Jason_R

I haven't heard anything that seemed official, or that seemed like it was from official sources, relating to Carter. All I've heard is speculation that Sheila would be uncomfortable with him. They will do their due diligence on him. I could see it going two ways. One, an aggressive DA wanted to make a point to Kirby Smart to get his players under control by embarrassing his top NFL prospect with the most aggressive possible set of charges right during the combine. If that's the case, Carter is guilty of very bad judgment for racing, but didn't drive the car that crashed, didn't force the other driver to race, and didn't get cited for being under the influence. In this case, you pretend to walk slow to the podium and take him. The other is that they turn over the rocks a bit more and find out that Carter is full of problems and undraftable. I suspect it's number one.

Always nice to have a @MotownWebGuy sighting! Thanks for bringing us knuckleheads together.

Neither of them will sign a one year deal. Probably both of them will look for a three year deal. And neither of them is going to come in and mentor any rookies in a defense they are just learning. At any rate, if their chief skills are physical, what could they possibly teach a rookie? Either the rookie is fast and strong or he is not. OTOH, the entire Lions coaching staff has raved about Anzalone's ability to teach defense to the rookie Rodrigo. And he did it at a third of what Wagner or David will make. Wagner and David were never going to be the first guys to sign. They want to wait and see what the market will bring them. They don't care about the rebuild, the culture, restoring the roar, whatever, and they don't have to. They care about making the most dollars they can in the short time they have left. More power to them. But that doesn't mean I think my team should make them the team's second-highest paid player after the QB. What message does that send? Work your butt off, Anzalone, be a leader on the field and off, do everything we ask you to do, and... we'll replace you with a mercenary. Might as well light the culture right on fire.

Priceless. Do you think Wagner or David will sign for anything less than double the AAV of Anzalone? They will both be using the Edwards contract as their landmark, 3x what Anzalone got AAV. And we have no idea about the guarantee. Again, Wagner/David will use $50 million as their landmark, discounted due to age. Anzalone will probably have no more than $12 million guaranteed.

Rogers: https://www.motownlions.com/2023/03/13/detroit-lions-re-sign-linebacker-alex-anzalone-to-three-year-deal/

He’s arguably the second most important player on the defense behind Hutch and he got paid market rate for his position in free agency.

Seems like they view him as the QB of the defense. He played 95% of defensive snaps last year. Who was going to come in from the outside and take that role?

“I’ll be quarterbacking the New York Jets from a sensory deprivation tank in the Sonoran desert.”

There you go. They filled their biggest need with a very good player on reasonable terms. Now we can put away the pitchforks.

Yes, I was responding to the same post you were responding to. We agree that Holmes knows what he’s doing… and shouldn’t get hammered for not making decisions he can’t start making until next week 😂 I still haven’t seen anything to indicate they were “IN” on Ramsey. There were rumors for obvious reasons, and undoubtedly Holmes called to check the price, or was called to gauge interest. But usually if things get heated up someone (an agent) leaks it. There were no such leaks which makes me suspect that Holmes probably didn’t do anything more than see the Rams’ asking price and Ramsey’s contract expectations.

Signing period hasn’t even started and you’re already judging them for decisions they haven’t even had a chance to make! No, they didn’t trade for Ramsey. I’m sure Holmes knew the price. If he chose not to pay it, well, he knows Ramsey as well as anyone else. He also knows his own draft plans. And if Ramsey had his mind set on Miami, so be it. Word out of LA is that he was a headache. Maybe sour grapes, who knows. Anyway, not trading for Ramsey does not doom the Lions to a failed 2023 season.

Did someone say cheapest owner in the NFL?

Even if they are a player or two away from Super Bowl contention (and I think, with a few lucky bounces, they are), who is to say that any one or two available free agents is/are the player they need? Also, there is this assumption (not from you but from others) that if Holmes and Campbell don't write a big check that necessarily means they don't care about winning or don't understand their "window." That's absurd. They want to win more than we want them to win. Their incentives are to win, and to establish a franchise that will be competitive year after year. Sheila wants them to win. She has done nothing to indicate that she will not support them financially, and in fact everything she has done indicates that she is willing to spend.

I don't think he said they won't sign a high level starter. I heard him saying they won't do it just to do it. Also, remember that Holmes got three compensatory picks in 2022 which turned into Kirby Joseph, James Mitchell, and James Houston. Comp picks are another benefit to avoiding high priced free agents.

Crazy town! What are the odds now they end up picking the #3 QB on Reich's board and ending up with fewer draft assets than they gave away?

It is prudent management to have descriptions and expectations for every role you need to fill, and to find someone with the skills to fill those roles. I don't want them signing the top FA at a position because they need someone at that position. On Ramsey, Holmes knows him as well as anyone. I presume that if Holmes thought Ramsey was the right guy for the Lions we would have heard more about the Lions' involvement in trade talks. Tweet above says Lions showed interest, but I doubt it was anything more than basic due diligence.

They are clearly rebuilding their defense. Rumors are swirling that they want to trade Dalvin Cook, after cutting Thielen. They won't luck into five wins like they did last year.

I'm on the fence. He wasn't driving the car that crashed. He didn't force anyone to race him. As I understand it the officer who spoke to him the night of the crash did not report any evidence of alcohol impairment. (Doesn't mean he wasn't impaired, of course.) And I've only heard of one other prior citation for reckless driving. At that time apparently the officer told Carter to tell his teammates to slow down, as if this was a problem the cops thought was widespread amongst the Bulldogs. This indicates it is as much a Kirby Smart issue as a Jalen Carter one. But usually when you turn over the stones you start to see a lot more that wasn't evident before. I won't be surprised if more "character issues" appear, and if they do I wouldn't want to draft him.

Hilarious if true!

Unrelated, but Tua with the fewest sacks on that list. Even so, he was so small they ruined his season. We'll see about his career.

Yes, now Chicago is out of the running for a blue chip defender. We’ll see what Arizona does.

Yes Carolina may have just traded its next two drafts for the QB in a box. It seems strange that they would make this trade not knowing who they want but you might be right that they don’t know who they want. Maybe Chicago wanted the certainty of DJ Moore, whom both Chicago and Carolina can check off from their free agency to do lists.

I don’t know why Chicago needed to do this now. Seems like a mistake not to wait until draft day. But I’m happy for Chicago to make mistakes.

An X receiver is not a luxury. Team was 7-4 when he played, 2-4 with him out.

Increased supply may help cool the market on Chark. I’d like him back if it’s not something massive like 4/$60 million.