Carlos Monarrez

Detroit Free Press

Larry Warford said the Detroit Lions, who drafted him in 2013, always will be special to him. But the right guard admitted today that he’s considering NFL free agency.

“I have my family to think about, too,” said Warford, who is engaged. “I’m starting up a family, so that’s going to factor in. If it was just me by myself, I'd definitely … . There are going to be a lot of factors in it, but I’m not thinking too much about it right now. I just want to get my mind off of football for a while, recharge and get ready to hit this off-season pretty good.”

Warford, 25, has been a mainstay at right guard since the Lions drafted him in the third round out of Kentucky. He has been the Lions’ most consistent offensive linemen and has approached Pro Bowl-caliber play.

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But he will be an unrestricted free agent and almost certainly will command more on the open market than the Lions might be willing to spend with options such as Graham Glasgow and Laken Tomlinson already in the rotation.

For now, Warford said he is planning on testing the free agent market, although he said he hasn’t put a lot of deep thought into the process.

“I don’t know too much right now," he said. "There’s going to be a lot of factors into what’s going to go on in the future. … I just kind of want to decompress right now before I start thinking about the future.”

Of course, personnel decisions are a two-way street, and the Lions could make Warford an aggressive offer. But Warford today did not want to gauge the interest level of Lions general manager Bob Quinn.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I’m not going to get too far into that. That’s one thing I never want to get too caught up in is the business side of the NFL. That’s not for me. I’ll just go ahead and tell you right now: That’s not my cup of tea. All I want to do is play football and block three-techniques.

“So I really haven’t been looking too much into it. All I know is I just tried to put the best season I can together this year, and now I’m going to go to this off-season and just hit it as hard as I can.”

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Swanny speaks: Center Travis Swanson spoke for the first time since he suffered a concussion Dec. 4 at New Orleans, but didn’t reveal much about his physical condition.

“Just not going to talk about injuries or anything of that nature,” he said.

Swanson played in all 12 games of the season before he suffered his brain injury and had shown improvement and consistency in his play. He had returned to practice recently and he was in good spirits Monday, saying he was not frustrated while he sat out.

“I mean, everything happens for a reason,” he said. “You can’t worry about what you can’t control.”

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Extension chord: Lions coach Jim Caldwell declined to discuss his contract and whether he might sign an extension to his original four-year deal that expires after the 2017 season.

“Once again, it’s really not about me,” he said. “We don’t talk about those things anyway. We just kind of focus in on what’s at hand, and right now we’re getting ready to go into our evaluation phase and try to look for ways that we can improve our team.”

At least one player gave Caldwell a vociferous vote of confidence. Receiver Golden Tate almost jumped out of his skin when he was asked if the Lions’ decision to bring back Caldwell for at least 2017 would help the team achieve continuity.

“Yes! Yes!” Tate said. “Sorry, I got a little excited. Super, super happy Caldwell’s coming back. I love his coaching style, I love who he is as a person, as a Christian, as a coach. I love spending time with him. To me, there was really no doubt that he’s coming back. But super, super happy that I get to call him my coach as of today and next year, hopefully if they keep me next year.”

Barring a trade, there is little chance the Lions wouldn’t keep Tate at least through the end of 2018, when the 5-year, $31-million deal he signed expires.

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Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

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