Lions Trade Montgomery and release Glasgow in Flurry of Moves
As the new league year approaches in 10 days, the Lions have started making roster moves to not only get under the cap but start to reshape their team for the 2026 season.
First up was the tarde of David Montgomery to the Houston Texans for what can only be described as an absolute haul. Reports are that the Lions initially agreed to trade Monty for just a 5th round pick, but a mystery team jumped in the bidding and the Texans upped their offer to be their 4th, their 2027 7th and IOL Juice Scruggs. The trade of Montgomery will initially free up ~$3.5M in cap savings, but doesn't come without penalty, as the Lions will have to absorb ~$4.9M in Dead Cap in 2026. In addition, that cap savings will be re-allocated to cover the contract of Scruggs (~$1.6M) and the 4th round pick acquired in the trade (~$1.2M), leaving the Lions with just a modest net cap savings of $770K, while needing to now find a No. 2 RB via the draft or Free Agency.
Scruggs is an interesting prospect in return, a former 2nd Rd pick out of Penn State, he has played primarily LG in his 1,800+ career snaps, but also has 568 snaps at center, where he was starter for Penn St most of his career. Expectations are that he should be expected to be a two-deep depth payer initially, with a chance to compete for a starting spot in camp.
The next big roster news was the announcement that the Lions had released IOL Graham Glasgow. Glasgow was expected to be released or retire after the 2025 season in which he suffered injuries and played below expectations for most of the year. His release will initially free up $5.6M in Cap space and send another $2.876M to Dead Cap, but with the acquisition of Scruggs, that roster spot for IOL depth has largely been fille for 2026.
The final roster news of the day is that the Lions will not be issuing a tender to RFA DL Tyrus Wheat. Wheat did get 1.5 sacks last year while playing in just 6% of the defensive snaps, but the baseline Right of First Refusal Tender would have cost the Lions $3.52M, and for an Undrafted Free Agent with two career sacks, that is just too much. The Lions could bring him back on a veteran minimum deal, but as of now, Wheat is an Unrestricted Free Agent on the first day of the league year.
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