just make sure that we’re not overlooking something,’ or if there’s not a tweak or adjustment that needs to be done. So, I would say that that would be the intensity. That’s what’s happening.
“I don’t know where the other stuff came from, but no, I mean, if anything, it’s me and Dan in total lockstep like we always have been. And, you know, we’re just kind of looking at everything top to bottom, which we already have done, and that we’ll continue to do, for sure.”
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is back in Detroit, for his third stint with the Lions. The 13-year veteran officially signed his new contract on Monday.
“That fire to just compete and go out there and just excel and help others as well,” Bridgewater said, via the team’s official website. “I’ve always been that type of player who just wants to see others have success and I always felt like as a quarterback we play a huge role in others’ success.”
Bridgewater replaces Kyle Allen as the primary backup to Jared Goff. But Bridgewater has a separate goal than serving as an insurance policy.
“If I can just go out there and help a sixth-round wide receiver have a four- or five-year career or an undrafted free agent get four or five years out of the league from just competing with him throughout the spring, preseason, training camp, if we get reps in the regular season, that’s just something that I look forward to doing,” Bridgewater said.
A first-round pick (32nd overall) in 2014, Bridgewater spent four years with the Vikings, two with the Saints, one with the Panthers, one with the Broncos, one with the Dolphins, and one with the Lions. He left the NFL to become a high-school football coach in 2024. After leading Miami Northwestern to a state championship, he rejoined the Lions for the postseason.
Last year, Bridgewater quit coaching after being suspended for providing benefits to his players. In response, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill in February 2026 to allow high school coaches to spend $15,000 per year on student welfare. There have been no further updates on the bill, known generally as the Teddy Bridgewater Act. To become law, it must both pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the governor.
After leaving high-school coaching, Bridgewater played for the Buccaneers last year, serving as the backup to Baker Mayfield.
For his career, Bridgewater has appeared in 83 regular-season games with 65 starts. He suffered a serious knee injury in late August 2016, weeks before what the Vikings had hoped would be a breakout third season with the team.
Heading into his fourth NFL season, expectations are very high for Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
Gibbs is the betting favorite to win the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award for 2026.
It was already clear that Gibbs was the No. 1 running back in Detroit, but when the Lions traded running back David Montgomery to the Texans, it left no doubt that the plan is for Gibbs to get a big workload this season. New Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is expected to give Gibbs plenty of opportunities to make plays with the ball in his hands.
Last year Gibbs totaled 1,223 rushing yards. This year he’s expected to go a little higher, as the over-under on Gibbs’ rushing yards is 1,249.5.
Gibbs’ odds to win Offensive Player of the Year are +700. The next-best odds go to Falcons running back Bijan Robinson at +800, followed by Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase at +900, Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey at +1000, Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at +1100 and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson at +1200.
