- If the Lions wanted to, they could purposely not turn in a pick on time to move down in the draft order. There was a column written by SI's Ross Tucker back on April Fool's Day suggesting this exact strategy with the No. 1 pick, but many wondered if the Lions could get away with it. As it turns out, they could legally delay their pick and wouldn't have to pay No. 1 money. That means that if they wanted to draft Matthew Stafford, theoretically they could wait to turn in the pick until after the Chiefs made their selection. Stafford won't be selected by the Rams of Chiefs, so the Lions could wait a couple picks to save some money.
While this strategy certainly would be interesting and smart for saving money, it is highly doubtful that the Lions would employ it on draft day. Aside from the perception that the Lions couldn't even turn in the top pick on time (I doubt most would realize what they Lions were doing), there's the risk of passing up one of the players selected during your delay and having him turn out to be a Pro Bowler or a great player. While picking one player over another and in hindsight wishing you could go back and do a certain draft all over again is a common occurrence, it would be worse to look back and know that you let another team swoop in and pick a Pro Bowler while you were trying to save some money. - Offensive tackle Ephraim Salaam left Detroit without signing a contract. He is thinking over his options and may wait to make a decision until after the draft. That way he can see exactly what each team's situation is, allowing him to pick a team where the chance for playing time exists.
- Shortly after Salaam left the Lions, the team re-signed offensive tackle George Foster to a one-year deal. The team also signed center Dylan Gandy to a one-year deal, adding depth to the offensive line at multiple positions. Neither of these two players are starting material, but both provide needed depth. As some of you pointed out, they are more than likely "training camp bodies." They will be around during training camp for depth and practice reasons but probably won't make the team. That is the most likely scenario, so these signings don't seem like a very big deal to me, not that they should.
- B.J. Raji's agents released a statement refuting multiple reports that their client tested positive for a drug (reported to be marijuana) at the combine. SI.com and NFL Draft Bible reported that Raji tested positive for a drug, and the latter of the two specified that it was marijuana. NFL Draft Bible is standing by all of its recent stories about players testing positive for marijuana and steroids, so it will definitely be interesting to see who turns out to be telling the truth in this whole situation.
- Mocking the Draft has the Lions selecting Jason Smith and Peria Jerry in the first-round of its most recent mock draft.
- Jeff Garcia signed with the Raiders to be JaMarcus Russell's backup.
- Despite being released by the Ravens on March 18, the team re-signed cornerback Samari Rolle to a four-year deal on Monday.
- I want to give myself a pat on the back for winning the Pride of Detroit tournament pool. I tied for first-place with Swish, who had 138 points just like me. I won the tiebreaker, though, as my prediction for the total amount of points scored was only a single point off the actual total.
Filed under:
Tuesday Notes: Lions Could Legally Delay Top Pick to Move Down Draft Order
By
Sean Yuille