The Detroit Lions continue to fill holes on their roster, and on Monday night, they filled a starter-sized hole on the offensive line when they reportedly sagreed to terms with former Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowler Kevin Zeitler.
Let’s take a look at how Zeitler fits in with the Lions’ roster and scheme, as well as how his addition will impact Detroit’s offseason plans.
Roster fit
The Lions’ offensive identity starts with their offensive line. Over the last three seasons, we have seen three different members of the Lions’ offensive line get Pro Bowl nominations (Frank Ragnow, Penei Sewell, and Jonah Jackson), and two landed on All-Pro teams (Ragnow and Sewell). Ragnow and Graham Glasgow are signed through 2026, Sewell will surely have his fifth-year option picked up for 2025, Taylor Decker is in the final year of his contract and carries the second-highest cap hit on the roster, and Jackson departed for the L.A. Rams in free agency after his rookie contract expired.
So how do you fill a Pro Bowl-sized hole at guard? Sign another Pro Bowler in Zeitler.
The Lions have invested heavily in their offensive tackles and center, and in order to keep positional costs down, they have targeted “aging” veterans (Glasgow is 31 years old) or rookies to fill the gaps at guard. With Jackson’s rookie deal off the books, the Lions targeted veteran Zeitler (who just turned 34 years old this month) to help fill the void.
With 12 years of experience—starting at least 15 games every season—Zeitler is a culture setter on the offensive line. He is physical, powerful, and carries a nasty demeanor into games, which will fit right into the Lions’ “grit” culture.
While not as athletic as he once was, like with Glasgow, Zeitler is highly intelligent and technically sound, which leads to considerably more success than you might expect for a player his age.
Scheme fit
The Lions run a mixture of gap and outside zone blocking schemes and ask their interior players to do a litany of tasks. They have to be able to reach the second level, pull and reach outside blocks, as well as drive off double teams, to name a few.
In Zeitler’s past three seasons in Baltimore, the Ravens used a lot of gap and pulling schemes when Greg Roman was their offensive coordinator but shifted to a more zone-heavy approach last season under Todd Monken. Regardless of the concept, Zeitler found a lot of success. PFF graded Zeitler out as a top 15 guard in 2021 and 2023, while he finished seventh in 2022. As a run blocker, his scores landed him in the top 30 in 2021 and 2023, while he hit 16th in 2022. His best attribute, per PFF, is his pass blocking where he has finished in the top four each of the last three seasons, including last season when he finished as the second-best pass-blocking guard in the NFL.
Offseason impact
The Lions entered the offseason with a few starting roles to fill on both sides of the ball, but after re-signing Glasgow, trading for Carlton Davis, signing DJ Reader, and now adding Zeitler, Detroit has done a terrific job using free agency to supplement their roster and fill needs.
As I mentioned in each of the previous roster impact articles, free agency is setting up for the Lions to truly enter the draft with a “best player available” approach. And while they have filled some starting roles and added depth pieces, you can still make an argument for the Lions to add a prospect at almost any position at almost any point in the draft—and guard is no different.
Zeitler and Glasgow are both solid starting guard options—Glasgow finished as the eighth-best guard last season, per PFF’s overall grades, to pair with Zeitler’s 15th ranking—but they are both over 30 years old. Once a player crosses the 30-year-old threshold, teams often start looking for replacements that they can develop for the long term, while also adding value as insurance against injury.
Look for the Lions to take this approach and draft an interior offensive lineman—guard or center—with one of their three top-100 picks.