Detroit Lions still working to sign Josh Reynolds in 'best free agency' under Brad Holmes

ORLANDO, Fla. — Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes went into free agency looking for help at defensive end, defensive tackle, cornerback and offensive guard, and he got his top targets at all four positions.

Holmes said at the NFL's annual meeting Tuesday the Lions had "our best free agency of all that we've had since we've been here," landing "Plan A" at their four biggest positions of need.

"And the reason why I say that is through our planning and process this year, we have these No. 1 targets, and we literally were able to get every single one of our No. 1 targets that we were out to get," Holmes said. "It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it’s like you might strike out on one, you got to go to Plan B or you got to go to Plan C. No, we actually were able to land Plan A."

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The Lions signed D.J. Reader and Marcus Davenport to bolster their defensive line, added Kevin Zeitler as a starting guard and signed Amik Robertson and traded for Carlton Davis at cornerback.

Holmes said he feared the Lions might not be able to land both cornerbacks, and at one point turned his attention to signing Robertson when he wasn't sure the Davis deal would get done.

Once the Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed on the parameters of the trade, with the Lions sending a 2024 third-round pick to the Bucs for Davis and sixth-round choices in 2024-25, Holmes said Brandon Sosna, the Lions' chief contract negotiator, was able to figure out the finances to fit Robertson into the team's budget.

"I thought we were just going to have to pick one or the other," he said. "But the way it worked out, just to be able to land both was huge. So that's why I think that to this day, this was our best free agency haul and we're still not done yet, in terms of targets that are still out there."

The Lions did try to re-sign Jonah Jackson before pivoting to Zeitler after Jackson signed with the Los Angeles Rams, and Holmes said the team still hopes to re-sign wide receiver Josh Reynolds.

"He's one that was part of the original plans," Holmes said. "Still having dialogue, we'll just kind of see where that goes. But that's really the only one that's still out there that we had originally planned so far."

Reynolds was the Lions' third-leading receiver last season with 608 yards on 40 catches. He visited the Baltimore Ravens in free agency, but remains unsigned.

The Lions re-signed receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones as veteran insurance at the position. Peoples-Jones caught five passes for 58 yards after coming to Detroit in a midseason trade.

"We’re still in contact with J-Rey," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "I don’t think it’s a secret what we think about him as far as type of player he is, the unselfishness, the dirty work, the versatility so look, I love J-Rey and that doesn’t mean something won’t get done but to be able to get (Peoples-Jones back) gave us, all right, man, we know we’ve got a veteran guy who’s played and will have now that he’s been in our offense call it half of the season, or a little bit more, he’ll have a better understanding of what we’re doing, we go into camp, and so I think what it does it just gives us somebody that we know can play the position. He’s a bigger-body guy, too, so he’s a little different than anybody we’ve got. And that’s really what he gives us."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions landed all their Plan A's in free agency — except one