He signed with Denver and the tomb of the unknown quarterback.
That’s a wrap for Reynolds in the D.
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Until he goes on waivers mid-season and we bring him back… which is exactly what happened the last time he tried to play without Goff
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So basically 1 year, $4.5 million, with a team option for another year at the same rate. Plus the incentives.
I can see why he would prefer Denver if Brad had matched the offer. In Detroit he knows he’s going to be the number 5 target, but in Denver he can be the number 2, which makes hitting those incentives much more likely. He probably wanted $1 million more a year from Detroit to compensate for that.
@DeadStroke - completely unrelated, but I think I’ve noticed that the Lions have been credited with an additional $5-6m in cap space on OTC in the last few days. I could be totally wrong, but I believe I saw OTC had us at $21m a few days ago, and now it’s jumped up to $26m. Is that right, and if so where did it come from?
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Don’t forget LaPorta is really the number 2 pass catcher on the team
With Jamo ascending, Reynolds was looking at 4th option or lower
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No coming back from those drops. Detroit did him a solid by pretending to want him back, but that contract he signed tells me Detroit didn’t want him. And rightfully so TBH.
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When we restructured Carlton Davis contract, it triggered a 50% down rule where you are required to treat current year compensation as a signing bonus. I think it’s a strategy that BH/Disner/Sonsa are using. I talk about it in this thread
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Not mentioned here yet… The guarantees may have been similar between Detroit and Denver, but he will have more opportunities to reach incentive levels in Denver.
He may also just wish to be more integral in an offense. That wasn’t going to happen here.
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Same reason Chark left which is why I think we draft and groom our own guy that we maintain rights for for 4 years. Otherwise we keep this WR shuffle going.
I’m not too concerned about it. I think the contributions of these one or two year guys is part of Brad’s strategy.
There’s always churn on NFL rosters. The Lions are establishing themselves as a location where a guy can showcase his talent and get paid (by the Lions or someone else).
This gives Holmes an advantage in recruiting these mid-level guys, so he has a better selection. They’re also hungry, so they’re more willing to bet on themselves and accept a short contract. I think Brad trusts his pro scouting department and sees this as a way to get some value at the margins.
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Unrelated I suppose, but isn’t it also the case that the FO is pushing a little more forward this year while anticipating getting that forward amount back whenever the Cam Sutton legal process resolves in a year or two?
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This is a 1 year $4.5M contract with team option.
What makes you think Holmes would have matched?
I don’t think Holmes was interested in paying Reynolds more than he got last year for a projected diminished role.
Holmes has been aggressively scouting WR’s even before Reynolds left.
I believe Holmes was planning to upgrade that position and offered Reynolds a contract deserving of a vet reserve ($2M-$3M).
" Despite being a player the organization wanted to bring back, it did not appear the front office made a realistic contract offer the veteran wideout would be willing to accept.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “They made a below-market contract offer at the start of free agency and maintained minimal contact with Reynolds’ camp in recent weeks.”
Blockquote
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Well DPJ isn’t an upgrade and even if we draft a WR high in the draft, he may take some time to develop (see Jamo).
At the owners meetings both BH/MCDC both said they want Reynolds back and they didn’t say that about any other player. You either believe BH/MCDC or you believe Birkett’s source who may have confused Reynolds $9M/2yr contract as being a $14M/2yr contract.
They need a veteran receiver. I think they wanted Reynolds, I think they would have matched the offer, but I think Reynolds wanted more opportunities and/or annoyed with fans.
After Jamo/ARSB it isn’t pretty.
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That’s it, thank you!
And also thanks for the explanation.
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I believe Dan & Brad wanted Reynolds back in the role they had planned for him in 2023. Reynolds was supposed to be a $3M vet reserve WR.
Marvin Jones and Jamo were supposed to be the starters along with St. Brown.
Then Jamo got suspended and Marvin flamed out.
Reynolds started and still only produced what he has his entire career with the Lions. A little over 2 catches a game and 35 yds/gm.
He filled in and made some big catches but he won’t be hard to replace.
I disagree, but that’s ok . . .you can’t always be right. 
It’s hard to produce if you are only getting 3.75 targets per game. <<==This is the biggest reason why I think he choose Denver.
This is the reason I think Brad only thought of him as a reserve.
Reynolds had a opportunity this season to be the #2 option.
Jamo was suspended, Marvin was washed, and all the other players were new to the team if not the NFL.
We have been talking about this “incredible chemistry with Goff” for 3 years and he gets 3 or 4 targets a game.
Reynolds got catches when the defense forgot about him and concentrated on St. Brown, LaPorta, and even Jamo occupying the safety over the top.
He is a reserve and can be replaced. We get attached to our guys but every team has players like Reynolds.
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We absolutely are not in the NFCC without him. Almost every catch he made all season was a first down. We won several games that would have been losses without him.
But you focus on 2 drops where one was way behind him. That tells me you didnt pay attention all season to how important he was to us.
Casual fans.
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This sucks. That’s a reasonable contract and if Holmes refused to match, he made a mistake. Reynolds was huge in crunch time most of the year.
Many times fans undervalue their players value when they don’t put up gaudy FF numbers, this appears to be the case with Reynolds. He’s a starting caliber receiver, we will miss him.
I hear what you are saying, I just don’t agree with your assessment at all.
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Reynolds is getting to the point to where he is going to decline a bit and I’m sure Holmes factored that. Time to get younger