We’ve done a lot of talking about which free agents the Detroit Lions should be bringing back and probably will be bringing back. What we haven’t spent a lot of time talking about is the ones they more than likely won’t be bringing back. Today we’ll talk about four guys that are done with the Lions and why.
Will Harris
The coaching staff loved this guy for a long time. Most of that was because Harris is a good teammate and he’s a guy that doesn’t complain and jut does what’s asked of him. The problem is that he’s really struggled when he’s on the field and the Lions began to give up on him down the stretch. He played 17 combined snaps on defense in his final seven games with the Lions.
With the expected overhaul of the Lions secondary this offseason, Harris is the odd man out.
Romeo Okwara
Now that Julian is gone, Romeo will probably be looking to move on anyways, but that’s not all. Okwara wasn’t bad in 2023, but he wasn’t a big part of the Lions rotation either. He played just 249 snaps all season. The Lions are expected to add more talent to their defensive line this offseason and keeping Okwara doesn’t seem like something that could be a part of that plan.
Charles Harris
Much like Okwara, it was a quiet season for Harris. He played just 42 more snaps than Okwara and spent a lot of weeks being a healthy scratch for the Lions. He played 11 combines snaps in his last three games in Detroit and was inactive during each playoff game. I don’t see the Lions bringing him back after that.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai
It’s nothing against Vaitai. He’s a great guy and a great voice int he locker room. He just might not be able to play anymore. He missed the entire 2022 season with a back injury that required surgery and then that same back injury flared up again this season and Vaitai was once again placed on injured reserve. He dressed for six games in 2023, but only played snaps in three of them.
There’s always a chance they give him one more shot, but at 30 and with these problems, he might be trending more towards retirement than anything. We’ll see.