The Lions have traded an undisclosed 2010 draft pick to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for safety Ko Simpson pending a physical. To make room on the roster for Simpson, the Lions released defensive end Orion Martin.
Simpson is entering his fourth year in the league. He played in all 16 games in his rookie season and last year. In 2007, he suffered a broken ankle during the first game of the season and was placed on the injured reserve. On the first day of 2009 Simpson was arrested in his hometown of Rock Hill, South Carolina, for "hindering police while they were attempting to break up an unruly crowd." He supposedly said to police, "I'm Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions!"
This move was a bit surprising since we are just a day away from the final round of roster cuts, but the Lions obviously didn't feel completely confident in the safety position. If they did, no trade would have been made, especially not a day before the roster will be trimmed down to 53 players.
Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings had this to say about the trade:
Indeed I am floored.
Not that y’all didn’t pick up a solid player. Ko’s actually entering his fourth year out of South Carolina. He missed the 2007 season in its entirety with an ankle injury. He doesn’t produce a lot of stats, isn’t terribly athletic, and lost his job last year to Bryan Scott, a guy we picked up off the street.
Still, as far as young guys go, Ko’s pretty dependable. He’ll give up the occasional big play, but he can be pretty tough in run support. If you guys have a pass rush, he might make a play here and there, because he does have some ball skills. It’s not a bad trade. I guess I’m just floored because literally, the chances were extremely slim that he’d make our roster.
I guess we will just have to trust Martin Mayhew on this one.