Cowherd keeps ripping the Lions. Talking about how crappy teams like the Lions have to spend so much every season and how good teams only spend on value during the offseason. Teams like the Lions and Browns have to over spend.
We have spent a lot this year for sure, so I hope this keeps the naysayers that often repeat that the Lions are not aggressive enough during the off seasons quiet for a little while.
Can’t keep both the Cowherds on sports talk, along with the critics for not spending on FA happy, simultaneously.
Sort by total spending and other sorts available as well.
He’s not wrong…
At first, due to my slight bias, I kind of took it as a bit of an attack. But I see what he’s saying. And I also see what you’re saying.
Crappy teams DO spend a fortune on FA… but they kind of have to.
I think most of the contracts we’ve signed this year have been pretty bloated. Definitely in future years.
Does that mean we’ll be garbage next year? No.
But as it stands right now, based on what the Lions have done on the field, yah… I’d say we’re pretty crappy. lol
Who knows, maybe this works out. Maybe we’ll be better in 2019. Maybe BQs buy all the Patriots you can philosophy will benefit the organization.
But the simple fact is that we won’t know if we progressed at all until next January/February.
The same goes for the Browns.
I’m a HUGE fan of what they’ve done. But does what they do in March and April excuse them for what they’ve produced on the field? No.
I personally believe they will be a better football team, and will take the AFC North over… but they haven’t earned any title until we see it.
Crappy teams generally have the money to spend, whether its over spending or not. “Overspending” is the free market determining what the relative value of a given player is worth to a particular team. This constant harangue about overpaying for a player is kinda comical.
Bad teams in every sport need to overpay or nobody will play for them. If a FA LB has a choice to play for the Pats or Saints and make 4m/yr or play for the Jets or Cardinals for the same money it’s a no-brainer. Once you start winning then you can offer slightly smaller contracts and players will sign because nobody wants to lose.
Flowers is the first top tier big name FA that we’ve signed as long as I’ve been a fan. Normally we are in on the 2nd and 3rd waves. Yes, the Lions do suck but lets not pretend we spend like the Redskins or Dolphins every year in FA and strike out on the field. We’ve been mostly frugal.
It kind of sucked for the Lions to be drafting either #1 or #2 overall in 3 of the 4 years before the change to the collective bargaining agreement which led to the current rookie contract wage scale. Which had led to less money for FAs.
Well, that an GMs who were ultimately proven to be pretty poor at talent evaluation.
They didn’t have to take those picks. They could have traded down or maybe, instead of taking CJ taken Joe Thomas?
Stafford/Suh/Calvin Johnson taking up 35% of the cap was NEVER going to produce results, especially if you’re going to continue to rely on a 2001 OL.
The Lions dug their own grave, especially with Millen, using top talent to draft offensive skill positions. Even if they weren’t busts, they still would have killed us.
Trenches please. Not “better” offensive skill positions.
The sad part is that we did build the DL and it took us places in 2014. Would have taken us further if we’d stuck to it and taken Donald instead of Ebron. Always the shiny objects with the Lions and THAT is why we lose.
Lions certainly dig there own grave. And I know there’s no getting you off of the 35% cap, but it could be argued with a flag that stays where it should for a clear PI, or the horrible no calls on the blatant Suh holding in the playoff game, that production could’ve/should’ve been made. Not trying to take you off your opinion here, but Joe Thomas over Calvin Johnson doesn’t do much more for that team IMO. In fact, Calvin being Stafford’s security blanket was probably better for that team.
To be fair, nobody was trading up to 1,2,3 overall before the rookie wage scale was enacted in 2011 and I think teams have traded up at least a couple time since then.
Swapping one player for another argument doesn’t hold water since they would basically become the highest paid player regardless of position on the team right away and that hurt them in the long run. And Joe Thomas did nothing for the Browns man, that should show you even if you draft great players with can’t miss draft picks, you need to hit on other draft picks. And that’s really what was the major downfall in Detroit and Cleveland for that matter.
But you’re right, drafting correct to your team’s philosophy is what will win it. Millen had no idea how to do it. Mayhew was better but still not good enough.
Football is pretty dynamic. You’re right that you have to hit on other parts. The Browns had the right C and the right LT. Both great. And the Browns have been awful on both defense and offense. They’ve drafted pretty poorly and they changed gears so often it’s a shame. I feel for them as I’m sure you do too.
It vexes me that they weren’t able to build a great offense around that foundation.
Blowing 2nd round picks worse than us.
So sad.
Mayhew was the same as Millen. His fetish was TEs instead of WRs. The two big ones he drafted were both not top tier.
Mayhew’s blunder was far worse than any Millen made. Not taking Donald cost us playoff wins (or more) and the division in 2014.
Millen got us 0-16! LOL. IMO, the worst GM ever to rear his head in the NFL. I was awe-stricken when they extended his contract.
I think we should build the trenches, as well. Right now, I feel RG, DE, and RT (in that order) would most improve our team. If we draft a stud DE, we could have a nasty ass Defensive Line. Add a decent starting CB2, and we will be talking about coverage sacks.
I know I’ll probably get lambasted for his but…I liked pettigrew. NOT AT #20…but I think he was a pretty good TE. He could block well…and could catch…well kind of but we picked him way too high.
I remember on the radio Huge saying we should switch pettigrew to RB. What a moron.
I agree with you. My biggest beef with Pettigrew was that he was yet another offensive skill position in the first round when we clearly needed DL. We just came off an 0-16 season with one of the worst defenses of all time and we take QB/TE in the first? For f- sake. I’d have been fine with Pettigrew in later rounds, but I still might have complained because the defense was in such a mess that it took until 2014 to fix. (Then Mayhew let it go to waste by going Ebron)
I like Pettigrew more than Ebron, who I thought was a puss who wouldn’t hit. Pettigrew hits.
The other thing I was upset about was how fast we stopped using him in the pass game just because we got Ebron. Pettigrew had tons of snaps and virtually no targets. (30 targets in 2 years after getting tons of targets) It’s like we made ourselves predictable somehow.
Of course I would have continued with Pettigrew as TE and not drafted Ebron, but a TE later in the draft and taken Donald.
Even though I disagreed with the pick and how high he was drafted, I appreciated his game. Like you said, not flashy, but he could block (unlike Enron) and he was decent enough.
I wanted Mack in that #20 spot. Would have paid off way better than Pettigrew did. But it was clear they were going pass crazy, so maybe having Mack would have been a waste given the strategy. which I also didn’t agree with. I couldn’t be happier that we’re moving back to a strong run game.
Yup ,that DL was NASTY. Pocket looked like a hand grenade went off in there. I loved our D, for a couple of years there. Levy’s injury really hurt badly too, along with some atrocious drafting. Ebron was my least favorite Lion, and I was super-glad to see him go. I also had no beef with Pettigrew. Solid player.
I wanted Schwartz out though. I didn’t believe in him.
With Schwartz, his fist pumps were the most annoying thing ever, but he was a fighter.
And if we’d kept Schwartz, no way he passes on Donald.
It would have been worth the trade off to me. I mean, imagine those snaps from Donald and that rotation. Donald and Suh in his prime. Then put that with the offense we had with Schwartz/Linehan.
2012 - 372 points for; 437 against
2013 - 395 points for; 376 against
2014 - 321 points for; 282 against.
Defense was clearly on an upward swing (I remember feeling super great about it in 2013) If you remember 2013 and the last 4 games, we were 7-5. Division in hand. 4 straight losses by very slim margins and tons of errors by the offense, Caldwell gets hired to “fix” Stafford and the offense tanked.
Schwartz’ offense produced more points and he did all that building of the defense and the rug got yanked out just as it was peaking. Even 2010 the offense out produced every year of Caldwell but one.
I feel you, at the time I wasn’t crying we lost Schwartz, but in retrospect, it was a huge mistake to let him go. I think we’d have had a division win with him in 2014. And a playoff win. And that year the NFC was pretty weak…Seahawks? Pffff.