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Larry Warford's contract is up with Detroit. He would love to return, but is prepared to hit free agency too.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions convened for the final time Monday morning. Players went through exit meetings with coaches, then took a few minutes to clean out their lockers for winter.

Most did it quickly, then split to catch planes for homes and far-away beaches, or maybe just to avoid reporters.

But not Larry Warford.

On what could prove to be his final day in that locker room, he lingered. He chatted with teammates. He played game after game after game of ping pong. And when he suffered a rare defeat, this one against Crezdon Butler, he demanded a rematch, sweat dripping from his brow.

At last, he retreated to his locker stall to answer a few questions, and acknowledged the obvious. He loves Detroit, loves his teammates, loves his coaches. He would love to continue playing here.

But his rookie contract is up, and he's prepared to test free agency if it comes to that too.

"I have my family to think about, too," Warford said. "I'm starting up a family, so that's going to factor in. 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 offseason pretty good."

Warford, who is engaged, says he plans to unplug over the next couple weeks. He's going to stay in the area, binge on some movies, and think about anything besides football.

But once he gets his mind right, he'll have to grapple with the future of his career.

A third-round pick in that fabulous 2013 class, Warford was a starter at right guard from Day 1. And he was terrific too, becoming arguably Detroit's best offensive lineman right away.

He struggled to recapture that form the last two years, though, while dealing with an array of injuries that cost him six games and limited him in others.

But Warford had his healthiest season since that rookie campaign in 2016, and it follows that he had his best season as well. He ranked 22nd among all guards, according to ProFootballFocus, and emerged as the vocal leader of the group.

He's also among the best guards who are eligible to hit free agency in March. Per PFF, he trails only Kevin Zeitler, T.J. Lang and Andrew Norwell. So Warford, still only 25, could fetch some interest on the open market.

Lions GM Bob Quinn will have to decide whether to go after him, or head into next season with some combination of Graham Glasgow and Joe Dahl, who earned rave reviews for their rookie seasons, and former first-round pick Laken Tomlinson.

Warford said Quinn has given him no indication of his thinking.

"I really don't know," Warford 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 offseason and just hit it as hard as I can."