2012 Detroit Lions Free Agents

Some of these guys like Derrick Williams haven’t been on the team in forever. Can we get a new list of the current free agents posted?

But I also believe we need another good corner (e.g., through the draft). I see both Wright and Houston as good .. better than what we’ve had in the recent past … but not elite. Of course cost is still an issue, but at the rookie scale under the new agreement, wouldn’t that be less of a “hit” compared to most FA’s?

He is a distant third behind Houston and Berry IMO. If they can get him for a reasonable salary, then fine, keep him. Personally, I can’t see him being able to attract much attention from other teams based on his body of work these last two years. I just don’t get your comment that Wright will “break the bank”.

I think he has gotten a bad rap of late…he isn’t an all-star, but he is solid. I’d love for us to sign a top tier DB so Wright could play the slot where he seems most comfortable anyway.

I don’t believe the Lions will give Avril a total of $78 million over six years ($13 million per season). The fact that Avril could not make the Pro Bowl is a testament to how many talented defensive ends there are in the NFL. When there is that much talent out there at a single position then you can find talent for less money.

I think the Lions will concentrate on signing Wright and Tulloch first, then see if there is enough money left to satisfy Avril. My guess is that there won’t be enough, but I hope I am wrong. His offer from the Lions will probably be about half of that, about $6.5 million per season. I figure they are going to offer him what they can save on Jeff Backus’ contract.

I would hate to lose Cliff, but we have to be realistic as Lions fans that there is a very real possibility that we might.

I can see Avril getting more, but not that much more.

and he had a good season I think the maximum the Lions should pay him is $7 million per year. I think they can get him a bit cheaper if they give him a longer contract. My big peeve is that although he had good numbers this year, I didn’t see him have a good game in the playoffs. This is where I think this team is going now, we will pay you if you make plays in big-time situations.

I’m sure Avril will be much more productive but still not worth that kind of money

We would have to sign him to a long term deal that is not overpaying him.

If we were able to sign him to that kind of deal, we would not be trading him.

franchise him and ship him somewhere. We might not get a first rounder like Joel suggested, but we could get more value for him than he is worth.

he’s are best DE

Cliff is our best pass rusher and biggest playmaker on the D Line. While I agree that he is not a top ten DE in the NFL based on his sack and tackle numbers, he has a great deal of value in our system and in our rotation. He is just turning 26 [he is actually younger than Willie Young and Lawrence Jackson], has been relatively injury free, and has improved every year in the NFL. I really don’t see Cliff commanding a huge salary in the open market, and I expect Mayhew and Lewand to get him for a reasonable cost.

I agree that the Lions could use another DE to develop, but he should take KVB’s spot, not Cliff’s. Now there is a guy who is playing well below his salary.

I cannot translate a dollar value into what that is worth, but I am willing to pay their contracts until some other players assume that role.

5 sacks last season, 2 this season.

He doesn’t seem to want to leave the D

Because nobody else picked up his contract the Lions are the owners of his rights by rule as it relates to restricted free agency. His name is there only because of that fact. The Lions are not likely to bring him back.

He seems to be happy in Detroit and says he would like to come back. I believe the Lions will offer to give him what he was making on his previous contract and he will take it.

Drew Stanton is a different situation. He has to find a place that will give him a shot to start soon or he has to be satisfied with being a career backup QB. I think he wants to get his shot to start. Since he is not going to beat Matthew Stafford for the starting role, he pretty much has to leave Detroit to do that.

except that he’s got too fragile of a body and he’s super super valuable as a WR. He should be the #2 option next year and thus I’d rather not subject him to many returns. Certainly not man both the Kick return and punt return duties…

Many of the elite teams have the age window closing on them; ours is just opening. It should be an exciting decade with the Stafford to Johnson connection already proving to be elite, not to mention the youth and upside on the d-line. It’s definitely a solid core to start with.

He mentions that the Lions would like to have Cliff Avril back, but he also mentions that Cliff may want too much money. He mentions that we need Tulloch. He mentions that the Lions don’t need a big money, free agent, running back. He also implies that some guys that are good players may have problems sticking on the team, and that’s a good thing. I agree with all of those things.

As far as Tim Twentyman having an inside track on info, I don’t know about that. A lot of the media opportunities with Lions coaches are done in a general access setting, so anybody with a Lions press pass could get the same info. I think where he may have more access is getting questions answered in email and maybe getting an occasional phone call answered. He is one of the more prominent writers for the Lions so the coaches may give him more response than the guys they have never heard of.

he also has a family. At some point, your trying to do the best you can for them. Certainly there is some loyalty to the Lions and to the state of Michigan, but that only goes so far.

He’s pretty good, but look who he plays by. Also, look at our scheme which is… only care about pass rush, we don’t play run d!

He’s definitely expendable. Granted, KVB is old and played horribly this year in my eyes with a few flashes of greatness (Atlanta opening fumble comes to mind). We do have Willie Young, Lawrence Jackson, and could easily draft a DE in the 3-5 round which could assume Willie Young’s old role.

He isn’t worth top 10 DE money, if he wants to test the waters go ahead, I don’t think we’ll lose production. I can’t imagine wrapping up that much money in the D-Line between KVB, Avril, Suh, Fairley. It’d be a recipe for disaster.

I am willing to concede that Wright is our third best CB, and for that reason should be kept. A low one or two year contract should keep him here. I think Mayhew will give him the Houston treatment, then sign him back on the cheap.

I think Cliff can be signed for three years or so for a relatively low amount, say just below the top ten DEs or pass rushing OLBs like Johnson and Hali.

The fact is we need Cliff to maintain a strong DE rotation. Taking him out leaves us with KVB, Lawrence, Willie, and a rookie. Now, depending on where they get the rookie and how he looks he may be able to go in the rotation right away, but that leaves us pretty thin if we get any injury or the rookie does not perform at an average NFL level.

And frankly, we will not get a great deal in trade or compensation for Cliff. I don’t know other teams’ cap situation, but I doubt there are many teams that will throw a lot of money in Cliff’s direction. I could be wrong, as it only takes one.

Avril mentioned the Hali and Johnson deals from last year that were $60 and $72 million deals.

If he thinks he is getting that kind of money. he is gone.

He cannot be a free agent until 2015. By that time the salary cap will be significantly larger and the Lions will have some room to give him more money. Since Stafford already makes an average of $12 million per season, he is not really underpaid yet. Though Stafford has had one monster year, he collected a paycheck for being hurt for two seasons as well. He needs to show he is consistently healthy and productive to get a bigger contract.

Yeah, he had a monster year, but when you are drafted # 1 that kind of production is almost expected after a few years. I really doubt Matthew Stafford thinks that the Lions owe him any more money.

It is difficult to know exactly where the Lions are at, but it was pretty well documented that the Lions have very little cap room. The cap is not expected to rise by very much this season, so we probably won’t get a lot of relief from that avenue. We will just have to wait and see how that factor works out.

I think the only place where I would quibble with your assessments is at wide receiver. I feel that Rashied Davis clearly contributed more than Maurice Stovall did. In fact, I though Davis was quite good when called upon as a receiver and made a significant positive impact on special teams. Stovall had some good moments early in the season then disappeared.

but they have his rights.

Obviously, you didn’t actually watch any of the Lions games before you "wrote" this blog.

I’d bet money TuffLynx has forgotten more about football than you’ve ever know GMoney67

You seriously want to cut Dom and Backus and replace them with ROOKIES???

With the new rookie salary cap, replacing Raiola and Backus should be cheap, and you can’t tell me they were any more effective than a rookie would’ve been.

Yes, yes I CAN tell you that. You think a rookie LT is gonna be able to handle Peppers and Jared Allen twice a year with no mentoring? And you think a rookie C will be able to read defenses as well as an 11 year old vet in order to make play calls, huh?

Be honest, are you a Bears fan?
Or do you just want to see Stafford’s career end early?

I can confidently say that I watched every Lions game this season.

I am fine with your having a differing opinion. I do wish you would back up your conclusions with some facts. If you feel that Delmas is the only keeper in the secondary I would like to know why you hate Chris Houston, Eric Wright, Aaron Berry, and Amari Spievey so much. I would also like to know exactly how you think the Lions are going to replace them.

For that matter, who are the Lions going to get to replace the offensive line you are scrapping too.

It seems that you have some kind of conception that the Lions have a dozen first round draft picks so that they can replace these guys. Now who is not living in reality?

until I read the rest of your “conclusions”. I suspect when you’ve calmed down and maybe rewatched some games you’ll see the error in your ways. Beyond the simple fact you can’t cut your entire secondary sans 1 and expect results, it’s why would you?? At the least, Houston and Wright had some excellent play, especially before injury (and please don’t say either are injury prone).

The Ol guys do need to go, in some form, but as pointed out it’s problematic to play too many rookies on the line.

I wont go further since the odds are you wont be reading this nor replying again for some time.

Chris Houston and Eric Wright are pretty good. Our pass defense was above average before injuries started happening. It was no coincidence that we started blowing coverages and giving up bombs when Houston hurt his shoulder against the Saints, and that scrub Alphonso Smith came in.

It is the backups like Aaron Berry who can’t make any plays on the ball and Phonz who constantly gets burned that are the problem. We need to draft or sign someone to be the nickel or move Wright to nickel and sign someone else to start since most teams use 3 Wr sets now.

I know I can safely ignore you after this. You have no credibility left at all.

don’t remember Keith Smith, Stanley Wilson Etc.

Jan. 14-15, 2012: Divisional playoffs
Jan. 22, 2012: Conference championship games
Jan. 29, 2012: Pro Bowl
Feb. 5, 2012: Super Bowl
April 26-28, 2012: NFL draft

We should get an announcement from the NFL about the NFL off-season calendar after the Super Bowl.

they did not switch schemes this year. And last season they had D-linemen in a 2 point stance also.

I just hope that in finding the cap room they don’t have to leverage the future too much by spreading over bonus money in place of pay now. There are also some guys making good money that should be due to take a pay cut along with restructure Burleson, KVB, Backus (if even signed again), and Raiola all come to mind first.

I agree they should always be looking to upgrade talent, such as Smith. I just hope they don’t spend a lot of resources trying to do so (to him in particular) this season. Smith showed a lot of heart since coming back. I just wish he could stay healthier :/

Jason Fox? Unknown draft pick?

Don Muhlbach – – Sign short term or let go

No, no, no. I violently disagree. Lock him up long term, it shouldn’t cost much. I feel his role is especially important if we want to start trading out our O-Line. I’ve never seen a bad snap out of him and for the kind of money we’re talking, lets keep him until Hanson’s leg falls off.

Worms are so tasty! ;-)

depth at 3+ positions.

If he can get a little more involved in the passing game, he is golden here.