The Lions signed unrestricted free agent Damone Clark on Wednesday, the team announced.
Clark, 25, finished last season with the Texans, who claimed him off waivers from the Cowboys on Nov. 19.
In six games with Houston, Clark played 23 defensive snaps and 131 on special teams. He made 14 tackles.
The Cowboys made Clark a fifth-round pick in 2020, and he started 17 games for the team in 2023 when he posted 109 tackles and three quarterback hits.
Clark will replace Grant Stuard as a core special teams player. Stuard, who led the team in special teams snaps last season, left in free agency. Clark will join a linebackers room with Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske.
Clark has appeared in 55 career games with 26 starts and has totaled 190 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four pass defenses and two forced fumbles.
Lions Clips
The Browns are bringing in a potential heavy special teams contributor.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Cleveland is signing safety Daniel Thomas.
Thomas, 27, spent last season with Detroit. He appeared in 12 games with two starts, playing 69 percent of special teams snaps in games played. He also played 14 percent of defensive snaps in his appearances.
A fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, Thomas played his first five seasons with the Jaguars. He’s appeared in 83 career games with six starts for Jacksonville and Detroit, recording three passes defensed, an interception, and 94 total tackles.
Free agent defensive end DJ Wonnum is signing with the Lions on a one-year deal with a maximum value of $6 million, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Wonnum, 28, visited the team on Tuesday.
His signing gives the Lions three true edge rushers on their roster, joining Aidan Hutchinson and Ahmed Hassanein. Hassanein didn’t play in his rookie season after a pectoral injury in the preseason.
He spent the past two seasons in Carolina after signing a two-year, $12.5 million deal as a free agent.
Wonnum totaled 79 tackles, seven sacks, one interception, four passes defensed and a forced fumble with the Panthers. He missed time with a quad injury in 2024.
The Vikings selected Wonnum in the fourth round of the 2020 draft. He has 30 career sacks in six seasons, including eight for Minnesota in 2021 and ’23.
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.
The Lions have reached a deal with their second free agent defensive back of the week.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that they have agreed to sign cornerback Roger McCreary. It is a one-year deal for McCreary, who joins Christian Izien as newcomers to the defensive backfield in Detroit.
McCreary was a Titans 2022 second-round pick and he played in 55 games for the team before being traded to the Rams during the 2025 season. McCreary had 12 tackles for the Rams in nine games across the regular season and playoffs. He had 253 tackles, three interceptions, four sacks, and a forced fumble while in Tennessee.
Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, Ennis Rakestraw, Khalil Dorsey, Rock-Ya Sin, and Nick Whiteside are also on hand at cornerback for the Lions.
Veteran tight end Tyler Conklin’s next stop will be Detroit.
Conklin’s agent Mike McCartney announced that his client has agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Lions.
Conklin is making the move to the NFC North after spending last season with the Chargers. He had seven catches for 101 yards while appearing in 13 games and making five starts.
That came after a three-year run that saw Conklin catch 170 passes for 1,622 yards and seven touchdowns with the Jets.
Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, Zach Horton, and Thomas Gordon are the other tight ends on the roster for the Lions.
