Secondary: Cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon will be back, but plenty more work around them needs to be done.

Defensive Line: It's not surprising that a regular Round 1 match for the Bears in early mock drafts has been Ohio State DL Kayden McDonald.

Offensive Line: This front office needs to add some youth to this once-elite group, as the Lions have drafted only two offensive linemen in Rounds 1-3 over the last five drafts combined!

Defensive Line: the team needs to work to bring back, or replace, free agents Marcus Davenport, DJ Reader, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Roy Lopez. The Lions presently have the fifth-cheapest EDGE room in the league entering 2026.

Cornerback: With guys like Amik Robertson, Rock Ya-Sin, and Avonte Maddox all hitting free agency, the Lions should think long and hard about spending one of their Day 1 or 2 draft picks on their cornerback room.

Offensive Line: Getting better at protecting Jordan Love is particularly important, considering just how volatile his splits were when under pressure (No. 21 in EPA, -0.29) vs. when kept clean (No. 1 in EPA, +0.55).

Interior Defensive Line: Adding mid-priced pieces in free agency and/or the draft is probably a good idea considering how much worse this defense was against the run (28th in success rate allowed) compared to the pass (13th) in 2025.

Linebacker: Adding bodies to the front seven to help shore up the run defense looks like one of the clearer ways for this team to immediately improve in 2026.

Secondary: Reclamation project Jeff Okudah didn't work out and joins Fabian Moreau as free agents. The Vikings could get out of their big-money deal with Byron Murphy after this season should his performance not improve. It might be time to get back to slinging some first-round dough at the position.

Quarterback: At a minimum the team needs to have a better emergency plan than Max Brosmer. At a maximum it could make sense to add some real competition in the form of someone like Malik Willis, Marcus Mariota or Aaron Rodgers.

Linebacker: Better performance against the run is needed regardless of whether or not the team simply rolls it back with the same crew in 2026.