Free Agency in the NFL is slowly but surely taking shape as we have flitted past the deadline to Franchise players. So how did the market change?
First off, good luck finding a good CB as Namndi Asmagouh signed a lucrative 4 year deal in Oakland. Moving to #2 in a FA group with only two top tier playmakers, Daunte Robinson was franchised by the Texans, so unless he is worth a pick 33 to the Lions (which is what I think the Texans will want for him) then we won't see him in a Lions uniform either.
In O-line news, forget your healthiest FA Steelers OG as he was franchised. In related news, Jordon Gross of the Panthers should be sending a big fat thank-you card to Julius Peppers -- his demands forced Carolina into hurrying to get a pretty lucrative contract extension done with him so they had their tag free to use on Peppers so they can retain his rights to trade him.
Seattle also franchised a certain weed-smokin LB, so his chances of coming to the Lions just dropped to nil as well.
In a league wide trend I'm not sure many Lions fans were aware of, premier Kickers and Punters continue to be signed to extensions as well as franchised. Detroit came to a long term extension for Jason Hanson, and punter Shane Lechler was locked up in Oakland. The Bengals and Falcons decided to franchise members of the kicking team as well (kicker and punter respectively). With the kicking game having such a big influence on the outcome of games, more teams are placing an emphasis on keeping and retaining top talent at K, P and LS.
Surprisingly, this is one position grouping in which the Lions are if not the best in the league, darn close to it.
Celebrating a Birthday for one of my Lion Cubs this weekend (spent yesterday getting ready) so I will be on Hiatus til Sunday.
Keep up the great work on the links and thoughts for FA and Combine evaluations. I'll chime in with my first Combine thoughts Sunday, followed by my developing FA thoughts Monday and Tuesday.
Happy Birthday to my middle pick Lion... I know you'll read this. ~ Dad
4 comments:
funny you speak of free agency-me and you think on the same lines-just minutes before i posted this on m-live-that time of the year
PRETTY SOON WE WILL HAVE TO HUNT THE FREE AGENTS-
once again scout.com gives a great list at each position-this will be very tough this year-unlike last year we are set up very strong in the draft pick wize-and unlike last year were no longer a 7-9 team where you caan point out peticular weaknesses and then see whos available in the draft-knowining like last year shaun rogers needed to be replaced and knowing all the top dt's would be long gone before our 15 pick-we knew the top dt was darby and we got him-this year its extremely tough to guess what they'd do-like to think they just put mulitalo out there-let everyone give him a deal and if none offers we sign him for a 1 year deal and one less guaard to worry about-dont think hes as high up as woody was at the time so may happen-he'd as last be a very good backup and a starter until the younger guy we draft in the later rounds is ready. think we keep foster the same way-i know many of you hate him but hes a former 1st rd pick and is equivalent to cherlious in my opinion-well worth keepin for a 1 year deal at low salary-figure he makes the team again. at cb -figure smith is gone for good washed up tampa guy bodden will get too good of a deal and be gone-he hated us anyhow-so we have to get at least one cb in free agentcy-dry bly is available-will he come back?? face it fisher is our best cb-he gets burnt more than my toaster that dont work right-if i dont pay attention it gets burnt everytime-the sad thing is hes our best cb-ramizee robison is young and learnin but hes not even as good as fisher-at safety were really pretty solid-lb mediocre at best-dl-poor period-we need to strengthen the defense freeagency may be the way
signed the wize chief!!
your thoughts??
It certainly looks from your post that the Lions won't be picking up any big-talent (read: big-money) Free Agents this ifseason. This isn't a big surprise; either to us or to Mayhew, who insisted that the Lions will build the team through the draft. Smart move to not expect help from free agency. Maybe it's my imagination, but more often than not, Free Agent signings backfire more often than they work.
I'm reading that Andre Smith has also hurt his draft status this week with a mishandling of the combine. Makes me think that there will be good left tackle (or GREAT LG) talent available at pick 20 if the lions think they need it. It looks like the logical pick is Either Stafford, a D lineman, or Aaron Curry, who shone at the combine from what I've heard. I'm hoping they draft Curry and have him be the Mic LB.
On a personal note, I moved to Lexington, Kentucky yesterday from Grand Rapids, so I'll be relying on you, Detfan. :) I don't think I could ever become a Bengals fan; been a Lions fan my whole life.
There's not a whole lot comming out of Detroit about what FA'S they are even interested in. I guess its not uncommon but I know some teams are already talkin with FA'S. Kinda wish we were hearing a little more from the team on whats going on but maybe its a good thing. I know that on MLive Tom wrote an article about the possibility of the Lions taking Curry #1 I found rather interesting. I know that everyone is caling him the safe pick. I even saw that soemone mentioned about maybe trying Curry at MLB. I do like the idea of taking Curry #1but I guess my thought is, isnt that why we drafted Dizon last year??? I know that he is undersized but when they kid was given a chance, as little as it was, he was making tackles. I just really hope they DO NOT takes Stafford. I know that we need a franchise QB but, I dont think we need to fix it right away.
I eyeballed a Nick Costnicka article at the Freep yesterday and the Lions took Sanchez to lunch and Stafford to dinner after their 15 minute meeting at the combine.
The interesting note was that they took Stafford to a steak house and he ordered salmon.
Sounds like "Champagne Joey Blueskies" all over again. I know you want to do the "healthy thing" at the Combine, but be one of the guys. Burger/steak and a beer. Man card. One of the boys. "Huddle Blender".
Chief...I think the CB Smith comes back this year, last year he signed a two year contract. So Smith and Fisher are pencilled as the starters. CB Stanley Wilson, CB Kelly, and CB Bodden as well as the FS Smith are FA's. I think you have them switched.
-nubs
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