I truly believe the Lions have a prime opportunity to really become contenders this offseason and it starts with Slay. I can’t believe so many fans want to get rid of him. He’s got a year left on his contract and there’s talk of a holdout but I think the Lions should pay the man. You don’t win in the NFL by letting your best players go. Let’s face it, when Suh walked the D took a major step backward. I see the same thing happening with Slay. The next key is the draft. Let’s assume the draft goes the way most see it going with Joe Burrow going to Cincinnati and Chase Young going to Washington. That leaves the Lions IMO the perfect player for this defense CB Jeff Okudah. Pairing him with Slay would allow the defense to play more man coverage and send more blitzes. I think Patricia and Quinn really need to be aggressive this draft and I’m hoping they trade back up into the first round to get LSU S Grant Delpit. This would give the Lions one of the best young secondaries in the game. Not sure what it would cost to get done but I’m thinking this year’s and next year’s second round picks may get it done. I think another move that has to be made is Jarrad Davis needs to be moved to a blitzing LB. I don’t think he’s a true MLB but I love his speed and I think he could do well getting after the QB. These moves would no doubt put the Lions in playoff contention.
I feel like we could have Revis, Sanders, Ronnie Lott, and Woodson (all in their primes), and we wouldn’t get sacks with this squad. I too want us to retain Slay, but not so we can draft more DBs to compliment him, so we can draft pressure up front and create turnovers that way.
Welcome to the Den, but with that being said I can’t agree with much of what you said. Suh and slay situations are completely different. Suh was coming off his rookie deal and would still be in the prime of his career if we had redone his contract. But through various mishandling by our front office and moving bonuses around, and the fact that it was still under the old rookie pay scale model we we were between a rock and a hard place. Slay on the other hand is playing at a position that tends to fall off a cliff in their 30s…now it doesn’t always happen but Even some of the greats just lost it in their 30s. You really don’t want to be saddled with a 30+ DB on a multi year, high guaranteed money contract. And let’s face it, that’s what it’s going to take. On to Okudah, the other thing with DBs is it’s one of the harder positions to transition from college to the NFL, usually about 3 years. With Quinn and Patricia in win now mode because of obvious reasons I don’t see them taking a position like that early, nor should they. Don’t really want to see a DB taken until the 4th rd at the earliest. Okudah to me, as I’ve said before in a few other threads has high potential to being a bust. The guy is routinely early with contact, and extremely grabby. I can’t recall the last time a Lion was able to get away with techniques like that. We just wear the wrong colors. We also can’t me mortgaging future picks to move up for a safety, we have too many positions that currently need attention. I would probably lose my mind if they did something like that. You are correct about Davis though. He probably would be a better outside backer and that might happen next year if the team is amply satisfied with Tavai’s progress. Overall though if we can address our front 7 this year we will be a vastly better team…barring any major injuries of course.
I feel like we were choosing between Suh an CJ, because of cap. I think we should target Brown, and do our best to trade back.
I don’t want to get rid of Slay. I’m not sure that I want to extend him but I want him on the team next year.
If someone ponied up a first I’d probably make that move but that ain’t happening.
I definitely don’t want to trade Slay for the 60th pick of something
Welcome CoachM, glad to have you here.
I don’t think Lions fans want to part with Slay. But the Lions front office does. They have been trying to trade him for two seasons now and most fans expect MP to send him packing this off season.
The reason MP wants to deal Slay is because Slays strength is zone coverage and MP wants to run mostly man coverages. Also Slay wants a new, long term deal and it appears Bob Quinn isn’t willing to pay up.
Personally I think it’s stupid to send a probowl CB packing.
MP/BQ need to win now and they need the biggest impact player they can get. That’s why it’s unlikely they will go CB.
Personally I’m expecting BQ to attack free agency hard and to sign several key defensive players. Then to use the draft to stock up on skill positions and playmakers.
Thanks for the warm welcoming. I think Okudah and Delpit are both talented enough to make impacts as rookies.
Yeah, I think you let him play out next year on the cheap, then we still can franchise him at the type of money he’ll command on the open market anyway in 2021 if we haven’t figured out a replacement by then. Or perhaps a reasonable 2-3 year deal could be struck. Not more than that IMO. It would be appealing to put an Okudah opposite him with Coleman in the slot, AO as a CB/S as needed, Walker and probably an upgrade from Harris making him a backup. A TD with Miami for 5 and their high 2nd rounder would get that done. We’d still have a lot of FA money and impactful picks to fill out Oline, Dline, LB and RB.
If we leave day 1 with an extra top 40 pick and Okudah I would be very happy.
I badly want an elite running back out of this draft. Grabbing an extra second allows us to do that without stealing resources from defensive upgrades
We love the same players. Okudah would make an impact quickly as a man corner in this Defense and should be the pick at #3 overall with Young off the board …Delpit is a top ten talent in this draft easy , we are not landing Delpit and Okudah unless we are offering a #1st in 2021 and this years second and likely more…Jamal Adams JETS was not happy to be on the block this past trade deadline and I would love to acquire him if available
Funny you mention Adams. I’ve been wondering about him as well. I think the Jets want to kiss and make up w/ Adams but if not the difference in a swap of 1s would be the equivalent of the 17th overall. I’d happily do that and make Adams the highest paid safety in the league.
I love Dobbins …would kill to land him in the 2nd .
Yep. Dobbins or Taylor with one of our high seconds if we TD to 5 or so.
Okudah
Taylor
Wright
I used to say the same thing when Fontes was our coach.