I do expect it to be younger next season to be honest. Also the impression that I get from listening to Brad and Dan is that they do want to be aggressive in the draft, but not in FA. The impression that I get is that they are still looking to do most of the building of the team in the Draft and just pick up some FAs on prove it deals to give the player a second chance to show the NFL that he belongs and maybe improve depth on the Lions.
Honestly I don’t see Commish much north of that…
As Dead pointed…. As we are, we are 3-13M under cap with carrying some spare change into next year, signing our rookies, and filling out the 51 man roster.
That figure also factors our biggest cap savings already cutting Brockers….
Many in here look at it cut and dry… pay big V 9.5M, or don’t…. Or Pay Romeo the 11M or don’t….
I look at it as we got absolutely NOTHING from Big V in 2 of his 3 years. One partial year as a liability, and one with zero snaps and back surgery. Hard pass…
Meanwhile Buggs is an idiot emotional leader, has a bond with McNeill, had 53 pff grade and some splash plays at a position of not depth…. Commish was a soldier out there playing in a cast.
Buggs- 3 years and 10.5M with 6M guaranteed. Pay 2M year 1, 3.5M yr 2, and 5M with no harm to cut year 2, but cheap enough to keep if he keeps improving. He had 9-10 sacks his last year at Bama.
Commish- we need some longer term deals…. These 1-2 were great bridges, but we can’t keep saying hi and bye and hoping to hit again. I would offer 4 yrs and 24M with 12M guaranteed. Maybe a 3.5, 5.5, 6.5, 8.5 structure.
Now we are literally giving Big Vs cap space to Buggs and Commish.
I would be doing the same with W Harris, Swaggy, and AA with Romeo’s money…… turn that 7.5M in 2023 savings into 3 guys who helped a lot this year.
- extend J Jackson and ensure we don’t have another OL dilemma next year.
With McNeill, Buggs, Levi, Paschal, Hutch, Houston, JOK we are one DT from having a really good and versatile DL….
I’d cut Harris and use his money for year 1 on a guy like Cam Sutton
Hutch/problem
Buggs/Benito
McNeill/Levi
Commish/Paschal
AA/Pittman
Rodrigo/Barnes
Okudah
Sutton
Jacobs/W Harris
Walker
Joseph
Without borrowing from the future much at all, we field a similar or better D than the one we just went 8-2 with before the draft
Branch
Witherspoon
Kancey
John Michael Schmitz
Tank Bigsby
Dorian Williams
Dtr
Moody
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I think Buggs showed he can be a solid rotational piece and that should garner him a raise in the 1-2mil range if you ask me. I’d like him back in the 1mil range.
Elliot we got lucky on. He’s a better player than his contract and we got him cheap because of his injury history. He’s a player that’s physical and gets hurt because of it so I doubt anyone will invest big money in him. This years free agency has a lot of safety options in it too and that should help keep his price down. My guess is he resigns around 2-3mil. I’d pay him 2 mil no problem.
AA will be back for close to what he made last year. But Board and Woods could both be gone.
I also think the Comish is back. We very well could cut ROkwara to free up money to sign Cominsky. I figure we will have to pay him a multi year deal in the 4-5 mil range.
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Elliott- 6.5M
E Brown- 6.5M
Commish- 6M
Swaggy- 4.75M
AA- 3.75M
Biggs-3.5M
W Harris- 2.5M
AO- 2M
Those are my best guesses what these get end up with. APY
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Completely agree, those guys were cheap/money ball type contracts last year. And yes they played decent, but we also still had the 32nd ranked defense in the nfl. Do not overpay them.
So those are not opposite stories. perhaps the deeper message is “We promote and take care of/promote our own picks, but vets come here to be a part of something special, so we do our best for them too.”
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That sounds like such a better pitch than come here and play for less just because we want team friendly contracts.
I’m definitely curious to see how much turnover we have when there’s also the draft picks to account for
Lions should be in win now mode , right ?
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I think the lions are always in “more wins/improvement this year - mode”
So in terms of FA, probably not what you are thinking.
They’ve been in “win as much as we can, mode”…but not with anything that could hurt the future.
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Yes but now I see it as the window is open
The future is now.
They could be one or two difference makers away from being difference makers …
If they’re patient
In two years they may not be able to keep all this young talent together anyways -
I’m also not sure what more they really need to add vs continuing to get better but they should be nfc Super Bowl contenders next year if this finish was an indication.
Agree. I think we get difference makers in the draft though. I think we compete with a young AF team. Getting FA’s now is okay, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the ability to sign our own as they come due.
@Billysimsmademedo mentioned the possibility that Harris comes back and plays like he did in 2021…
which is an interesting thought to me.
Harris only play 4 games when healthy at start of year… when AG had that 4-2-5 much of the time… trying to get upfield in an attacking style. It was completely different than the 2021 scheme.
Then… late in the season… Lions started showing more 3-4 base looks… which is where I think Harris would benefit again.
Hutch and Houston would be getting many of the snaps… and Harris would provide quality depth in that edge role.
4 Likes
fixed it
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That is kind of what I envision also. I think that some of us forget that Harris was the one playing with Hutch in the Commanders game when he got 3 sacks. The commanders were more worried about Harris and were doubling his side, if I remember correctly, which then opened up paths for Hutch. I would also say that if Harris had not gotten hurt, opposing teams would have had to figure out what to do.
Losing both Harris and Commish relatively early in the season caused problems for the D-Line. I see Commish as Harris’s relief and both filling the spot opposite Hutch/Houston next season.
As a side note for those who do not think that the Commish should be a high priority to resign, I only have this to say. When Commish missed games this season, 5 to be exact, the Lions went 0-5, when Commish was playing the Lions went 9-2. Now I also believe that if Harris had played the Lions might have won one or two of those games during that 5 game losing streak, and we all know that would of had out boys playing this last weekend at least.
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Dan won’t have to worry about how hard new players work. The guys we have in that locker room now won’t accept anything less than 100% effort.
B. Holmes said in his end of year presser he was excited to get back Harris back healthy next year, which kinda caught me by surprise. But sounds like he’s in the plans for next season.
The Triple H attack off the edge… Hutch 9.5 sacks, Houston 8 sacks, and Harris 7.5 sacks in 2021. That could be very productive trio considering Hutch and Houston are just getting started in their young careers.
3 Likes
I think they all deserve raises, but I also hope they are all in depth roles next fall.
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Can’t forget Romeo either. He had 2 sacks in his first game back. I am sure he will be much better and stronger next year after is achilles injury.
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I like Romeo but his contract is rough. Not sure he’s back unless he takes a pay cut. Cominsky is far more important to this defense than Romeo being back.
I would not have an issue with that, because it means that the Lions were able to get upgrades from the draft.
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I think Romeo was a much more productive player than Harris. That is the quandry.