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A paperwork snafu resulted in the release of Denver Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil on Friday, and it could end up benefiting the Detroit Lions in a big way. Dumervil is now a free agent, and several teams are already expressing interest in signing him. According to USA Today's Mike Garafolo, the Lions are one of those teams.
Someone informed of the interest from other teams since Dumervil's release said the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, and Detroit Lions all inquired about Dumervil's availability and expressed interest in talking to him in the near future. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because those conversations were to remain private.
Dumervil reportedly wants to re-sign with the Broncos, but there's no telling what will happen in the wake of his release. The Broncos were going to keep him around on a restructured contract, but because the paperwork wasn't filed in time, they released him. The cap implications of that decision could prevent them from re-signing him, but it's not clear what their plan is right now.
Dumervil wouldn't be cheap, but he would greatly help the Lions at defensive end. He had 11.0 sacks and 6 forced fumbles last season, and that came after 17.0 sacks in 2009 and 9.5 sacks in 2011. Right now, the Lions only have Jason Jones, Willie Young and Ronnell Lewis at defensive end, so adding Dumervil would be a big step in solidifying the defense. Adding Dumervil would also greatly decrease the need to take a defensive end early in this year's draft.
This has already been quite a crazy story, and it got even crazier with Dumervil firing his agent on Saturday. I'm glad to see that the Lions are reportedly trying to get in the mix to land Dumervil, but there's no telling what direction this story will go in next.
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