Mr.TaterSalad

He's 28 years and this will likely be his last opportunity at a big contract. I would guess he'll want a 4 year plus deal. I've seen projections of north of $20 million per for Wilkins too. These aren't the types of contracts and players we will be signing IMO. I'd like to sign one of the marquee free agents like Wilkins, but I don't think we will be. It's best to lower expectations now, that way you won't be disappointed later.

Well, we're fighting today, but we're not scoring.

Where I work we can win free tickets weekly to the Wings games, so I usually go when I win them. Didn't win any this week though. Today, I looked at going down to LCA and the cheapest seats are $170 a piece plus service fees on gameday. Bleep that. Also we have the dreaded back-to-back coming up on the schedule. At least one of the games is against Arizona.

What's the point of the photo above? Above as much point as this photo I guess.

Brodric Martin had one of the worst RAS scores of all time among DTs. Does that mean a whole lot? Maybe, maybe not. They're a lot smarter than me, so I hope they see something far more than the average fan does because his numbers aren't that good.

I've seen Nate Wiggins CB from Clemson mocked to the Lions before. He ran a 4.28 in the 40 at the combine. Teez Tabor he is now.

Take the ACA as another example. Some of the best things the ACA did were its most progressive, big government ideals. Things like being on your parents healthcare until your 26, expanding Medicaid to cover more Americans, and having the government step in and regulate big insurance companies so they could not discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions. Some of the more free market promises it made, around lowering costs and premiums through exchanges did happen at some level, but not to the extent I think initially promised. The ACA is another example of where bigger government and more regulation and price controls can help the average American.

I should have added union-busting railroad workers to my list above as well.

Iffy never showed a thing in first two seasons and yet broke out in year three. This coaching staff seems to have a knack for developing players.

I'm all for compromise, it's just what the center/moderate wing of the Democratic Party have been willing to compromise on that disgusts me and lots of other people on the left. Most notably among the worst compromises of all time is the Iraq War. 500,000 Iraqi civilians and over 4,440 servicemembers died because cowardly politicians in the center acquiesced to George DubyaMD Bush out of political fear. They voted to send people into a meatgrinder, on a nation build without an exit strategy. One of them being the current President and another one being our last presidential nominee. Off the top of my head, here are a host of other issues I feel the center has compromised on that made things actively worse for the average American. Issues I believe that politicians on the left largely would not comprise on. There are a few cases below where politicians on the left, including Bernie Sanders, did shamefully vote in favor of. Adopting Gramm-Leach-Bliley (Financial Services Modernization Act) in place of Glass-Steegall Biden using Title 42 border policy that Trump did (Bill) Clinton refusing to take real action to stop an active genocide in Rwanda (Hillary) Clinton supporting a coup in Honduras and then wanting to send refugees and migrants back to the region she helped destabilize Deregulating high-risk derivatives trading through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act Giving China permanent, normalized trade relation status Joining the CAFTA trade agreement Joining the NAFTA trade agreement Passing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1994, aka welfare reform, that doubled the extreme rate of poverty in America Passing the Riegle–Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act Passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that deregulated big media and ruined local control over radio airwaves Passing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (the 1994 Crime Bill) and other tough on crime legislation (Yes, Congressman Sanders voted for this one and shame on him for doing so) Preventing LGBTQ individuals from marrying who they love by adopting DOMA Prioritizing the budget surplus over more economic and social welfare programs Removing the public option from the ACA because of Joe Lieberman Repealing Glass-Steegall measures that kept the economy on solid financial footing for decades after the Great Depression Repealing the Fairness Doctrine Replacing AFDC with the TANF program Supporting human torture through the use of "enhanced interrogation" Supporting warrantless wiretapping and the Patriot Act The current far-right border bill: Secure the Border Act of 2023 The TARP bank bailouts instead of having a bailout for homeowners like they should have done US membership into GATT US membership into the World Trade Organization

Sorry, I couldn't resist the Sopranos reference. Acquiring Maxx Crosby, even if he were on the market, would be a trade price I don't think this front office would pay. Just as I don't think they'd pay the price to sign a Brian Burns or Josh Allen were they available.

Of all the "big name" free agents Hunter is the one guy I think this team could and would pursue. My reasoning for that is because he isn't just a pass rush specialist type of DE. He also plays well against the run and is a 3-down lineman who offers some versatility, being able to slide along the defensive front. This coaching staff values 3-down lineman and values being able to play along the defensive front versus a guy who is a pure pass rush specialist and that's all they do. The other thing with Hunter is I don't think he will be commanding a 4-5-6 year contract with a team. At 29 years old, it seems more likely he will get a 1-2-3 year deal somewhere and I could see that having more appeal to this front office, versus having to sign a guy like Brian Burns who will likely want a 5-6 year deal. They won't have to commit a large percentage of their cap to Hunter as they would a Burns. So I could see Hunter being the one top-tier free agent they sign.

I think this is all true and even if one of Allen, Burns, Johnson, Snead wasn't franchised, I don't think this front offices approach is to go break the bank on signing high-dollar free agents to long term deals. I think this years free agent class we bring in will look similar to what we brought in last offseason. That's not a bad thing either. I would just caution anyone not to get their hopes up that we're going to be in on one of the top defensive free agents. I'm going to say this now in-regards to the draft too. Don't be surprised if they draft a guy at a position you the fan weren't expecting them to take. We're all screaming for a CB or DE/Edge and they could just as easily go out and take a Guard or WR if that's whose BPA on their board.

If by Maxx Crosby you mean a multi-tooled defensive lineman, acquired in the draft, that can play multiple positions along the defensive front and isn't solely a pass rush specialist, sure. If by shutdown corner you mean signing 33 year old Stephon Gilmore to a one year deal or signing one of Chidobe Awuzie, Kenny Moore or Adoree Jackson to a team-friendly, cap-friendly 2-3 year deal, sure. If by Maxx Crosby you actually mean Maxx Crosby or signing the likes of Brian Burns, Danielle Hunter, or Josh Allen, I don't think that's happening. If by shutdown corner you mean acquiring one of the premium players on the market like L'Jarius Sneed, Jaylon Johnson, or Kendall Fuller, that doesn't seem to be their plan either. They'd rather bring in two B-/B/B+ good free agents that they can get on a team-friendly, short term deal, than one A+ great free agent that they have to pay big money to on a long term contract. I hope to eat a whole bucket of my words when they sign one of the top free agents on the market, but I just don't think that's what Holmes' plan is.

It seems pointless to discuss at this point given Ottawa's GM came out and said they are keeping him and building around him. But if we could have had him for the price of only draft picks and a prospect I'd probably make the trade. It's the kind of move, as you said, that make you a contender.

Brady Tkachuk is not available for trade correct? Because I saw a rumor the other day that he was, then the Sens GM came out and shot it down. But like um, if he was, would you pay the piper and the very high cost it would take to get him?

No, not at all. I'm just wondering how it gets much worse than what McConnell has done. I mean, I guess he's been willing to not shut the government down and that's good. Whereas a Rand Paul or Mike Lee or Lyin' Ted would.

Mitch stole a Supreme Court and refused to do his Constitutional duties and allow a nomination for Supreme Court Justice to come up for a vote. I know it can get worse, but that usurping of his Constitutional responsibilities is pretty damn bad and egregious.

I think if you gave Brad Holmes the choice of spending money to add two good players, on team favorable deals versus one elite player, on a max contract, he's going to add good players. I think anyone expecting or hoping for an A-tier Chris Jones, L'Jarius Sneed, Brian Burns, Jaylon Johnson type player is just setting themselves up to be disappointed. I've come to the conclusion myself that it doesn't matter how close we are to a Super Bowl, Holmes is not deviating from the philosophy that brought him this far. We'll add a couple of nice players from the B-tier of free agency as we did last year and call it a day.

Damn, Richard Lewis died. Love him playing off Larry David in Curb and loved him in Robin Hood Men in Tights. RIP Richard Lewis.

Downriver, Macomb, and Western Wayne are where he is going to have to make up his West Michigan decline. I don't think there are enough white votes in rural areas that he can turn out to make up for the losses in Ottawa and Kent County. White working class areas, that used to vote Democrat in large majorities, are where he's going to have to pull votes away from Biden and the Dems. He's going to have to try and increase whatever turnout and vote share he can in places like Allen Park, Garden City, Lincoln Park, Livonia, Macomb Township, Roseville, Shelby Township, Sterling Heights, Taylor, Trenton, etc. Communities with north of 80% white voters and median income levels in the $45,000-$75,000 range are going to be where he needs turnout increased. On top of that, he's going to need young voters and voters of color to stay home. He may have a more likely outcome there, with those voters staying home, than he will increasing his vote share or turnout numbers among white working class than he already has. It feels like in 2020 white working class turnout peaked and that it isn't going to go that much higher. So Trump will need voters to stay home as well on the Dem side.

I wouldn't draft Kyle McCord if I were the Lions. He's a worse version of my boy Connor Cook lol. FYI, I know the article is about Robinson, but McCord was the one prominently featured in the picture.

I believe Netanyahu supporting/propping up Hamas, through Qatar, backfired on him in the same we the US propping up Saddam against Iran backfired on us in the 1980s/1990s. I can't say for certain whether or not Rabin, Peres, or anyone else would have handled things completely differently than the way Bibi is leading the IDF now. It does feel like though, in the case of Rabin specifically, he may have taken a more tactful approach. Sure, Rabin dislike Arafat and the PLO, but he seemed more apt to work with them, knowing the extremism and radicals that were to the right of the PLO, i.e. Hamas or adjacent groups. Rabin was even assassinated because of his numerous attempts towards peace initiatives and being more conciliatory towards Arafat and the Palestinians. He wasn't hardline enough for the Israeli right wing. He was thought to have appeased the PLO/Palestinians too much with the Oslo Accords and so paid the ultimate price for it. Netanyahu was directly involved in helping to gin up that angst and anger towards Rabin on the far right in Israel. That doesn't mean the blood of Rabin's murder is fully on Bibi's hands, but Netanyahu inflamed a coalition of people that intern led to political violence. When I made the point earlier about Netanyahu using Hamas as his foil or political punching bag I should have extrapolated on that more. The far right of Israel, the Likud coalition that brought Bibi to power and has kept him in power, seems to vehemently oppose a two-state solution. Bibi helped with funding Hamas and keeping them in power in Gaza, partly through the Qatari money. By keeping Hamas in Gaza he thus divided the Palestinian leadership with different entities in charge in Gaza and the West Bank. By propping up Hamas in Gaza he has the foil he needs to speak out against and oppose a two-state solution. His base hates the idea of a Palestinian state and as long as a barbaric regime like Hamas controlled Gaza he can appease his base with his stance against a two-sate solution. How do you expect to have a two-state solution with these crazy terrorists in control in Gaza. Given the brutal actions of Hamas and the October 7th terrorist attack, I think all hope is lost getting Bibi or anyone of the far right coalition to support a two-state solution now. All this is not to say that Bibi could have gotten rid of Hamas from Gaza, no more than we could have gotten rid of Saddam in the 1980s by not funding him against Iran. It is to say though that Bibi didn't have to directly aid in propping them up and it seems like he used Hamas to his political benefit before October 7th. Who knows though. Maybe I'm a liar, maybe I'm wrong.

I don't give a rats about civilian casualties, so I'm just going to pretend that all Palestinian people are part of Hamas and that they had it coming.