Lions Bring Back Tatum Bell and George Foster

In a surprising move, running back Tatum Bell has re-signed with the Lions.

Bell was expected to leave Detroit, but with such a big need at running back, the Lions were really forced to bring him back.  I'm not saying that they were forced in a bad way as it sounds like they failed to entice Bell to return once, but my guess is that they sweetened the offer this time around.

With Bell back in the fold, running back becomes slightly less of a need.  Unfortunately, becoming that still means it's a huge concern in the future.  For the next year, RB is pretty much taken care of with Jones and Bell being at the top of the depth chart, but the Lions really better start thinking about what they will do beyond 2008.  Jones is in his contract year and Bell is only signed to a one-year deal, so as of right now, the Lions have no future running backs that could start in the NFL.

Shifting our attention to the offensive line, the quote above also mentioned that George Foster had been signed to a one-year deal.  This was a desperation type of move as the Lions needed to add depth to the offensive line.  I don't doubt that Foster will be better in the new offense, but he was absolutely horrible last year.  The number of false starts he had made him a pain to watch by itself, so I hope he does improve.  After all, there's really nowhere to go but up for Foster.