Brad Holmes has built a Detroit Lions roster with real postseason juice for 2026, but turning that into the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance will take more than a strong depth chart on paper. A few key pieces have to come back right, and they have to come back fast.
The first big swing is at center, where the Lions brought in Mays as their top offseason addition. He’s expected to fill a glaring hole and should be a clear upgrade over Graham Glashow, who was a subpar performer at the position in 2025.
The catch is that Mays will open the season on injured reserve because of a wrist injury. That’s a setback, no doubt, but once he’s back, Detroit is counting on him to steady the middle of the line and give the offense a Frank Ragnow-lite anchor.
If that happens, the Lions should be able to get back to a balanced attack that can operate at an elite level.
Detroit also needs McNeill to rediscover the version of himself that showed up in 2024. Before his ACL tear, he looked like a Pro Bowl-caliber interior defensive lineman who could wreck plays against the run and get after the quarterback.
His return in 2025 never really matched that level, and the impact simply wasn’t there. The N.C.
State product has to make a real jump in 2026. If he does, the interior of the defensive line becomes a much bigger problem for opponents than it was last season.
Health is just as important in the secondary, where Brian Branch is expected to begin the 2026 campaign on the PUP list while continuing to recover from an Achilles injury that ended his 2025 season after 12 games. Branch missed the final four games last year, and his absence matters because he’s such a central piece of Kelvin Sheppard’s defense.
When he gets back, the Lions need the same all-over-the-field impact he brings in coverage and against the run. If Branch is again playing at that level, Detroit’s Super Bowl case gets a whole lot stronger.
The offense could use another boost from LaPorta, too. Like Branch, he has to get healthy first, and the Lions need him to return to the Pro Bowl form he showed earlier in his career.
LaPorta missed the final eight games of the 2025 season because of a fully herniated disk, then dealt with a hip injury in training camp in August. The hope is that the hip issue won’t hang around, because Detroit could use the player who broke out as a rookie in 2023 with 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns, then followed that with 60 receptions, 726 yards and seven touchdowns in 2024.
If he gets back to that level, the Lions’ offense stays the kind of high-powered unit that can carry them deep into the season.
In Other News...
Lions May Have Found The Edge Help Hutchinson Needed
DJ Wonnum has been one of the quieter additions of Lions training camp, but that has hardly been a bad thing for a defense trying to settle in around Aidan Hutchinson. Dan Campbell called the six-year veteran steady and consistent, and that kind of reliability can matter as much as flash when a team is looking to firm up its front. Detroit brought Wonnum in this offseason with a clear role in mind, one that asks him to help against the run while still offering enough pass-rush juice to keep offenses honest.
For the Lions, the appeal is obvious: if Wonnum gives Hutchinson a dependable edge partner, the pass rush can look more balanced and less easy to scheme around. There is still competition in the mix, with Derrick Moore and Alim McNeill among the players working for roles on the defensive line, so nothing is settled yet. But Wonnums camp has at least given Detroit a reason to believe the edge opposite Hutchinson can become a real strength rather than a weekly question. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Rookies Suddenly Carry More Weight Than Detroit Expected
The Lions went into the summer expecting their rookie class to help in spots, but training camp and preseason have pushed that group into a more meaningful conversation. Blake Miller, Derrick Moore, Jimmy Rolder, Keith Abney II and Skyler Gill-Howard all showed up in the discussion for different reasons, whether it was fit, opportunity or the simple reality that Detroit may need more from its first-year players than planned.
Injuries have only sharpened that need, even as the roster is still taking shape and the projections remain tentative. For a team with bigger ambitions than mere depth-chart survival, the question is no longer whether those rookies can fill out the back end of the roster, but how quickly they can be trusted if the Lions need them early and often. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Campbell Just Made Detroits Backup RB Battle A Lot Murkier
The picture behind Jahmyr Gibbs is getting less straightforward in Detroit, and thats exactly the kind of depth-chart wrinkle Dan Campbell seems comfortable with. Campbell said the Lions plan to handle the backup running back spot with a committee, putting Jacob Saylors and 2024 fourth-round pick Sione Vaki into the mix as the team sorts out its next layer of backfield roles.
Both players have a path to helping in more than one way, which matters in a Lions system that values versatility as much as carry count. Saylors brings more NFL experience, while Vaki has spent most of his pro time on special teams as he makes the transition from safety to running back, and Campbell made it clear the job will extend beyond just running the ball as those two sort out duties as runners, pass protectors and receivers. [Read more 🡒]