Lions the best fit for Eric Winston?

The Detroit Lions added extra depth at offensive guard and center a couple weeks ago by signing Leroy Harris and Jake Scott. They have not yet added extra depth at offensive tackle, though. For now, the Lions seem content going forward with Riley Reiff, Corey Hilliard, Jason Fox, LaAdrian Waddle and Austin Holtz. Reiff is penciled in as the starter at left tackle, while Hilliard and Fox are set to compete for the starting job at right tackle. Waddle and Holtz are simply trying to make the team.

If the Lions do decide that they need to add veteran depth at offensive tackle at some point, might they take a look at Eric Winston? He's No. 4 on USA Today's list of the top available free agents, and the Lions are actually listed as the best fit for him.

4. RT Eric Winston — Given his apparent price tag, Winston may be perfectly content to wait for a team to suffer a catastrophic injury or realize that it has a performance issue at right tackle. Chances are, he'll have some choices by early August if he's still unsigned. Best fit: Lions

The only way I could see Winston ending up in Detroit, as the quote above suggests, is if there's an injury or it becomes clear that Fox and Hilliard aren't the answer at right tackle. If the Lions weren't happy with Fox and Hilliard, they probably would have made a move already. So unless there's an injury or Fox and Hilliard are just completely ineffective in the preseason, it seems unlikely that Winston will end up in Detroit.

If a scenario does arise where the Lions decide they want to add Winston, chances are they will need extra cap space to actually sign him. He said in April that he wants something in the range of $3-4 million, and the Lions currently only have $1.96 million in cap space. A new deal for Matthew Stafford would likely free up enough money to bring in Winston, but the Lions are hoping right now that a move like that won't be necessary.