Lions working to bring back guard Rob Sims

Phoenix — With Rob Sims an unrestricted free agent, the Lions currently do not have any players on their team with NFL experience at left guard.

General manager Martin Mayhew said in late February he'd "love" to bring Sims back, and on Monday, he said the Lions have taken steps to make that happen.

"We've been in contact with Rob, and we've had some dialogue with him about a contract," Mayhew told local reporters at the NFL annual meetings at the Arizona Biltmore resort.

Sims, 31, has said multiple times he'd like to re-sign with the Lions, the team for which he's started every game at left tackle the last five seasons.

The Lions also hosted 31-year-old guard Justin Blalock, formerly of the Falcons, on a free-agent visit two weeks ago, but Blalock had interest from other teams and has yet to sign.

Sims, meanwhile, has had interest from other teams, but hopes to return to Detroit.

"We would love to be back," Sims said in February, speaking about his wife. "We built a life here…. We want to be able to finish our work here that we started with this. We have businesses here. We've played good ball here.

"If (my career) stopped tomorrow, Detroit would have a huge place in my heart because of the things we've been able to do here. We would love to finish what we started.

The Lions have overhauled their offensive line in recent years and are young up front with tackle Riley Reiff (26), right guard Larry Warford (23) and center Travis Swanson (24) all projected to start next season.

Even if the Lions re-sign Sims, they'll likely draft a left guard option of the future, much like they did in 2014 selecting Swanson in the third round as a backup to Dominic Raiola.

jkatzenstein@detroitnews.com

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