Friday open thread: What is the first roster move you want Matt Patricia to make?

The Detroit Lions still have some hiring to do before the Matt Patricia coaching staff is complete. Once Patricia is done with that, he’ll have just a short period of time to get familiar with his own personnel in order to get him ready for free agency, which is just a month away.

In fact, Patricia has already gotten a head start on that. After his introductory press conference, he told DetroitLions.com that he planned on beginning his film review of the Lions’ current roster later that night.

So once that staff is in place and he feels a comfort level with his knowledge of his own team’s talent level, he’ll be facing some big decisions with the team. Detroit has 17 unrestricted free agents looming and a few other roster conundrums to deal with.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

What is the first roster move you want Matt Patricia (and Bob Quinn) to make?

My answer: Franchise tag Ezekiel Ansah. Just get it out of the way without giving it a second thought. The Lions’ defensive line is bad enough as is, and although Ansah obviously has problems staying healthy, Detroit should take the risk of a costly one-year deal in the hopes that it pays off for 2018.

Pass rushers are a very rare commodity in free agency, so if you’ve got an opportunity to essentially guarantee retaining one that is going to be a free agent—even if it comes with a serious risk—you take it.

That shouldn’t stop the Lions from eventually adding some help aside Ziggy, whether it be from free agency or the draft. And while it’ll set their bank account back a little bit, it gives them a little more freedom in the way they attack player acquisition the rest of the way, knowing that they don’t have a need for two starting defensive ends instead of just one.

Your turn.