Notes: Will signing Jesse James be the Detroit Lions’ biggest 2019 regret?

The Lions had a very busy offseason. After signing Mike Daniels last week, it looks like it could keep going that way. Somewhere along the line they had to make a mistake, right? Something they’ll regret. Bleacher Report writer Kristopher Knox thinks so.

They recently listed the top offseason regrets for each team. For the Lions, Knox mentioned overpaying tight end Jesse James. Here’s his criticism.

“The tight end market was not full of options in this year’s edition of free agency. However, the Detroit Lions still overpaid to get former Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James,” Knox wrote. “They gave him a four-year, $22.6 million deal that includes $10.5 million guaranteed. That’s a lot of money for a guy who has never been an elite pass-catcher at the position.”

They go on to talk about James’ $8 million in dead money that he’ll receive next year if the Lions decide to let James go should things not work out.

• The Ringer did what they call the quarterback commitment index. The theory here is to measure how committed each team is to their quarterback. It’s set up like a relationship commitment test. You’ll be happy to know that they believe the Lions are fully committed to their man. They put Stafford in the “Treated Them Better Than They’ve Ever Been Treated Before” section. Here’s what Ringer writer Danny Heifetz had to say:

“The Lions never knew what a good quarterback looked like until they met Matt. He got their pulse going (led the league in fourth-quarter comebacks twice), got along perfectly with Detroit’s closest friends (a flawless connection to Calvin Johnson), and put the team on his back (no, really. He played through a broken bone in his back last year). Detroit got a good one.”

• Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer attended Lions camp on Tuesday and took some notes. He’s got some good stuff to say about the team on Twitter in a five tweet thread. Here’s some of the highlights.

• What do you think of the Detroit Lions right now? Are you excited? Or do you think like so many outside of Detroit think? You know what I’m talking about. “The team is going to be a failure and go 3-13” and all that stuff. One Lions writer happens to believe that the 2019 Lions are going to surprise everyone. In fact, SideLion Report’s Ryan Russell believes the Lions will prove everyone wrong.

While everyone looks at the talent on the field, Russell believes it’s the coaching staff that is going to be the difference. He believes that Jeff Davidson will fix the offensive line and Darrell Bevell will have the offense kicking on all cylinders, for example.

• On the negative side of things, Deadspin’s Drew Magary released the Lions’ version of his annual “Why Your Team Sucks” series. He really goes in hard on the Lions on this one. See if you can get all the way through without getting upset or laughing hysterically.

• The Lions welcomed in TAPS families to their training camp on Wednesday. TAPS is an organization set up for families of fallen soldiers. The kids got to take part in a meet-and-greet with players after practice.