Longtime Packers guard Lang heads to division rival Lions
For the second straight year the Green Bay Packers will see a Pro Bowl offensive lineman sign with a division rival.
A year after Josh Sitton signed with the Chicago Bears, T.J. Lang's agent tweeted Sunday that his client has agreed to a three-year contract with the Detroit Lions.
OG @TJLang70 has agreed to a 3 year contract with the @Lions
— Mike McCartney (@MikeMcCartney7) March 12, 2017
Lang had told the Detroit Free-Press he was deciding between Detroit, Green Bay and Seattle. In the end, Lang decided to leave the only team he's ever played for to return home. Lang is from Royal Oak, Mich., and went to college at Eastern Michigan.
"I've been away for so many years. This is where I grew up. I understand how fans around here are so hungry to have a championship football team. I was one of them when I was a kid," Lang said on a conference call with reporters. "When this opportunity came about, I got really excited about it."
A fourth-round pick of the Packers in 2009, Lang played in 119 games for Green Bay with 94 starts in his nine seasons. He has been Green Bay's primary starting right guard since 2013 while also starting at times before that at left guard (27), right tackle (5) and left tackle (2). He has missed only five games since the 2011 season, when he became a starter on the Packers' offensive line.
"It was the best move for my family and I, combined with my thoughts as just how ready Detroit was to win," Lang said.
Lang was named to the Pro Bowl this past season after being named an alternate the previous two years. However, he could not attend after suffering a hip injury — which would require surgery — in the NFC Championship Game.
Green Bay is now stuck searching for a new starting right guard. The free-agent market has been thinned out and offensive line is not considered a deep position in this year's draft. Tackle Jason Spriggs filled in for Lang last year and might be the default starter.