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When the contract terms for Mike Daniels’ new deal with the Detroit Lions were released—one-year, $9.1 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter—it looked like a pretty expensive deal, especially this late in the season.
But as it turn out, Daniels may have actually turned down a better deal to play with the Detroit Lions specifically.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, 13 different teams called about signing Daniels, four of which were willing to give Daniels a better deal than Detroit’s.
So why did Daniels choose Detroit? Well, one reason is obvious. The Packers did Daniels dirty by releasing him one day before training camp. Chances were pretty good he would want to get revenge on them by going to a division rival. But the other reason, well, I’ll just let Rapoport speak for himself:
The #Lions gave DL Mike Daniels a 1-year deal worth $9.1M with $7.8M guaranteed... and of the 13 teams who called, four other teams were willing to do that deal or better. But the former #Packers star wanted to play for coach Matt Patricia... and stay in the division.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 26, 2019
That’s right. Despite all of narratives to the contrary, Mike Daniels wanted to play for head coach Matt Patricia.
This flies in the face of the one offseason report from player agents that ranked the Lions as the fourth-worst destination for free agents. In that article, one agent referred to Matt Patricia as “Matt ‘I think I’m Belichick but I haven’t done shit’ Patricia.”
I’m guessing that wasn’t Mike Daniels’ agent.
Welcome to Detroit, Mike. Let’s eat some cheese.