I, for one, would be totally fine with that.
Keep in mind, with regards to free agency, you have two new head coaches who know the value of all Lion free agents.
For all the discussion on Ben and AG taking Lion coaches itās common for players to follow former coaches to new locations.
Ben knows the value of Skipper in certain packages, knows the value of Zeitler as does AG. I wonāt be shocked for some of the Lion FAās to end up in Chicago or, moreso, NY.
Edit: now see another thread on this very thing.
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Nowaske, Agude, Galvin and Niese are ERFA. Have to believe each of them will be back.
Reynolds, Zylstra, 'Yode are RFAs. Expecting all 3 back.
Neither Ben nor Aaron will be interested in Patrick. I have to believe heāll be intent on returning another year to play with Goff, Ra and Jamo.
I think a case can be made that Zeitler will also want to return to play between Ragnow and Sewell for a similar contract to last year.
Skipper? Would love him back. If not, Manu takes his snaps.
Davenport? Not worried either way since weāre not counting on him for starterās reps.
Levi and Iffy? Writingās on the wall with their availability issues and with our front office not re-upping them yet.
Commish, Pittman, OāConnor, Barnes, Dorsey, Vildor, etc. Up to you. Some will come back, some wonāt. Such is life. Easily replaced. Barnes will obviously be a tougher decision. Chances are Shep wants him back as much as anyone. However, if AG offers him big money to be a character guy in their locker room, Iām OK with it. Iāll cheer him on.
No Rakestraw?
I would love to upgrade CB more, but Iām coming to the realization that we gave McNeill a huge deal and he may not be playing 100% until next Dec with the ACL. Levi might leave. That leaves Reader? Wingo - what was his injury exactly? It needed surgery, but was it an ACL or what? That was on Turkey Day, so I donāt know what sort of recovery to expect on that. Paschal is solid but hard to rely on with injuries. Hutch should be back at least. Z should be back too. Bro Mart hasnāt really stepped up. Iām not feeling great at that spot at all. It sounds like itāll need some heavy investment.
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Yeah I find DT to be the biggest need. You need some one to replace Big Mac till heās ready and then hopefully that guy can replace Reader the following year if he leaves. If not you got a pretty good 3 man rotation. Really like Harmons versatility but if not the first then maybe a guy like CJ West in the 3rd.
My very first phone calls on tampering day would be to the agents of:
(Not saying we should sign these guys, although Iād like to, just to get a feel on expectations in $ and desire to play here)
(Also not including any 2024 Lions that are FAs)
Charles Omenihu
Derrick Nnadi
Joseph Ossai
Calais Campbell
Chase Young
Dante Fowler
Khalil Mack
Dre Greenlaw
Nick Bolton
DJ Reed
Ashtyn Davis
Jevon Holland
Paulson Adebo
Elijah Molden
Hollywood Brown
Dyami Brown
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I mentioned him in a later post. Had just forgotten him. I do have durability concerns with him.
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Due diligence on Mad Maxx as well.
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My phone calls on tampering day are going to the agents of
Will Fries(the big FA I would go after if Zeitler goes elsewhere)
Tyron Mathieu(connection and would fill in at that nice Iffy spot)
Micheal Hoecht(has connection to Holmes)
Osa Odighizuwa
Joe Tyron(connection with our D Line coach)
Caleb Farley(low cost project deal)
Nate Hobbs(Amik connection)
CJ Henderson(Like Farley a low cost project deal)
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5 guys i could see holmes could pick up in FA
Poona Ford DL
Josh Sweet De
Baron Browning de
Rasul Douglas cb
Mike Hilton cb
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Diligence completed. This I assure you will not happen lol. As much as I hoped/wanted it to/thought it would happen.
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Which is why itās a wise idea to play the comp pick game next year.
CD3, Zeitler, Leviā¦
Barnes - 5th/6th
Muhammad- 7th
Davenport - 7th
Stock pile future beans so we can be aggressive on draft day or go get Mad Maxx
Now that we are AG confirmedā¦ we could realistically trade 2 1sts and 2 3rds and not miss a beat.
If we get comp pick heavy in 2026 we would have same amount of picks , just later
I agree if Davis walks Paulson Adebo knowing Holmes that would be his splash an it would be good one. Add Jevon Holland with Branch an Kirby with what we have that secondary takes another jump. I like the Seat guy from Philly added to edge. We have couple of young guys who could take big second year step also. With Hutch an FA an draft pick.
I am against just cutting players like Levi or een Davenport they are not huge cap players an you know as team what you get. To many just look a beans I want young depth players who are cheap from FA. Some could be your own. Add Holland at S an Adebo at CB an call it a day. Keep some of your young as back ups. Depth showed this season an we can improve on it . But add two FA starters keep Levi Davenport an Brown if cost effective.
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Forgot Sweat. Likely a little too rich for Holmes unless itās 1 or 2 year deal but he probably wants 4-5. Guess weāll see. I honestly love our roster as is and think we just need to churn the bottom third to have better depth. The fan in me likes the idea of winning the offseason but I wonāt be upset if itās just a couple depth pieces. I love Jevon Holland 
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Heās going to be an 18m safety. We wonāt be in on that.
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I saw Bears fan posts clamoring about getting Zeitler even before Ben was hired. They know they need oline help. And now Zeitler has a year in Benās offense.
Sheesh. Thatās nuts. No chance Iād sniff that money. Love the guy, and maybe if we desperately needed safety help Iād consider it. Canadian or not, no thanks on 18M AAV.
One thing I noticed perusing the spotrac free agents listā¦the Kansas City Chiefs have A LOT of key players that are UFAs. Hereās one way to dismantle a juggernaut. League wide agreement to over spend on all of their UFAs.
