Stanley70

If the Lions take Willis and he works out they are set up be very good for a while IMO. Next year they will have 2 first round picks and about 60 million in cap space to address the defense. Plus whatever they can get for Goff if he has a decent year. Of course if Willis sucks they can hang onto Goff and keep looking. They will be like the Colts and hoping that a decent QB comes available every year.

And in the second round in his 5 drafts he took two running backs, a run stuffing DL, and those were his good picks. When he did take a premium position they were instabusts in Tabor and Tavia.

Not to be the spelling police, but it's funny that the people who misspell ridiculous are usually doing so while criticizing someone else's intelligence.

My father in law has a news paper saved from the late 50's when he made the all state baseball team. On the back were the want ad's for jobs people were trying to fill. One said " I am looking for a man in his early 20's to help me with my work".

Walker had 6 sacks last year and may not be a definite double digit sack guy in the NFL. You can blame the scheme he was in but he's not a natural edge at 275. His combine suggests he could be on though. One scouting report i read had his comp as Trey Flowers. I lean toward Tibs at this moment if a trade doesn't get offered.

I was more of a Adam-12 guy.

Some teams are better at identifying and developing relievers I think. It use to bug me how the Tigers for so long couldn't find any and other teams had about 4 relievers that were better than anything they could find.

The Lions as a team needed to improve. They just didn't have enough cap space to fill all the holes they had. And they can still add a player or two of they want to.

With their cap situation they had enough for one bigger name and a bunch of mid and lower priced guys. The question was would they get a receiver or a defensive piece. I am fine with adding a receiver and seeing if Goff can get back to being competent. Pride of Detroit said they have about 9-10 million left. They may add another piece on defense, but if won't be significant unless the create some cap space.

Some of that was McVay, and some was Goff. I don't know if this offense will be as good as that Rams one was.

I expect Goff to be an average QB next year. He has a very good O-line, a couple WR's, a nice TE, and a running game. Of course with that kind of supporting cast he should be better than average. Hopefully the Lions can get the QB of the future in this draft or next off season. And then with Goff actually looking competent in that offense they can get rid of him and actually get a decent pick back.

The Lions have only brought in one new player, Chark on a very good deal. Walker and Harris were ok last year and got modest short term deals that look to be fair. Anzalone received less than 2 million. Now they can get to the defense. And then 3 of the first 4 draft picks will probably be on defense as well.

I didn't think they would go after Harris because the have Romeo Okwara coming back. And they are in a position to draft Hutchinson if he falls, or Thibodeaux. Plus Julian was kind of coming on last year towards the end of the season. Maybe they feel Hutchinson won't fall, or they have their eyes on someone else at 2.

I love the Chark signing, they needed a speed guy desperately. I preferred him over Kirk anyway. I'm glad Holmes didn't do much on crazy day yesterday. And I don't hate the Reynolds deal anymore after seeing the terms. Basically if he remains a 4th receiver he'll get like 2 million a year. I originally thought the Reynolds deal would preclude a contract like this.

Yea, bring back Nick Williams and we should be set.

Robinson will be 29 years old when the season starts. Kind of the borderline for probably being past his peak for when the Lions are theoretical contenders. I don't know what he will sign for but a multi year deal could be a risk.

Here is what spotrac has us at, after the Flowers cut at around 36m. Decker is probably the best contract to restructure if they want to. I wouldn't add anymore guaranteed money to Goff, Brockers or Vaitai. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/detroit-lions/cap/

The Lions now have 36 million in cap space before free agency, which is about 7th overall. The draft should account for about 15 million. They should able to land 1 big fish and leave enough to fill a number of other holes, of which there is a larger number. The rumor at the combine, before the Reynolds signing, was that the Lions were looking at a top WR. The defense is the area that really needs help but i like the idea of getting Goff some pieces to work with and building his value.

I don't like the Reynolds signing right now either. They are giving 2 years to a guy that was released last year. If they had gone through free agency and the draft and weren't able to find 1-2 receivers then yea, it makes sense. Signing him now kind of limits their options.

Davis looks like a two down run stuffer. I have a hard time seeing him in the top 20 let alone top 10. If Hutchinson goes #1 the Lions will have a tough choice. Trayvon Walker tested well, I'd probably take him over Thibiodeaux. That Georgia defense could have 5 first rounders and 7 in the top 2 rounds. Unbelievable.

The Lions need to do everything they can to figure Willis out. Because if they pass on him they are going to have to give up a huge package of picks to trade into the top spots next year, assuming they are picking 10-15. And it will sting double if Willis turns out to be a good QB.

This was awesome.

There are 3 elements to what many consider to be tanking. 1. Trading away expensive players and lowering payroll. 2. Not spending to improve the team. 3. The team that is left is bad. Sometimes this happens due to penny pinching ownership and sometimes it is due to the natural ebb and flow of talent maturation and the ability to replace it. I don't consider what has happened to the Tigers to be a "tank". They spent big, probably overextended themselves, and due to poor management have taken an eternity to develop another completive team. What Miami and some other teams are doing is probably more about the bottom line than putting together a good team.

PFF had a ranking of the top 200 free agents expected to be available. The Lions had two; Charles Harris at 107 and Tracy Walker at 169. I expected Walker to be higher and they have an expected deal to be 2 years 9 million. They have Harris at 3 years 27. They need so much help I expect them to sign 5-6 guys to shorter term low end deals and hope to find a few gems and fill holes like last year. Hopefully it will work out better than last years crop.

There are a number of prospects towards the top that have huge ceilings, which is nice. They are either off to slow starts (Campos, Dingler) or have little or no track record at all (Santana, Jobe), which is why they aren't ranked higher. Hopefully a couple of those guys can take steps forward this year, they all have the potential to be impact players. Add in another top ten pick and maybe a sleeper prospect making a jump and they can keep providing the big league team with cost controlled talent.