Friday Notes: Lions Hire Harris; Mayhew Talks Free Agency

by Sean Yuille on Feb 13, 2009 2:17 AM EST in Notes Comment 7 comments

As mentioned in a FanShot, the Lions have hired James "Shack" Harris as a personnel executive. The hire appears to have been made long before yesterday, but it wasn't announced by the Lions before then. Harris has already been in meetings on free agency and things of that sort and likely will serve as both a mentor and a soundboard for Martin Mayhew. Harris will be able to share his input with Mayhew, who will have the final decision on any moves that are made.
Mayhew spoke to the media yesterday after announcing the hiring of Harris and addressed the status of a few free agents. First, he discussed Jason Hanson and how the Lions are going to bring him back next season no matter what happens.

Mayhew: “(We) hope we get something done – frequently a deadline kind of moves things along and the franchise deadline is coming up next week. I think we’ll get something done prior to that. If we don’t then we’ll franchise Jason.”
Mayhew also spoke about how he would rather use the franchise tag instead of the transition tag since the former prevents other teams from negotiating with Hanson.

Mayhew: “I’d rather pay a little bit more (by franchising him instead of transitioning him) and know that we have him. You look at where we are in terms of the contract; it’s not that much difference from his average and the franchise tag. But it’s Jason Hanson and we appreciate everything he’s done for us and we’re trying to work out a long-term deal for him.”
Finally, Mayhew said that the Lions are "in contact with all the rest of our guys that we have an interest in having back." According to the Lions' official blog, Mayhew said that the team is in negotiations with fullback Moran Norris and offensive guard Stephen Peterman.
Mayhew also talked about releasing Leigh Bodden and said the decision was "100%" contract related.
Dave Birkett has more on what Mayhew talked about on Thursday and also has a summary of what James Harris had to say.
Not that they likely will have a very good chance of landing him, but maybe it's best that the Lions don't go after Albert Haynesworth, as the off the field issues may not be worth dealing with.

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Haynesworth is a beast, but his free agency has had all the earmarks of a guy who is playing for maximum cash, and will shut it down as soon as the check clears.

If we sign him, then I’ll hope Schwartz has the keys to the Effort Center of his brain . . .

Peace
Ty

http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com

by ty@thelionsinwinter on Feb 13, 2009 2:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not an option

He’s one of the free agency prizes of the year. My guess is he will pick a team that offers two components: a hefty paycheck & the best chances of winning. At best, we can offer a paycheck.

Honestly, I never even considered this to be an option for us. If there other, more realistic options… I say place efforts toward that and move on.

by Juke20 on Feb 13, 2009 3:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Forget Haynesworth. We already had one of these guys at NT, Mr. Rogers, a Pro Bowler which I hated to lose, but too erratic on and off the field. Fluellen might work well with a few blitz packages. Spend the money elsewhere.

by dylan415 on Feb 13, 2009 9:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

NFL AD

I went to detroitlions.com today on the top tehre was a banner. Which is an NFL ad I realize and not associated with Detroit per say, but it still stung some. It reads “Relive the 2008 NFL Season” My first thoughts……“Fuck you” and my second thought was “you know this is probably not from Detroit but still there should be a script that makes this go to every page BUT the Detroit page.” Who else is with me on this? Anyone willing to relive the 2008 season?

by rmatheny on Feb 14, 2009 7:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs