Lions want Glasgow back, veteran guard looks for raise after stellar season

Allen Park — The last time Graham Glasgow's contract with the Detroit Lions expired, he couldn't wait to get out of town. The tone couldn't be more different the second time around.

Glasgow, now an eight-year veteran, returned to the Lions last offseason after three years in Denver. As a free agent, his camp gauged Detroit's interest. It was mutual, so the two sides came together on a modest, one-year deal that reconnected the player with the franchise that had selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft.

"Well, I mean, when I was looking for places to go, that was something that was really enticing to me, just seeing how good they've been so far," Glasgow said after rejoining the Lions in March. "You don't get many opportunities to go join a place that already has a very well-established line, and I think that was, as I said, appealing to me. 

"...To play with Taylor (Decker), to play with Frank (Ragnow), it just came down to I wanted to be a part of that O-line room. I wanted to be back with my buddies. And I wanted to be a part of this team."

While the re-addition was initially presented as competition for a starting job, the team's offseason approach showed they viewed Glasgow more as a high-level backup at both guard and center. But when Halapoulivaati Vaitai's durability proved to once again be an issue, Glasgow stepped in and delivered some of the best football of his career.

Playing at three different spots before permanently taking over the right guard job, Glasgow wound up starting 15 games this season. And as part of his exit interview on Monday, he confirmed the team told him they'd like him back in the fold in 2024.

"Yeah, they said, 'We'd like to have you back and we appreciate what you did this year,'" Glasgow said. "That's cool. I appreciate that. But they even said it, 'From here on out, it will just be us talking with your agent and seeing what we can do.'"

Again, the feelings are mutual. The appeal of playing in a place he's called home most of his adult life, alongside the close friends he's made in Detroit's offensive line room, it's an easy sell. But after signing a prove-it deal to initially come back, Glasgow is looking for a pay day more reflective of his play this past season. In other words, he proved it.

"I would love to be back," Glasgow said. "I think I had a really good year, probably top one or two of my career. I would like to make more money than I did this year and I would assume the guys upstairs know and understand that. I feel like stuff like this kind of works. Hopefully, we'll be able to work through it."

It's unclear what that looks like for the lineman who will turn 32 years old this offseason. That's for his agent and the team to hash out. But it will need to be more than the one-year deal he received last offseason, which had incentives giving him the chance to earn up to $4.5 million. There were 30 guards in the league last season who had cap figures higher than that number.

Glasgow's pending free-agent status is just part of the overall fluidity the Lions are dealing with along their offensive line, which has been one of the NFL's best in recent years, and the key to the team's offensive success.

Left guard Jonah Jackson, a Pro Bowler in 2021, is also a pending free agent. And even though the soon-to-be 27-year-old dealt with a number of injuries this season, he's expected to command significant, multi-year offers on the open market, which could prove difficult for the Lions to match.

Additionally, the team will almost certainly be picking up the fifth-year option on Penei Sewell's rookie deal, while possibly exploring a longer-term extension with the All-Pro offensive tackle.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

@Justin_Rogers