David Montgomery trade a deal that had to happen for Lions
David Montgomery trade to Texans analysis from our NFL expert Dave Birkett, Monday, March 2, 2026. Inside the deal and the Lions’ outlook entering free agency.
- Lions GM Brad Holmes has a history of making trades in the early spring to fill positions of need.
- Several factors, including a thin free agent class and numerous coaching changes, could lead to a more trade-intensive NFL offseason.
- Despite fan speculation, the Lions are considered longshots to acquire Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby due to prohibitive cost.
- Crosby, who has deep ties to the state of Michigan, reportedly wants out of Las Vegas.
The Detroit Lions already pulled off one trade this offseason, sending David Montgomery to the Houston Texans on Monday, March 2, for guard Juice Scruggs and two draft picks.
Could another deal be in the works?
Lions general manager Brad Holmes acknowledged last week at the NFL combine the league could be entering one of the most trade-intensive offseasons in recent memory.
While most teams still prefer to build through the draft and supplement their rosters with free agency, several factors could lead to a tick up in trade activity this spring.
The 2026 free agent class is thin at most positions with a dearth of playmakers expected to hit the market.
The 2026 draft is light on blue-chip talent and unlikely to see movement at the very top.
And 10 teams changed coaches this offseason, meaning a variety of new schemes and systems could make some NFL players odd fits for their current roles.
The league also will have 21 new offensive coordinators in 2026 and three new general managers once the Minnesota Vikings hire a full-time replacement for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
“You would think that it would be more active just because you have some more regime changes,” Holmes said at the combine in Indianapolis. “But I think you also got to look at the reality is that just because there’s a regime change and a new coordinator, new head coach, wants to start fresh, have their own guys, there might not be another guy to bring in to replace.”
The Lions agreed to trade Montgomery to the Texans – the deal won’t become official until the new league year opens March 11 – without having a clear replacement on their roster, though Montgomery’s status as a backup to Jahmyr Gibbs makes that an easier hole to fill.
The team could add a cheap veteran in free agency, wait until April to attack the position in the NFL draft – they gained an extra fourth-round pick in the deal – or try both avenues and see what shakes out.
Sione Vaki, Jacob Saylors and Jabari Small, the only other running backs currently on the roster, have a combined nine NFL carries in their careers.
Holmes said at the combine the Lions were “looking at every avenue” to acquire players and that more trades could be “a reality of what the pool of available players are.”
“What you think of one way on the surface level, when you look at it deeper, look at the availability of does this staff have the ability to replace this player?” Holmes said. “Maybe the player was with the coach at another team. Well, just because the regime [is new] in place there doesn’t mean that team wants to trade that player.”
Brad Holmes’ trade history with Lions
Since taking over as Lions GM in 2021, Holmes has consummated 27 trades. And while most of those have centered around the draft or the fall trade deadline, he has pulled off four deals in early spring.
In 2021, Holmes made two trades that became official at the start of the league year: He sent Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff and three draft picks, and acquired defensive lineman Michael Brockers in a separate trade with the Rams for a seventh-round pick.
Three years later, when the NFL opened its doors for business in 2024, the Lions filled their biggest need at cornerback by acquiring Carlton Davis III in a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
(Holmes also sent Jeff Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons in a 2023 deal that happened two weeks before the draft, but long after the first wave of free agency.)
In the Montgomery deal, the Lions landed a rotational interior lineman in Scruggs who fills a position of need and could compete for a starting job depending on what else the Lions do in the weeks ahead.
Multiple agents who met with the Lions at the NFL combine do not expect the team to be major players in free agency, and one who spoke with the team believes they will move Tate Ratledge to center and open competition at the guard spots.
In all four of his spring trades, Holmes has acquired a player to fill a position of need, albeit one – Goff – to fill a hole he created on his own.
Maxx Crosby trade to Lions? What we know
If the Lions intend to move Ratledge to center and have Scruggs, Christian Mahogany, Miles Frazier and whoever else they might add at the position compete for time at guard, their most pressing immediate needs are on defense.
The Lions could lose starting linebacker Alex Anzalone in free agency, they need depth at safety with Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph coming off season-ending injuries, they have a question mark at cornerback given the Florida police investigation into Terrion Arnold’s role in an alleged kidnapping and robbery plot, and they still need a pass rusher to play opposite Aidan Hutchinson.
Lions fans have pined for Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby to fill that role for years, and Crosby is one of two bona fide NFL stars who have been the subject of constant trade speculation this offseason, along with Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown.
Crosby spent the early part of his childhood in Michigan, played collegiately at Eastern Michigan and has spoken highly of Lions coach Dan Campbell in the past. He’s one of the best all-around defensive ends in football and reportedly wants out of Las Vegas.
Raiders general manager John Spytek said last week he expects Crosby to be a Raider in 2026, but did not completely rule out a trade.
The Lions, though, are figurative and literal long shots to land Crosby should he truly hit the market – they have 45-to-1 odds to be the next team he plays for, 23rd best in the NFL, according to BetOnline.ag – because of their own salary commitments and the cost it would take to acquire him.
The Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks last August and the Raiders reportedly would want a similar return. Holmes has never traded out of the first round, let alone away a first-round pick in a future year, and the Lions don’t currently have the budget to acquire Crosby and his $30 million contract or pay him the market rate on a new deal, with contracts expected this offseason for Gibbs, Jack Campbell and others. (The Lions own the 17th pick in the draft.)
Asked how his past searches for a pass-rush partner for Hutchinson could influence what he does at the position this spring, Holmes said after the 2025 season he planned to take “the same approach that we took last year” when the Lions leaned on low-priced veterans Marcus Davenport and Al-Quadin Muhammad to fill the position and looked for, but ultimately, didn’t find help in the NFL draft.
“I thought the rush was good,” Holmes said. “But I understand that [Muhammad is] a free agent. Davenport’s a free agent, so we’re definitely going to have to look and replenish opposite of Hutch for sure.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
