Well, it appears that OG Dockery is now a Washington Redskin... again. To fully understand, you must read this article. In a nutshell? The Lions worked a trade for Dockery with Buffalo -- allowing them to get value versus him leaving for nothing. Instead, they didn't turn in the paperwork and just released him...
The Lions had him in already to do a physical and meet with him (as part of the trade). When he found out he could sign with anyone, he took a slightly lower contract amount to go back to Washington where he started his career, and enjoyed playing.
Now, I've already seen a lot of bad vibes for Mayhew on this one -- but what was he supposed to do? When given an open choice, the player preferred Washington as he had played there, knew guys, etc. That is why Mayhew TRADED for him -- so there wasn't an option. Dockery wasn't against playing in Detroit, and would have done fine with a trade. But given the option... Mayhew can't control the fact that the Bills pulled a Millen and dumped him on the market. Seriously, is Millen hanging out with Ralph Wilson and their front office over there?? Letting a guy you have under contract, with no roster bonuses due, just be released when you have a trading partner??? Even a 7th rounder would be better than nothing!!
This one was all on the Bills, not on the Lions. I mean seriously, dumping a player while he is in another city, taking a physical to finalize a trade?? At least Mayhew responded well and tried to get him signed outright, but the cards were stacked against him at that point...
I will give Mayhew credit overall -- he is making the best of a bad situation. Word is, many agents either:
A. Won't even talk to the Lions
B. Talk with the Lions, and when they find out the Lions won't pay double, get pissed off.
I would rather see the Lions field a team of UDFA and rookies than way overpay for older/borderline players. Draft and build slow, and when things start to turn around, then guys will come. Period. Til then, I hope Mayhew says F-U! buy your own damn ticket out of town and don't expect us to take ya anywhere but out the front door when they "demand" the Lions pay double their market value.
Tampa Bay, for instance, has been as blown up as Detroit -- including even more firings among their front office. Will they still continue to be a borderline playoff team? Who knows!!
As I said in my last post, it will be a good gauge as to whose rebuilding is successful as to how well the Bucs and Lions do comparatively in the next few years.
Lions need a really good draft, and BPA all the way -- there are so many holes they were a long shot to come close to filling them in a best case scenario. In reality? It's going to be a couple of years. Best bet? Consider out Lions an expansion team just going into it's second year -- they've got 2 extra high picks (a 1 and a 3) to help fill out the roster -- but form here on out it's all about team building.
My gut says Mayhew is doing things right in who he is targeting, signing, and what for. (Maurice Morris deal) We'll see how the next few days go.
3 comments:
The way the Lions tried to acquire players through trades and free agents told me two things for there approach this "if season".
The Lion's personnel in the offices believe that the surest way for them to win this year is to bring in veteran starters in for the skill positions. Normally rookie's learning curves are most obvious at the QB, WR, CB, and DE positions. Positions that are played more in space than in the trenches. They also tried to bring a massive LG for the running game.
The second is, if seccessful in free agency, they were going to draft starters for the LB, and NT positions. Then draft for depth in the mid rounds and later.
This I believe was a smart stategy for thier first year.
Now that they missed on thier first targets, they will probably spend more on fewer positions.
surprised
you see positives out of this-i dont-were just as bad off as we were maybe worst with furry,mc donald, dan-o ,mulitalo ,lenon, foster,bodden being gone-unless they get some players-they have no chance of competing next year-face it fisher is our best cb and petermans our best guard and sims probably is our only legitimite line backer-its ok to say dont over pay-but they make me sick when they let starters go and they know most likely there isnt decent replacements in free agency or the draft-aka-shaun rogers last year-really makes me think these guys dont have a clue!! its kind of like you dont quit a job till you have another one-and you dont fire a guy unless you know he csan be replaced and you have a good plan to replace them-i question that these guys dont even think about it-lewand is just a money guy and is makin these decisions just on money and not taking into consideration we cant get as good of a replacement for less money-thus creating even more holes in a swiss cheese team as it is.
well, Kitna is to Dallas for Anthony Henry and I also heard we have sigen Bryant Johnson WR from the 49ers.
Detroitsims
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