Stanley70

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.

That is where I am as well. Until we start seeing some progress it's still the same guys who have been there for the last 10 years in charge.

Here is what PFF had on Willis: QB MALIK WILLIS, LIBERTY No quarterback really dominated throughout the course of the week, but Willis’ tools stood out the most in what was essentially a race for QB1. He posted the fastest throw (74 miles per hour) since Zebra Technology started putting chips in the footballs at the Senior Bowl in 2018. He also looked comfortable going through progressions despite never being asked to do that at Liberty. There’s a strong chance he’s the first quarterback off the board in April.

It doesn't look like any QB stood out in the Senior Bowl so i think we can rule out taking one at 2. If they fell in love with one of them I still believe they will move to the necessary area to get one. Assuming they are set on moving on from Goff as soon as possible.

This isn't true. The Tigers rebuild has taken so long because they were so far underwater to begin with. They had a piss poor farm system and a bunch of bad contracts. They just have a few prospects ready to contribute now since they have been drafting near the top for a few years. Hinch had nothing to do with the timing of that.

The small market strategy is to time prospect surges. When they have a nice set of prospects ready to promote they do so in a short period of time, stretch the payroll out and go go for it. Once those prospects start to get expensive they trade them off. If they are Tampa Bay and they are constantly churning out prospects they can reload. But for the Pittsburgh's and KC's size markets that aren't as prolific at development they bottom out after they have to move the guys that are getting paid. The options are to sign a couple of guys before they hit free agency and prop up a declining roster until it inevitably fails. Or trade them off and start building for the next surge.

Detroit could win 7-9 games next year which would put them in the 10-15 range in the draft. If Stroud or Young are monster prospects there is no guarantee that they can even trade up to get one of them. They will maneuver around in this draft and take one of the Picket/Willis/Howell unless they are totally underwhelmed. Where was Lance predicted to go at this time last year? One of these guys could blow up and and go at 2.

The fact that Flores includes a bunch of issues that having nothing to do with racism detracts from his point. He comes across as a disgruntled employee who is doing this more to make the Dolphins look bad than to prove his point.

I tend to agree that it is silly to downgrade him so much simply due to him be a HS SP. Baseball America had him at 79 so it isn't that for outside the box though.

Keith Law came out with his top 100 this morning. Riley Greene was #3 and Tork was #4. They were the only Tigers that made the list. Kind if surprising that Jobe didn't make it but Law is notoriously skeptical of HS SP's who haven't thrown a pitch yet. Marcello Mayer was #18. Despite all of the supposed signs of improvement on the development side it looks like the Tigers are still struggling to come up with prospects from either the draft (beyond first round picks) or Latin America. AA has been in charge for 6 years now and the Tigers are still behind many other teams developmentally.

They got Clapton??? Sad day.