And then there’s this as well…
“The Seattle Seahawks may have a chance at reuniting with a familiar face this offseason. General manager John Schneider confirmed Thursday that he and coach Pete Carroll have been in talks with All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner.”
The Lions know they can’t sign them all so they are taking the wait and see approach looking for the biggest bargains.
I am not expecting any huge names signed in FA. Holmes is gonna continue bargain shopping and signing players to short term deals.
Is what it is……
Let’s face it… Romeo, Paschal, Hutch, Da Problem, and JOK…. Aren’t a bad edge group, and could easily account for 22-25 sacks…
same goes for Decker, Jackson, Ragnow, Big V, Sewell, Kraemer, Nelson, Ross P….
same goes for WR and TE, but contract lengths are cause for concern, as the cupboard gets pretty empty beyond 2023….
Those positions are as talented, or more than what we had available most of last year.
QB- need backup
RB- need starter and 3rd string
DT- need starter, and rotational guy
LB- need starter
CB- need starter
NB- need starter
SS- need depth given Walker
So if we want to live dangerously with injury risks, and contracts expediting we need 5 starters!!!
Exactly. People claim to love Brad yet want him to do the opposite of what he has done to get us here. Stay the coarse. Build through the draft!
Me too. You subtract what you have to pay AA if you don’t do something, and you cannot leave the two whippersnappers without a starting level vet to bring them along. Wagner/David replaces AA and neither is likely to get a long term guaranteed deal that hurts us years down the road. It buys us a year or two so we can upgrade with younger options in FA or the draft.
Part of that was because of our lack of resources. And we were are now in as brad call it player acquisition stage. And just we’re are we ? we had a great end of the season run but we had a good end of the last season only to start 1-6. Those that think your going to the play offs with the Benito Joneses of the NFL. I got a feeling we will a wall , if your gonna compete with the KCs and Bills and Eagles. It going to take more then just draft picks and bargain FAs. And Holmes has been real good draft and them rookies have step up and played early and well. But what happens if he has a bad draft. You don’t have to sign high priced top FAs but you better find some good players there or your only going so far in this league.
And them FA signings don’t have to come from out side part of that is resigning your good players like Comish Chark Williams Elliot. These all would count as quality signings and not nessasrily bargain FAs.
Frankly, I want the Lions to keep most of their own guys.
Outside of Detroit though, here’s a few I’m hoping they might look at based on PFF’s score, their age, and projected contract. I’m looking for guys with a high PFF score that are between 25-29 years old, and are seeking a contract that’s half the cost of the guys up top on these lists with similar grades.
Brissett played fairly well for Cleveland last year while they waited for Watson’s suspension to end. He’s only 30 and will likely seek less than $10m/annually.
Dalton and Mariota also each got some playing time last year and would command appx $5m/annually on short term deals.
Heinicke did not grade well last year, but there is a little something about him I like. He would likely be available for $5m/annually on a 1-2 year deal.
I’m not big on the Lions going WR because I think it’s already a bit crowded and I like a lot of the guys we have. Nevertheless, with Chark leaving and injuries being a sure thing at some point, they might want to bring in someone. Robert Woods’ name has come up and I understand why. He’s got some experience playing with Goff, he’ll likely seek something like $5m/annually on a short term deal and his PFF grades are equal or better than several FA WR’s seeking 2x-3x the money he will be.
Ragnow is great, but has been dealing with a lingering foot injury over the last few years. Garrett Bradbury is 28, has a lot of playing experience and can play both C and Guard. I think he’d fit in a similar role to Evan Brown in previous years and would even be a bit of an upgrade. He’d compete at guard and be available to backup Ragnow, if needed.
Nate Davis is another intriguing interior OL option, but I don’t think he’d be in the cards if the Lions intend to stick with Big V at RG. I’m not sure Davis can play Center, so even though I like him, I don’t think he’s a realistic option.
The Raiders had the worst rated OL throughout the 1st 10 weeks of the 2022 season. By the time the season was over, they had a top 10 unit. Eluemunor got a lot of playing time with that unit and can play both right and left tackle. He’s just 28 years old and is likely seeking appx $4m annually. I think he’d be a great option to take on the role of the Lions backup swing tackle.
DT is a huge need for the Lions imo. They need someone next to McNeill.
Rankins is an intriguing option. He’s 29 and will likely seek a fairly short term, affordable deal. He scored well with PFF last year, but not so much in previous years. He’s got a bit of a boom/bust factor for sure.
Pretty sure he has zero interest in coming back to Detroit, but A’Shawn Robinson has graded out very well against the run during his time in LA. Got to love those projected contract numbers as well.
Taven Bryan was once a top-10 draft pick. He’s done very little to back that up during his career with the Jags and Browns. I do think Holmes likes these guys though. He might be a possible reclamation project similar to Charles Harris.
I know a lot of people have said they want the Lions to bring in Wagner. I was against it at 1st. I figured he’d demand a ton of money for what he did prior to turning 30 with the Seahawks. PFF isn’t the end all, be all, of course, but his 90.7 grade with the Rams last year and their projected contract for him certainly changes my mind. The Lions could use a little bit more of a veteran presence at certain positions, and MLB is definitely one of them imo.
Azeez Al-Sheeir could be a nice pick up for the Lions. He’ll turn 26 this season and has been playing behind/next to Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw for several years now. There’s a bit of an injury concern, but otherwise it’s hard to not be interested.
Anzalone didn’t grade well, but I thought he improved as the season went on. Glenn likes him, a lot.
I love the idea of trading for Slay if he can be landed for a late day 3 pick. The Lions need a lot of help at CB with Oruwariye and Hughes hitting FA and Okudah still largely being an unknown.
Rock Ya-Sin is intriguing, but I think he’ll probably seek more money than the Lions should pay him.
Murphy-Bunting is still in his mid-20’s and offers decent inside-outside flexibility. Solid 2022 PFF grade for sure and his projected contract sure is more reasonable than several CB’s listed higher than him on this list with worse grades.
Same for Emmanuel Mosely. Mid 20’s, solid grade with experience on a very good defense.
Johnson and retaining Hughes are options as well:
If anyone wants to see the PFF scores for any other particular players let me know.
damn I was researching this last night and thought i was going to come in here with a great suggestion that no one thought of, but leave it to @CuriousHusker Curious Husker to scoop me.
Wormley makes a ton of sense if Pgh doesn’t re-sign him. Takes the pressure off in the draft for a weak DT class. and he’s exactly a Brd-type bargain signing. I think he’d be better than Benito Jones, and possibly Buggs, too. The guy needs to be double teamed.
I really like this idea of Wormley. I’m struggling with how they are going to address DT hole. Dramont Jones from the Broncos is my other one.
I only want one big splash signing. So that’s Jamal Dean. I’m fully prepared for smaller bargain signings and I do want several of our own guys back.
Just one…I just want ONE.
Regardless, I hope the signings they do make cloud what are going to do come draft day.
We will be more active than we were in 2021 or 2022 (Digging out from Quintricia Fiasco). More players, move APY (including re-signing our own).
Lemme just go on record and say I would not replace Goff for Lamar Jackson. I wouldn’t replace Goff for anybody at this point.
This actually sounds exactly like something Brad and Dan would do. “Go make a living, but let us know what that living is.”; followed by either “That’s a fair deal, how about we match it and throw in an extra half mil for the trust fund to stay with us.”… or “Man we really appreciate what you did for us, but we can’t do that. Best of luck to you in San Fran unless we play you.”
I would just sign our own players that we want to keep and pass on the bidding wars for the UFAs. I want to get comp picks next year for the players we lose. We can still sign the released players since they are not a factor for comp picks. I’d be happy with Wagner and Woods on short term deals.
A few UFA who might interest Lions Names I have not seen here or often here.
David Onyemata Height: 6’4"Weight: 300
Interior Defensive Line
Donovan Wilson Height: 6’1"Weight: 207
Safety
Nate Davis Height: 6’3"Weight: 306
Right Guard
Drue Tranquill LB 6’ 2" / 234 lbs.
Dalton Risner OG 6’ 5" / 312 lbs.
I could get behind Sutton for sure.
Right person, right age, right price, right background, right grade.
Heinicke
Ashawn
Dalvin Tomlinson
Murphy Bunting
That’s a good haul
I’ll tackle TE, a position down on the list, but let’s get it outta the way so concentration can go to other positions.
Please dont use a draft pick on one. Sign Tonyon, seems like a Campbell guy, and cheap. Yes, injury issues, but would be one of our committee guys with Wright, mitchell, and zylstra.
And if tonyon developes a rapport with Goff, like he did with rodgers a couple years back, we have a top 10-16 te.
Whoa. Really? Lamar puts this team in nfccg talks. I’d be giddy to see what Ben Johnson could do with him. Gives me the sweats.
@colvin4prez i also wouldn’t. Cost, known fit in the offense, passing accuracy. But most importantly because as you said, Brad Johnson. We have him for most likely this season and that’s it. I would love to have an established playbook by then.
