Lions DT John Cominsky emphatically wants to be re-signed

The Lions young defensive lineman went on Instagram and made it clear “I WANT TO BE A LION”

Last year was a rough one for defensive lineman John Cominsky. After being selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft by the Falcons, he never really saw his career take off in Atlanta. Though he showed some promise in 2020, when Falcons new head coach Arthur Smith took over in 2021, Cominsky didn’t fit in their plans. He made a total of just four game appearances and only found the field for 13 defensive snaps.

So a year ago, as he was doing his exit interviews with the Falcons following their 7-10 season, Cominsky asked to be waived. The Detroit Lions, who had the second-highest waiver priority at the time, were quick to swipe Cominsky knowing he was going to be a hot commodity. In fact, there were seven other teams that saw the potential in the 26-year-old lineman and tried to claim him.

In Detroit, Cominsky battled through some injuries in 2022, but he became an important member of the Lions’ defensive front—which saw major improvement as the season went on.

“He’s very important and really, when we lost him for that period of time, it did affect us because there’s a lot of things that he does that go unseen from the outside,” coach Dan Campbell said earlier this month. “I think there’s a number of things when it comes to our stunt games and setting up our rush patterns that he is kind of our point guy on a little bit if you will. He’s highly intelligent, certainly he’s high motor, he is aggressive, but I think he’s a little bit of that glue for those guys up front.”

Cominsky finished the season with a career-high 30 tackles, five tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, three passes defended, and a forced fumble. Despite playing in nearly 400 fewer snaps than first-round rookie Aidan Hutchinson, Cominsky had just nine fewer pressures (44) than Hutchinson (53), per PFF.

Cominsky’s rookie contract will run out in March, potentially making him an unrestricted free agent. But during Monday’s locker clean-out, the young defensive lineman made it clear to the media he wants to be back in Detroit.

“Yeah, the plan is definitely to figure something out where I can be here,” Cominsky said, per the Detroit News. “There’s all this talk about the culture and myself, it’s just a perfect fit. Myself and the Detroit Lions organization, I think we’re on the same page where we want to make something happen that I can be here next year. I love the guys in my room and this culture. I think this place helps me be my best, so we definitely want to be here.”

And if that wasn’t abundantly clear enough, Cominsky also went to social media to really drive the point home. Here’s a caption from a Wednesday afternoon Instagram post:

Exit meeting 2021-22 season:“Can I please get released?”

Exit meeting 2022-2023 season:“Can you please bring me back?”. . .

Life is absolutely insane. Sacrifices had to be made and uncertainty was my reality for most of career. Let this season be a testament to the fact that your “plays” are coming. Keep putting your time and effort into what you want and your big plays in life will come to you naturally. Learned a lot from this game and excited for what’s next. Thank you to the Lions organization and my family for making this possible. If I haven’t said it already, I WANT TO BE A LION tag @detroitlionsnfl in the comments to make sure the message is loud and clear ”

That’s John Cominsky asking Lions fans to tag the official Lions account to make sure they know he wants to stay in Detroit. When is the last time a player has done that much to make their desire to stay a Detroit Lion that clear? Has it ever happened?

The way the Lions talk about Cominsky, it certainly seems like there will be plenty of mutual interest when it comes to re-signing players.