It could be Ben didn’t value him as much
If lions offered $18m
And Saints offered $12m
That too would make offers not too close.
I just think Swaggy would be doing well which is why Brad offered him a contract. We’ve had so many x lions who got paid and didn’t deliver. I’d like to think he’d continue to deliver
And now I’m ecstatic David is delivering too
I keep saying I’m ecstatic about Monty.
I’m not ecstatic about Lions fans always trashing x lions blaming players etc when now first hand we’re seeing what a difference the “clear vision” does for player success.
Another point to mentionbecause it’s football
But Swaggy played an important part and mostly remained healthy
Which was pretty key when Swift was not always available.
Has anyone trashed Jamaal? Most of the people content with the upgrade to Monty loved Jamaal, thought he did his job very well and was a great locker room guy. But he had his limitations. I don’t think it’s trashing him to say that.
To put Monty’s success of 3.92 YAC in perspective, in 2022
Swift had 1.7 yards after contact
Jamaal had 1.6 yards after contact, which tied with Devin Singletary & Jeff Wilson among starting RBs.
Those were among the worst in the NFL for starting RBs:
Only Joe Mixon, Zeke Elliott, and Leonard Fournette were worse with 1.5 yards after contact.
Agreed.
DM was plan B after Jamaal. It worked-out better than BH even hoped it would. I think if BH knew it was going to work-out this good, DM would have been plan A and Jamaal never even would have gotten an offer from us.
I think Holmes didn’t think Monty was an option for us, whether it was because he would be too expensive or the Bears would franchise him or whatever. But it really seems like once he realized Monty was an option, we pivoted that direction instantly. The same thing happened with Duce, Brad thought he would be too expensive then once he realized he wouldn’t be, he went after him.
See above - not exactly trashing but does make one question
Why did Brad off Swaggy a contract ?
If it’s a reasonable take , many of which I’ve thumbs up that just acknowledge the time line and pivot while also acknowledging Swaggy was successful as a lion and likely would’ve continued to be successful as a lion. ( baring injury which might not occur in Detroit )
Here’s the thing, we’re all just educated-guessing about what really went down. Brad’s statements about the situation were very vague and judicious - as they should be - with plenty of room for interpretation. He’s not just gonna up and say what went down. No GM would. No good ones anyway.
But if we didn’t try and re-sign a team leader and great locker room guy coming off such an excellent statistical season, what would it say about our FO? That you won’t get rewarded for working hard? That being all-in for us doesn’t matter for future negotiations? That we’ll use you and spit you out? No way. We can’t send that kind of message to the team.
So I think - and like everyone on here, I’m only educated-guessing - but I think they were fine bringing Jamaal back for those reasons. No he’s not dynamic and he limits the offense some, but the good outweighs the bad. Plus the other realistic options at the time (and I’m not including Monty) weren’t enough of an upgrade to upset the locker room or continuity.
Then Swaggy scoffed at our offer, Monty became available, and we pivoted. Maybe we actually did lowball Swaggy so he would scoff and give us the excuse to pivot. I have no idea but that’s how plenty of big businesses operate. So it goes.
Again, that’s just my interpretation and I could very much be wrong. But none of it matters re: my evaluation of Swaggy as a player. There was a reason we were able to sign him to a 2-year, $4M deal in the first place.
I don’t think they were vague in a way where Lions fans need to paint picture of Swaggy as less than
Imo there’s no reason to not think Swaggy would be having another great season
I think part of evolution of the fandom will be wishing good players in their way off good tidings realizing the business may not let lions keep everyone they want
So just like people will say W Harris is subpar nfl player , the reality is he’s been good enough to be on an nfl roster under Patricia and be on it for the last twenty games of mostly winning.
I think you can definitely say that JW would be having an excellent season.
I also think you can say that DM has abilities that JW does not.
I’m not painting him as less than because of Brad’s words. It’s my own evaluation. You’re painting him as more than because of Brad’s comments, which is fine, to each his own. I just disagree for the reasons listed above.
Which is fine. It’s clear we’re not going to agree on this, but it’s all just the opinions of two dudes on a message board anyway.
(Though in defense of mine, I would say to take a look at every other year Swaggy’s had when he wasn’t behind our line).
And I readily admit that part of this is that I believe RB as a whole is basically a dime or dozen position. I believe A LOT of guys would thrive behind our line given the opportunity. It’s why I don’t advocate for drafting them early. There aren’t a lot of true difference makers at the position, and we currently have two of them. Swaggy, to me, was not one of them.
It’s not that I don’t agree Monty might actually be more talented
It’s the Brad offered Swaggy a deal first , no matter our opinions. My opinion of that means Brad saw Swaggy as valuable.
Lions as a dime a dozen running backs is interesting when they’ve had so much trouble finding backs to take pressure of Stafford.
I think we may be closer to agreement too on that you acknowledge the time line.
Add , I’m great with how it worked out. David also seems like a good locker room community fit
And this is my opinion as to why he did that:
He was valuable to us, I’m not disputing that. He was a great leader, fantastic locker room guy, and he had a good year on the field. I think we wanted to bring him back for those first 2 reasons more than the last one.
First post in this thread and first thought was, duh, he killed us when in Chicago.
Second thought was… Has anyone flipped a backfield in one year, like this? Not bitching, I applaud it!
I am not stubborn on any of my takes. Will often admit being wrong. Monty is exactly what I thought he was. He has a 75 yard run that’s inflating his average. He will be low 4s when it’s all said and done.
He’s solid…he’s not special. I like him in his role.
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