2026 NFL free agency preview: With most of roster's LBs set to hit open market, Lions have work to do at position

The NFL’s negotiating window for pending free agents opens on March 9, and players will be eligible to sign with new teams on March 11 at 4 p.m.

Ahead of those dates, we’ll preview each position, looking at the top options expected to hit the market, the Detroit Lions’ pending free agents, plus three outside players who could be fits.

Today, we’ll be looking at the linebackers.

Quick overview

The Lions leaned on their linebackers more than any team in the NFL last season with starters Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes and Alex Anzalone all logging more than 900 defensive snaps.

Campbell is a foundational piece on defense. As a former first-round pick, the Lions hold a fifth-year option on his rookie contract for 2027, but the expectation is the team will work toward an extension this offseason to lock him up long term.

Barnes scored a fresh deal last offseason, so he’s under contract for two more years.

Meanwhile, the rest of the room is set to be free agents, setting the stage for significant turnover at the position. That group is led by Anzalone, but also includes all of the reserves and several top contributors on special teams.

Top players available

Devin Lloyd

Selected in the late stages of the opening round of the 2022 NFL draft, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Lloyd has lived up to lofty expectations. Through four seasons, he’s averaged 109 tackles and 6.5 pass breakups.

He unlocked a different level of production in 2025, racking up a career-best 28 quarterback pressures and intercepting five passes, earning second-team All-Pro honors.

Quay Walker

Another first-round pick in the same draft class as Lloyd, Walker has been a four-year starter for the Packers, recording at least 100 tackles each season. Included in those tallies have been 29 tackles for a loss, 9.0 sacks and 55 quarterback pressures.

A sound tackler, the overall perception is Walker hasn’t lived up to his potential, especially given his rare athleticism.

Nakobe Dean

Undersized, but instinctual, Dean has been a solid run defender and dynamic blitzer during his four seasons in Philadelphia. He had a career-best 128 tackles as a 15-game starter during the team’s Super Bowl season in 2024, and gotten home on the blitz for 7.0 sacks the past two years.

Dean missed the first five games last season recovering from a torn patellar tendon. He was also limited to five games in 2023 due to a Lisfranc injury.

Leo Chenal

A rotational linebacker who splits his time on the line and off the ball, Chenal played more than 50% of Kansas City’s defensive snaps for the first time last season. The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder is an exceptional run defender and developing blitzer, with 44 pressures and 6.0 sacks the past three seasons.

Chenal also offers extensive special teams experience, logging more than 1,100 snaps during his four seasons in Kansas City.

Devin Bush

Drafted No. 10 overall in 2019, the former Michigan standout didn’t live up to his potential during his four seasons in Pittsburgh. He was allowed to walk in free agency, where he scored a modest one-year deal from Seattle.

It wasn’t until his most recent stint in Cleveland where Bush has come into his own. In 2025, he tallied career-bests in tackles (125), pass defenses (eight), interceptions (three) and forced fumbles (two).

His all-around skill set should net him an offer averaging double-digit millions per season.

Detroit’s pending free agents

Alex Anzalone

A cultural building block from the start of Detroit’s franchise turnaround, Anzalone has been a five-time captain and highly productive player during his time with the Lions, earning three total contracts from the team.

The durability concerns that plagued Anzalone early in his career largely remained in the rearview. He delivered back-to-back 125-tackle seasons before conceding middle linebacker responsibilities to Jack Campbell in 2024. Anzalone remained Detroit’s best coverage option in the second level last season, recording a career-best nine pass breakups, including his first interception since 2022.

Malcolm Rodriguez

A sixth-round pick in 2022, Rodriguez quickly became a fan favorite through HBO’s documentary series “Hard Knocks.” A starter as a rookie, he tallied 87 tackles in 16 games.

Rodriguez’s defensive snaps fell off a cliff following the addition of Campbell in the next draft, but Rodriguez remained a top reserve and key contributor on special teams the past three seasons, outside of the time he missed recovering from a torn ACL.

Grant Stuard

Brought in as a free agent last offseason, the special teams star remained highly productive in those roles for the Lions, logging a career-high 375 snaps in the third phase.

Defensively, a role never developed. He netted just 13 reps in 2025.

Trevor Nowaske

A Michigan native signed as an undrafted rookie out of Saginaw Valley State, the highly athletic Nowaske showed special teams promise as a rookie in 2023, earning him a practice squad spot.

Poached by the Cardinals later that season, Nowaske returned to Detroit as a waiver claim the following year and has continued to develop as a key special teamer with situational value as a blitzer and QB spy on defense.

Zach Cunningham

The NFL’s tackle leader in 2020, Cunningham earned a roster spot with a strong training camp while filling in for Anzalone. Once the regular season started, Cunningham served as a reserve and special teamer, who saw limited snaps in goal-line situations until his season was undone by a nagging hamstring strain.

Ezekiel Turner

A fill-in during Detroit’s injury-plagued 2024 season, Turner had strong moments on both defense and special teams down the stretch that year. He wasn’t tracking toward earning a roster spot this past offseason when he unfortunately suffered a torn Achilles.

Potential outside fits

Chenal

A versatile, large-framed, athletic run-stopper with a comprehensive special teams resume? That’s the type of player the Lions love. Adding a player like Chenal would allow Derrick Barnes to be shifted more permanently off the ball.

The biggest question would be cost. Chenal will probably command a contract in the range of the three-year, $24 million Barnes earned from the Lions last offseason. That’s a lot to commit to the position group, given Campbell might reset the market with his pending extension.

Justin Strnad

A still-blossoming off-ball option, Strand is solid in coverage and has been productive as a blitzer with his expanded playing time the past two seasons, registering 7.5 sacks during the stretch.

You’re also talking about a player who has averaged well over 200 special teams snaps during his career.

Dennis Gardeck

Gardeck isn’t the type of player the Lions have targeted in recent years, but if there’s thought to evolving the system to include a situational speed rusher, he could come as a low-cost option after modest production in Jacksonville last season.

In Arizona, where he overlapped with incoming offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, Gardeck had 42 pressures and 6.0 sacks in 2023. And, like the others on the list above, he brings a wealth of experience on special teams.