Branch is up the following year, doubt we pay two top of market deals to safeties.
Branch would have an RFA year as well. He’s locked up for three more seasons.
You resign alim. Everyone else is a very good, replaceable piece. There is injury concerns for two of them and to be honest Iffy is still very limited. Alim is a top dt in the league. You pay him.
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Branch already signed a 4 year deal and will not be a RFA.
Kerby also signed a 4 year deal the draft class before Branch.
Kerby will be a UDFA in 2026, Branch will be a UDFA in 2027.
I would be very surprised if they invested heavily in both guys. I love Kerby, I still think he has all pro upside, but Branch is special. I think he can be one of the best DBs in the league.
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I’d be super happy if Levi could show me something…. Anything!… Show me he is a valuable rotational piece.
If iffy can pick up where he left off and put up another solid year with some improvements then I’d happily bring him back.
Barnes my expectations are higher than the other two. Barnes has shown flashes of being a high end player. This year he’s getting the chance to really shine and I’m expecting him to make the most of it.
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Iffy’s career trajectory could be like Tracy Walker’s from the standpoint of “guys who could be nfl starters if their bodies didn’t fail them.” Walker is now a practice squad guy. My assumption is the Lions learned their lesson and they let Iffy walk once the time comes.
Plus it’s clear to me that Branch and Kerby will be the long term starters at the safety spot.
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Barns is not a starter.
Yes he is the starting SAM.
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I think that they’re starting with a 4-2-5. Even if they go 4-3-4, Barnes will be the one leaving the field when the nickle comes in.
Walker had an Achilles injury. His play dropped heavily as a result.
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Barnes is the starting SLB. He is playing the role that Harris played. He also moves inside to the stack LBer spot in certain sub packages.
The Lions mix up their front 7 a lot depending on the situation.
Point being he’s not only starting he’s going to get a lot of snaps.
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Barnes will play a lot. But technically you’re right. He may not start every week. But Starting doesn’t mean much in the modern nfl on defense especially. Teams have so many different packages and personnel groupings. Sometimes a “starter” plays 1 snap and then is replaced on 2nd down for example. Benito Jones was a starter for us last year but spent half the snaps on the sidelines cause he couldn’t rush the passer.
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If ifs were fifths we’d all be drunk
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Shocked that his durability issues crept up again. Absolutely shocked.
Last I heard, Brad is in the infancy stages of talks with Alim’s agent. I think Alim gets a deal done this season. I have zero belief that Alim is going anywhere unless he wants to (and I have no belief that is in play).
So yes, if put to a binary choice, you keep Alim and let the others go. But I don’t think it plays out like that either. But Barnes, Iffy, & Levi probably get to play the hated game, “Brad has a number.” Considering how great it has worked for our FA’s that have walked, I am thinking this isn’t a terrible approach.
He will start every week as a SLB and swing LBer.
There will be weeks where he gets heavy snaps and lighter snaps depending on the packages we run but he will be one of the heaviest snap counts on the team.
Barnes played 64% of the defensive snaps last year as a swing LBer. Anzalone was the only LBer to have more snaps than him. Only 6 players on defense had more snaps than him. Calling him part time is like calling Branch, Campbell and McNeil part time.
This year he’s taking less snaps at MLB but almost all the snaps at SLB so his snap count will go up from last year.
Last year SLB was split between the Okwara brothers, Barnes and Harris. Combined they put up over 90% of the snaps.
I suspect he has a snap count similar to Kirby Joseph’s.
Barnes is going to play a lot.
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Iffy durability… maybe he will resign cheap then? He is good depth when healthy. He played great last year.
I think Barnes is a bigger priority signing than the other two are. I suspect once they have Alim locked down that he’s next in line to get paid. It wouldn’t shock me if they get it done sooner than later too.
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What percentage of his time here has he been healthy? 50%? Am I misremembering? It just seems like he’s always beat up.
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