Stanley70

If there is a QB that they feel is a franchise player at 6 they would be stupid not to pick him. Goff is going to get another big contract and you can debate whether or not paying mid tier talents huge money at that position is a winning move going forward. That said they would have to be pretty sure of themselves because it could backfire obviously.

Look, I understand they can push money due out into later years via signing bonuses, voidable years, etc. I didn't specify that, i figured most understood that. But the point is that they are limited by their cap space in that pretty much all of the contract dollars they would be adding, beyond signing their own guys, would have to be forced in and burdening future teams with extra cap dollars. They do not want to do that as i figured.

Just admit when you are wrong, it's ok buddy. The literal first line in my post was that they probably wouldn't be big players in free agency. To which you replied that it wasn't based on fact at all. They would use up their cap space on resigning their own guys, and obviously wouldn't be backloading a bunch of contracts to fit guys in this year.

I suggested last week that he Lions wouldn't be big players in free agency and KL2 went ape shit. He said I didn't understand how contracts work, brought up the Trey Flowers deal, and said we need to focus on the AAV.

Unless they draft a QB by the end day 2 they will bring in someone like Nick Foles.

The Rams have to get under the cap by March 15, so it could happen sooner.

Everyone knows you can backload, add voidable years like they just did with Chark, and kick the can down the road. I didn't clarify that, my mistake. I did not imply it was impossible, just unlikely without serious cap pushing. And that is what they will have to do to add a big name free agent, fact. Unless they want to go cheap on replacing the 8 starters that are unsigned as of now. So if they replace/resign Jamaal, Brown, Wright, Chark, Buggs, Anzalone, Cominsky, and Elliot they will eat up their current cap space. Not to mention the depth needs they have. They may do a little can kicking but unless they really like Dean or someone else I don't see them pushing too much out to future years. Like your Trey Flowers example, if they want to backload the bill will come due later when it is time to extend Sewell, Jackson, Goff, ARSB, etc. Cap space goes up but so does the cost of players contracts.

Holmes has stated he wants to build through the draft, so giving up a bunch of draft picks for what may be our 3rd best WR doesn't seem like a move he would make. If he does make a move like that i would guess it will be for a CB1.

I said "It's looking like Detroit will not be big players in free agency". I did the math, in order to add a big name they will have to do some financial shenanigans to make it work. And as i said they could. BTW yes Trey Flowers cap hit was 6.5M the first year, and in year 3 it was 20M. And the cap space teams have right now will be different from when free agency begins March 15.

Spotrac has us at 16M right now. If we cut Brockers (10M) and Vitai (6M) that gets us to 32M. If we cut both Harris (4M) and Okwara (7M) that gets us to 42M. Best case without restructures. It is not a given that both Romeo and Harris will be cut, probably unlikely. So it could be less that. I am guessing that they are going to resign Cominsky and and Williams at 4M a year each. So that leaves 34M. Plus they usually have 8-10M leftover for emergencies, so that gets us to 26M. On offense they will need to add a a starter at OG. They only have one TE under contract in Mitchell, so they need at least 1. They need a swing tackle and depth on the interior. Plus a back up QB. On defense they only have Levi and McNeil under contract at DT, probably need at least 2 there. At LB they only have Barnes and Rodrigo, probably need 2 there. They need at least 2 CB's that are playable and a safety since Walker is out. Obviously they will fill some of those needs in the draft but if they eat up 15M a year on Dean or Bradbury they will only have about 11M leftover to fill all of the rest of the needs. They could do a big restructure with Goff or Ragnow pushing some money out to future years. Or backload a contract with more guarenteed money due later in the deal. We'll see but in order to make it work with a big time FA they are going to have to push guarenteed money out a few years when Sewell and ARSB will be due contracts and Goff as well.

It's looking like Detroit will not be big players in free agency, or resigning Chark. Even if they cut most of the guys on the bubble like Okwara and Harris that will only leave them with enough to resign a couple of their own free agents, plus maybe a couple of mid tier guys. Holmes could surprise but I doubt they get the CB1 in free agency this year.

If they don't retain Chark I can see WR being a potential target on the top 2 rounds. Beyond ARSB Jamo has all of about 5 career targets and Reynolds and Raymond are more 4/5 types than starters.

Keith Law, Baseball America, etc comes up with their team lists through conversations with numerous scouts employed by teams. That is where they get the lions share of their information. If he doesn't like Tigers prospects as much as you think he should it's probably because that is what he is hearing from other scouts. It is just for entertainment, and is basically obsolete a month after it is written.

They have Swift for one more year, might as well keep him and look for a replacement next year.

Law has a bunch of contacts in the industry having worked in a front office before. So the Tigers may be a weaker spot for him, knowledge wise. Plus he may be factoring in the Tiger inability to develop hitters.

There has been news that the Bears are considering trading Fields, probably just draft smokescreening.

This is my thought too. I still think if they like a QB and he falls to 6 they will take him. "It's easier to get worse than better" is not exactly a ringing endorsement of Goff.

The reason the Tigers are so bad is because they can't develop their own talent, period. Bringing in a few free agents will not make that big of a difference when your farm system kicks out a decent hitter once every years. They have not spent enough on scouting and development and I hope that is where Harris will make the biggest difference.

How much they can spend in free agency will depend largely on who they bring back among the defensive guys that are free agents. Like Elliot, Cominsky, Harris, and Anzalone. They were an awful defense for the year, and bringing the same guys back doesn't seem like a good idea. However they did improve a lot over the last 10 games. I guess it depends on how much each those guys need to be paid, but this FO seems like they like to retain players whom have proven on the field rather than spend in free agency.

Jung and Keith are pretty similar. Bat first guys the Tigers are hoping that do not drop down the defensive spectrum too far. Law was fairly high on Jung before the draft as well.

I watched Meadows in WM several times over the last few years and he really did struggle, he rarely barreled up a ball. So to see him make this much progress is exciting, because he is a legit plus CF'er. Santana struggled with injuries in 22, dropping that far seems extreme since there are some low ceiling types towards the bottom of that list.

Here are key off season dates. Feb. 21-March 7: Teams may use the franchise or transition tag on impending unrestricted free agents. Feb. 28-March 6: NFL Scouting Combine (Indianapolis) March 7: Colleges may begin hosting pro days. March 13 (noon) through March 15 (3:59 p.m.): Clubs may enter contract negotiations with impending unrestricted free agents. Contracts may not be executed until the start of the new league year at 4 p.m. on March 15. March 15 (prior to 4 p.m.): Clubs must submit qualifying offers to restricted free agents. If a qualifying offer is not extended, those players will become unrestricted free agents at the start of the new league year. March 15 (prior to 4 p.m.): All teams must be under the 2023 salary cap. March 15 (4 p.m.): The 2023 NFL league year begins. Unrestricted free agent contracts and trades agreed to prior to the start of the new league year can be executed. March 26-29: Annual League Meeting (Phoenix) April 3: Clubs that hired a new head coach after the 2022 regular season may begin offseason workout programs. April 27-29: NFL Draft (Kansas City)

Soon after Sparky arrived he decided he didn't like Ron Leflore either and traded him for Dan Shatzeder. I always hated that trade, and Shatzeder as a result. Sparky was right though, Leflore was out of baseball a couple of years later while DS somehow lasted 15 years in the majors, despite not being very good in any of them.

It's an incomplete picture of the player development system, with a lot of variables like recent promotions, draft position, etc. But even given those the Tigers are awful at baseball.

Keith Law did his team farm system rankings and he ranked the Tigers as the worst system in baseball. He mentioned how they haven't had any contributions from the international signings.