ALLEN PARK >> There are typically three primary motivating factors when it comes to choosing a free-agent destination.

A lot of players sign for the money; others do it because of the available playing time; some are after a Super Bowl.

And then there’s new Detroit Lions linebacker Grant Stuard, who signed with Detroit on a one-year deal earlier this week.

He loves the idea of joining a contender, to be sure, but after a breakout year in 2024 that finally saw him establish a role on defense after three seasons as a special-teamer, his defensive opportunities almost certainly will decline in a room that features Alex Anzalone, Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, and Malcolm Rodriguez.

What is he doing here?

For an answer, you have to go back to Week 12 of last season, when the Lions easily dismantled the Indianapolis Colts, 24-6, at Lucas Oil Stadium. As Detroit cruised to its ninth straight win, Stuard, then a Colts linebacker, couldn’t help but admire the intensity and swagger of a team that had the game in hand for most of the final three quarters.

He witnessed the constant changes in personnel and felt those back-side blocks from receivers, play after play, nothing less than “100 miles per hour,” he said.

“You can definitely tell mid-game going against them that (grit is) what they’re about — from their wide receivers to their offensive linemen to the way they play defense and special teams. So that was something that I was like, ‘Man, if there’s a whole building of people like that, I’d love to be there,’” Stuard recalls thinking.

“So it was an easy choice for sure. It was one of those things, talking to my agent, it’s not like other situations I may have had, where maybe it was an easier path to the field or an easier path to maybe being the No. 1 guy on a unit or something like that. But he’s (like), ‘They’ve got some good players over there.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s good. I want to be around guys who are attacking the day the way I attack the day.’”

On the field, Detroit has tangibly proven itself as a renewed franchise. The Lions posted back-to-back 12-win seasons and won 15 games for the first time in franchise history last year. But as each free-agent addition shuffled through the Lions’ media room Thursday, it became all the more apparent that the change in Detroit goes so far beyond the wins and losses.

If you’re looking for a shot of confidence that the Lions can uphold their standard following the departure of their two coordinators and several other assistants, the newbies provided that and then some.

“The whole country knows what the Detroit Lions stand for, and to be a part of it is a humbling experience,” nose tackle Roy Lopez said. Cornerback DJ Reed added, “You can tell everybody is playing as one, coaches and player (alike), which I think is rare in the NFL today.”

Stuard noted, “If you’re a Year 10 guy looking to go somewhere and relax, this probably is not the organization (for you).

“It’s a place that I think is open to innovation, open to playing the guys who maybe deserve to play, open to putting the best guys on the field, and they seem very transparent about everything,” Stuard said. “It’s very hard to find a building full of authenticity from the head coach to the coordinators and having a lot of former players (on staff).

“… There are guys that have been around the league for a while that know how some of it can be (a) business. But it’s like, when I’m being coached, this is not a business. When we’re talking about how we did on Sunday, it’s not a business. We’re a team. We want to win. Being in a building where it seems like everybody is on that type of type, I think a lot of guys can appreciate that and want to be here.”

Above all, Stuard is in Detroit because he wants to become the best version of himself. He remembers being sent onto the field as a rookie, knowing he wasn’t ready, and struggling to keep up. That’s when it clicked that opportunity doesn’t mean much when you’re unprepared to capitalize.

He’s expected to be one of the team’s most important special teamers, but he could have assumed that role pretty much anywhere. In joining a defense that doesn’t have an apparent spot for him, Stuard wanted the opportunity to sharpen his game against better competition (in the form of his new teammates) and coaches who could help him get there.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to compete,” Stuard said. “If it’s a situation where, if I’m not getting a lot of play time on a great team, that’s just inspiring for me to improve, versus, I can go to a team maybe not as good or go to a team with a room that has a lot more question marks than this team, which I had some opportunities to do that, but I’m just excited about adding value here, about improving, about learning from some guys who are established.”

These days, that’s what it means to be a Lion.