Funny he keeps saying Clowney's three year production vs Hutchinson's 4 year production when they played the same number of games. Oh well,, Hutchinson has already matched Clowney's career high in sacks and he didn't have the luxury of playing opposite JJ Watt.
In hindsight, Suh leaving was probably a good thing. He never really lived up to that contract he signed in Miami and just didn't seem to be quite the same player he was in Detroit.
They lost Suh but Ansah had a nice season and seemed to be a budding star. They did replace Suh with Ngata. It was a downgrade but not horrible. They still had Tulloch and Levy and Glover Quinn and Slay still young. On offense you still had Calvin Johnson, Tate, Reggie Bush and of course Stafford. The line was good that year. Caldwell was in his 1st season so you got a lot of vibes that the Lions were going in the right direction.
I had high expectations after 2011 but the Packers were 15-1 that year and again 2011 ended in disappointment as the Lions lost to Matt Flynn. It was the difference between playing the Saints and a weaker Giants team. The Packers were still the class of the division even though it seemed the Lions were up and coming. This year it feels like the division is the Lions to lose.
I remember there were some expectations in 2015 following that 11 win 2014 season. One thing that is different is the Lions had a chance to win the division and finish as high as the 2 seed with a win at Green Bay on the final game of the season. The Lions lost by double digits and tumbled from a potential 2 seed to 6 seed. They probably should have beaten Dallas. The defense was legit. This year they go into Green Bay in the final game of the season it was is for all intents and purposes a playoff game and win. They win by outplaying the Packers in the 4th quarter. They got the ball back with 3:30 left and the Packers with three timeouts. The Packers never get the ball back. That was a changing of the guard moment for me.
The Lions can still cut Okawara post June 1st and save an additional $2M. This by no means commits Okwara to the opening day roster. He will still need to earn it in training camp.
If the Lions cut him, they would have saved $7.5M. This way they save $9M. I also believe Okwara's salary this year was not guaranteed. Now I believe it is so Okawara benefits as well. Had he been cut, he was not going to get a guaranteed contract given his injury history.
The way I understand it is Okwara will get 1/17th of $500k for each game he plays so roughly $29k per game. $500k per game would be a lot and the Lions would need to keep $10 million in cap space open. That wouldn't seem to do them any good.
They really have a logjam at defensive end now. Hutchinson, Houston, Cominsky, Harris, Okwara, Paschal and on the interior you have Buggs, McNeil and Levi. Cominsky and Paschal can move inside and I'm not sure Levi makes the roster.
Renegotiated means Okwara took a pay cut and it looks like he took a hefty one at that. A restructure means they shifted or converted something. It changes the cap hit but not how much the player makes.
For the amount of money Miami is paying Jalen Ramsey, you could sign two of Sutton, Mosely and Gardner-Johnson plus not have to give up a draft pick. Maybe none of them are a top CB like Ramsey, though I believe he is regressing, but the Lions needed depth in the secondary and they have it now.