Mr.TaterSalad

I think we all except over the next couple of offseasons that all of Goff, St. Brown, Sewell, and quite possibly Hutch will be restructured. Plus, we'll have guys like Anzalone, Decker, and Reader coming off the books. The cap doesn't exist in a vacuum either. It too will change, it will go up, and our financial outlook will change. I don't think making one major free agent signing is going to turn us into the Saints or transform us back to where we were when Mayhew and Lewand had all that dead cap money on the books from Calvin, Stafford, and Suh that hurt us for a few years.

Have you ever once criticized any of the fraudulent activity that this President has been involved in or alleged to have been involved in? Has it ever bothered you that he's making tens-of-millions of dollars selling phony bibles or running a crypto-currency operation, pushing people to invest in it, while in the White House? If it hasn't then politely sit down and be quiet. If Steve Forbes or anyone else has evidence of fraudulent investment activity committed by Ilhan Omar or her brother or any member of her family he's welcome to turn information over to the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Trading Commission or the FBI or any number of law enforcement agencies that can investigate it. It should be investigated and due process should be carried out. But stop feigning anger or faux outrage when you voted for a guy who ran scam charities, bilked business contractors out of money, and is actively profiting off of his role in the White House.

Sans maybe Creed Humphrey and Zach Fraizer (who many Lions fans including me wanted to draft), Linderbaum is a top 3 center in the league. He's also only going to be 26 years old when the season starts. If we can get a tackle in the draft on the cheap, then I'm willing to pay Linderbaum and make him one of the highest paid at his position in the league. I don't necessarily think paying Linderbaum means we loose a Jack Campbell or Brian Branch long-term because we have the ability to restructure. But I would be ok with losing one of them over a guy like Linderbaum. Offensive line positions are some of the most important on any team because you're protecting your most valued asset in a QB. When you don't have a mobile QB, who can create plays with his feet, make people miss, and give himself space outside the pocket, it's all the more important you have a rock solid line. When you have a QB whose success is predicated on a clean pocket with timing to look off multiple reads and setup play action, your line is that much more of an asset to the team. I'll take a chance on drafting a linebacker or safety somewhere in the second round or later, versus going with the offensive line we had last year. Give me Linderbaum or give me liberty!

Like you actually give a ****. GTFO with that. The guy you voted in as President ran scam charities that had to pay back money and bilked who knows how many people out of payments for work they did.

We've got to break the bank somewhere in free agency and as much as I've wanted it to be for an Edge Rusher/DE, this past season proved that it clearly needs to be on the offensive line. I don't want our offensive line next year to be Sewell plus two rookies, plus two second year players. I want another veteran presence on the line assuming Decker retires or is cut.

Oh no doubt. The real reason these people care so much about Somali-American fraud is because they hate blacks. I've always wanted to go around with a camera and a microphone and interview MAGA types to see how many black friends they actually have. I want names and pictures, not made up people or some guy at work you know who is black. Let's not forget that the MAGA movement started as an offshoot to having a black President.

I think any free agent shopping list begins with offensive line help. Specifically, at the Center position. I haven't reviewed all the free agent Center's to be yet. But I think before we go out spending money on other positions, we have to have a plan to shore up this offensive line. I think Decker is gone one way or another as well, so that needs to be factored in as well.

Montgomery may want to go elsewhere though an be an RB1. We are fortunate and spoiled to have two good RBs here in Detroit. On some rosters, Monty would clearly be their RB1. So he may just want to leave and go get RB1 money. Given his age at 28 and the short shelf life of RBs, this is likely is last opportunity at getting starting money in a contract.

LOL!!! It's no wonder T&P hates our offensive play calling. One of our OC's literally fell asleep at the switch. Of course we had a coordinator fall asleep during a game.

I was going to make a post sharing my ideas but this pretty well sums it up. The hard salary cap, hard salary floor, and earlier free agency periods of players were my big points. I don't support allowing private equity firms to have ownership stakes in an MLB franchise. Private equity in America generally exists to run something into the ground, strip off its assets, and sell it for parts or make the company file bankruptcy. If private equity took over a franchise it would worsen the problem for small market teams. They would run barebones franchises with minor league players and rookies that come on the cheapest deals possible. Think of the fire sale that Wayne Huizenga did after the Marlins did in 1997. I worry that would be what any private equity firm would do should they take over a team or be given partial ownership control. You think the Pirates are bad now? Imagine Bain Capital taking them over. Skeens would be sold off for peanuts almost overnight. To me, that's most likely what any private equity firm would do. They would ride off the coattails of the broadcast revenue sharing, merchandise, and copyright deals MLB has. Now, if they could get away with it, I'd venture to guess that most private equity firms would potentially try and contract the franchise, sell off its assets ala what they've done to companies like Art Van, K-Mart, Toys R'US, etc., and then continue making money on what ever residual income there is from licensing and merchandising. The Pirates LLC would still exist to sell merchandise to fans who have fond memories of the franchise's past, but the team wouldn't be fielded and the stadium ownership and all equipment would be sold off. Fortunately, MLB has rules against taking over a team and contracting it. But given the way private equity works in America, this is a likely outcome if a firm is given carte blanche and full control.

Do people forget how under Schwartz the Lions were undisciplined and were one of the most penalized teams in the league year after year? The lockeroom issues they had with in-fighting, a player sucker punching another player, fights at practice, all the arrests off the field in the 2011 and 2012 offseasons. This was one of the most undisciplined teams in the league. They weren't tough and edgy, they were dumb and penalized often. How about a Head Coach who doesn't even know the basic rules of the game, costing his team a game because he errantly through a challenge flag when he wasn't allowed to. How about Schwartz trying to physically fight Harbaugh on the field after a game. This doesn't even factor in the terrible OC Schwartz hired in Scott Linehan with his predictable, uncreative play calling. Linehan running the ball frequently on second and long, just surrendering second downs time and again and again. Linehan who enabled Stafford to be an interception machine at time. And did Schwartz make a change, no he stuck with him for the entire tenure of his career here. Then we come to the collapse at the end of the 2013 season. They were 7-5, leading the division over mediocre Green Bay and Chicago teams. Schwartz choked it away completely. Now, that was as much on Stafford playing like dog**** down the stretch as it was on Schwartz, so I forgive him somewhat for that end of season collapse. Let's not kid ourselves though and take the rose colored glasses off a bit. Schwartz was not a good Head Coach. Did he have great talent to work with at all times? No, Mayhew was dreadful at drafting outside of the first round. He didn't get to field quality teams like Campbell does. We don't fully know what type of personnel input Schwartz had here. If he had any input, they managed to draft a RB with concussion concerns in the first round and a TE with hands of stone in the first. They also drafted a WR with no ACL in either leg and another WR who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. They drafted a RB who cared more about smoking grass than playing football and got arrested with weed all over his car. They also held a roster spot for Andre Fluellen year after year. I feel Schwartz could have stepped in at some point to try and veto anyone of those picks. Maybe he did try and Mayhew took them anyways. But there is a reason why in a league that has so many retread coaches, Jim Schwartz has never gotten another opportunity in the 12 years since he last coached us.

I wouldn't say this is the case and I don't feel bad for him. When he was here his defense's, from stats I went back and read, were ranked 32nd, 19th, 23rd, 27th, and 15th. He was largely a defensive disaster here and if it weren't for Suh, we'd have had one of the worst defenses in the league. He might have been good elsewhere, but he certainly wasn't here.

If Belichick had the exact same team as he had, but a QB like Goff or Stafford, instead of the greatest to ever play the position, what kind of career would he have had? I would still presume there would be a Super Bowl or two in there.

Well, hopefully his play doesn't fall off a cliff as he approaches 38 years old by the end of this deal. Otherwise, we'll be paying someone nearly $4 million to sit on the bench or play in Grand Rapids.

3 years? So He'll be 38 at the end of this deal. That part I don't like at all. He's having a good season so far and I guess that's what he's being rewarded for. But it isn't like he has lit the world on fire since he's been here. I don't love this deal and would not have done it for a little over half a season of good play.