And I think you should take DC more seriously in re what he has to say about Reynolds. A HUGE part of Reynolds’ value for the Lions is his flexibility (he can play all the WR roles) and his blocking. Total team-first guy.
Listen to DC talk about him and tell me that the head coach thinks Reynold is JAG.
I’m aware he doesn’t. You know who else he loved and didn’t think was a jag? Jamaal Williams. Dan would go to bat for all of our players and you love that about him, but the league is set up so that you have to make hard decisions.
Reynolds makes for one of the best backup outside WRs in the league. He is not dangerous, but is very dependable. He has just under 1,100 receiving yards and 8 TDs over the last two seasons. He also already has very good chemistry with Goff which is HUGE.
I think if Reynolds went and signed for peanuts elsewhere (less than 3mil AAV), I think that would send a bad message to the team. He is very much a team first guy, has been here for three years, has produced, and is known as a hard worker and willing blocker. He embodies everything this coaching staff says it looks for in its players.
What does it say to the rest of the roster as clearly his loss would not be related to finances.
Does it say that if you screw up in a crucial moment, you better be on alert. Hell after we lost all that momentum and SF came within a score, Gibbs fumbled at the start of the drive in opponents territory.
Just my two cents, I get not paying him if someone wants to give him a significant contract (4-5mil AAV+). If he’s cheap I think it’s a no brainer.
So did Swaggy, and we didn’t fall apart when he left for relative peanuts.
Look, I understand the “why-not?-ness” of the whole thing. He’s cheap and does a job, and sure Goff likes him. My problem is - aside from his unclutchness - he takes up a roster spot I would rather spend on a better player. A dangerous player. An actual difference-maker.
I said this last year when we moved on from Swaggy, but if our team is so soft that it falls apart because good players start to get let go - which is going to happen more and more often now that we have to start paying our stars - then it wasn’t the team I thought it was.
Thankfully they were somehow able to overcome Swaggy’s loss.
I know it’s harsh but like I keep saying, the league is designed so it has to be harsh. Reynolds to me offers a normally steady guy who can block, which is fine. But I guarantee a GM as good as Brad can find an upgrade. Easily.
I think that is a legitimate point you make above.
I also doubt that J Reynolds turns down a contract from Detroit like JWilliams did, even more so after seeing what happened with Williams saying no and BH moving on quickly.
I don’t think resigning or not signing Reynolds says much of anything to the rest of the roster.
IMO, Holmes as already proved himself in that area to the team while also saying, along with Dan C, that the roster decisions are going to get tougher going forward.
“You gotta be careful - you fall in a trap with…the more success you have with these players, the more attached you get and you gotta be careful you don’t get blinded. And that’s hard - that’s hard to do. You know, you gotta see it for what it is, step back and make sure that the player is producing and is capable of producing at a high level and take your emotions out of it.” - Dan Campbell, January 29th, 2024
But he DOESN’T go to bat for all his players - certainly not in the targeted and repeated way he has for Reynolds. He does it for Reynolds because Reynolds does stuff most fans - like you, like me - don’t see or pay attention to. You’re absolutely selling him short.
Of course JR can be upgraded. In re the ball-catching, RAC part of the role I think Kalif would be an upgrade right now. But JR does the rest of the role better. And can Reynolds be upgraded for as much or less $$$, as was true w/Montgomery relative to JWilliams? We’ll see.
Great find @Davicus
He’s right. Especially if you can upgrade sometimes it’s best to move on. Even though it might be tough and emotional.
Does that same logic apply to his defensive coordinator? Asking for a friend. 
Agreed. Josh Reynolds absolutely embodies the culture Dan keeps talking about. He’s exactly the kind of player Dan was himself - non-star but hard-ass worker who did all that was asked of him and then some. Team-first all the way. That’s why they broke protocol against the Vikings n the season-ender to get Reynolds his bonus $250K.
You do NOT kick that guy to the curb because of a mistake, albeit a very costly one. Again, if you can find an upgrade at a comparable price, go for it.
Goff’s value is definitely not being overrestimated. He’s going to get paid massively. It’s in the numbers, and now playoff wins. $50m or so unless he wants to be a good guy and give the Lions cap relief.
I don’t think anybody thinks that Glasgow will be expensive to re-sign especially with him being a local guy. He’ll inevitably re-sign for reasonable dollars. I think this is a pretty easy prediction.
Jonah might be the guy we’re overvaluing but you then see what a middling guy like Tomlinson got (3 years $40m) and you wonder why Jonah, at only 27, wouldn’t get offers in that ballpark. I don’t see the Lions giving him that much money so I think he either gets his free agent bag elsewhere or stays here at a discounted rate, maybe a short term deal to build his value up since he missed a lot of time the last 2 years.
We did not let Jamaal go because we didn’t want him back. We offered what we believed to be fair, and he thought he could do better. At that point, the coaching staff did right by him for the work he put in. He got greedy and it bit him in the ass.
If we offer Reynolds 2 years and 8mil and he says no because he wants more, then let him walk. Thats a completely different scenario. You can’t fill all 53 spots up with difference makers. You need the “glue guys”, which is exactly what I consider Josh Reynolds.
I 100% get you gotta be harsh. The Lions need to determine a players worth, offer accordingly and let the chips fall where they may. Its not about the team falling apart it is this staff and front office living up to what they say. If a guy does everything they ask AND produces on the field, how do you not at least offer him some type of extension. The guys who may not be “key” personel may start to put forth less effort if they are worried it wont be rewarded.
Josh deserves a multi year offer, IMO, even something as small as 2 years, 5-6mil.
No, but plenty we’ve moved on from, including Swaggy, JRM (who they let go then brought back when he got cheaper), Blough (https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/news/dan-campbell-is-impressed-with-david-blough), Igwebuike, etc… And it’s going to happen more and more often as we begin to get rid of our guys as opposed to those left over from the Patricia era.
I don’t think there’s a “level of how much they love them” that isn’t covered by @Davicus’s post. Shit to me that quote is basically about Reynolds. We can find WRs who block. We can find hard workers. Hell it’s all we look for.
That will be true of everyone who leaves. If Dan/Brad like them, they will get an offer. It’s up to them whether to accept it or not. Cominsky and Walker did, at below value. I suspect they will offer Reynolds too, but for me it least it would be much lower than some of the numbers I’ve seen bandied about. If he takes it, great. He can fight to make the roster.
If that’s true, then Brad and Dan aren’t doing their jobs. And not just what I think their jobs should be, what they themselves have always said their job is. Bring in gritty, tough, football-loving players who fit what the Detroit Lions are all about.
And I think they’ve done a great job, which is why I would be highly surprised if what you’re suggesting might happen actually happens.
If josh consistently dropped critical or just regular game passes I would agree with some of the posters. But as Jared says “josh is a stud” josh is an important block in building this team . If josh signs a $10 million contract with some other team then good for him , but I would resign josh to a worthy contract for sure . Why …… because he has earned it.
Damn near nailed it!
nailed it. It does say up to 8m.
When Brad talks about contracts he often refers to “role” instead of being fixated on specific players. It seems like Dan and the staff do a good job of expressing the “roles” they have in their schemes, and how important each one is. I think Brad said something like “I’d love to have OBJ” last offseason. The problem is that OBJ was overpriced for the budget Brad set aside for the “role” OBJ would play in Ben’s offense. The staff loved CJGJ. But it took some time to make the deal because the budget Brad had for the role wasn’t enough for CJGJ’s asking price. So Brad said he kept calling the agent reiterating he was interested, but not going above the high end of his budget to chase the player.
In my opinion we over estimate other team players. I have noticed a player gets released an many on this board want us to rush an sign him. They have know idea if he has a broken leg or on drugs or is heavy drinker missing practice just know his name lets get him.
I think not in all cases but we under estimate are own players. The studs likely never leave anyway but the border line fans on board an who comment on blogs like other teams over ares.