Post Lockout moves

TSE · Post #21 » by **TSE** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:29 pm

Leggett won't make this team, we have too much depth and competition.

Post #22 » by **ajaX82** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:54 pm

TSE wrote:Leggett won't make this team, we have too much depth and competition.

At safety? I doubt we signed him to just release him

Post #23 » by **ajaX82** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 2:00 am

Titus Young signed, only Fairley remians

Jonathon Joseph signed with the Texans....damn! Thats really disappointing. We need to definitely try and get Tulloch now and resign Houston

Post #24 » by **ajaX82** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:36 am

Fairley signed! He'll be at camp tomorrow with all the rooks! Consider me pumped to see what he can do.

Deal is 4 years, 5th option, for 10 million. With how cheap the deal is (comparatively speaking) and how quick these all got done....thank god for the rookie wage scale. Such a smart idea

Lets hope we get Tulloch or Nick Barnett (who we are rumored to be interested in) tomorrow and complete a nasty front 7.

Post #25 » by **ajaX82** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:52 am

CB Eric Wright signs on

Yahoo! rates him the 31st best FA. Apparently he had a couple very good years and last year was very bad. Still need to get one more guy back there

Post #26 » by **Icness** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:12 pm

The Lions were actively involved in Joseph. Read my piece on Asomugha on the main NFL page.

Eric Wright was very good for Cleveland until last year when he was embarrassingly bad. He's small but very aggressive with the ball in the air. Teams figured out they could bait him and did so very effectively. Interestingly he was better as the #1 guy than he was as the #2 to Joe Haden last year. Only 5 players have more plays on the ball than Wright over the last 3 seasons...one of them is Johnathan Joseph.

Kind of surprised that Drew Stanton came back, but the market just wasn't what he (or I) thought it would be for him.

Just heard that the Lions are talking to Kirk Morrison and Antwan Barnes. Meh.

TSE · Post #27 » by **TSE** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:54 pm

Yeah we're in a bad spot, FA moves are not what to hope for, it's always been about finding strategic trades, that's where all of our opportunity lies to do something really fantastic. They need to figure out some deals, lots of things we could do.

TSE · Post #28 » by **TSE** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:40 pm

ajaX82 wrote:
TSE wrote:Leggett won't make this team, we have too much depth and competition.

At safety? I doubt we signed him to just release him

We're only going to keep 4 safeties. Delmas/Spievey/Coleman are for sure 3. We also have Wendling we just signed to a 2 year deal who is much the favorite over Leggett. I also would rather see us keep the young prospects Randy Philiips or SIlva over him. And there's up to 10 more camp bodies beyond that he also would have to beat out. He'll never make it. Neither will Rashied Davis.

Post #29 » by **Icness** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:37 am

Follow the agent trail...

Wendling is represented by the same agency as Delmas, who will be due for an extension next summer. Leggett shares an agency with Titus Young, and the deals were done at the same time. Scratching the back of the agent never hurts. If it takes signing camp fodder, so be it, happens all the time.

Totally agree with TSE about the safety situation. Delmas and Coleman will start, Speivey will play quite a bit, Wendling is #4 and special teams. A 5th guy that can also double as a dime corner/special teams ace has a shot too, but I don't see that guy on this roster yet. They might be hoping it's Leggett.

TSE · Post #30 » by **TSE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:51 am

Yeah we have a plethora of LB and CB prospects that there are going to be a LOT of tough cuts. Especially if we sign yet another LB like Barnett or Tulloch, cause then there would only be 1 LB spot up for grabs: Levy / Durant / Barnett / Hogue would be locks for the roster, and we have like 20 LBs in competition still lol. And for CB, we already have like 5 young guys that any one of them could be the diamond in the rough, and we won't be able to keep hardly many of those after having Houston / Alphonso / Wright etc. So if we had an extra spot, I think LB and CB are going to be bountiful choices of tempting prospects to not want to lose. Plus, we are probably not going to cut fan favorite Logan, so that takes up a ST spot, and we even have a bunch of OL prospects that are possibly going to be needing long looks too. Not to mention the glut of RBs that last year had roster spots with us that have little chance of making the cut now with the extra premier bodies we have. Loads of TEs and FBs too. DL yikes x3?

In conclusion, I offer a wager of my house, my car, and my eternal soul that Leggett doesn't stick on the roster for any significant portion of time, in exchange for say $10,000? lol

Piston Pete · Post #31 » by **Piston Pete** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:27 am

Seems as though we still need to get difference-makers at LB and CB. Guys who are still available:

LB - Tulloch, Barnett, Kirk Morrison?

CB - Houston, Cromartie, Carlos Rogers, Brent Grimes, Roderick Hood?

TSE · Post #32 » by **TSE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:27 pm

Tulloch signed a 1 year deal with us for $3.25M. Barnett cancelled his flight last night and stayed in Buffalo. Sounds like they promised him a starting job and loads of play time, and we probably weren't willing to promise as much, or maybe he didn't want to play against his precious Packers? Just trying to figure out why somebody would choose to play for Buffalo j/k.

Piston Pete · Post #33 » by **Piston Pete** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:29 pm

I'm trying to figure out why we only gave Tulloch a 1-year deal.... :roll:

TSE · Post #34 » by **TSE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:20 pm

Piston Pete wrote:I'm trying to figure out why we only gave Tulloch a 1-year deal....

Minimal risk in case he isn't good enough, and we want to draft a fresh LB next year. If he's good, we could franchise tag him and trade him and then have all the private leverage we need to convince him to do a long-term deal when we KNOW that he's the guy we want there for the next 6 years, which we aren't positive on now. Mayhew likes having the advantage in being able to be the only team to negotiate with him and thinks it will work out, if he's great and we have success, then he should agree to a deal that works out perfect for Mayhew's plans, but if the worst case scenario happens, then we have no risk. So it's a great deal for us as it's not the same as a 5 year deal, but the loss of those 4 years is picked up by the less risk, so it's basically an alternate and nearly equivalent option. Tulloch probably had a choice, and thought this one was slightly better because he has confidence he will play above the benchmark to qualify for the larger payday than the long-term deal he was comparing it with. Tulloch might also see a little less money from his perspective, but might see value in removing the risk of not getting stuck with the Lions long-term in case Stafford flops and our program falls apart.

He's testing us, and we're testing him. Both aren't convinced the other is the best marriage for them, as they can both imagine and dream of more perfect mates, so we tiptoe halfway together and hope for good times prior to the inevitable divorce!

Post #35 » by **ajaX82** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:29 pm

Yeah he is hoping to make a bunch more next offseason maybe. Not a big deal. If we do well as a team and he plays well I'm sure we can work a deal out.

That said, the front 7 is sick as of now.

TSE · Post #36 » by **TSE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:44 pm

These LB and CB competitions in preseason are going to be very interesting and insanely competitive with so many guys competing for those final spots in each position. A bloodbath of NFL hopefuls will ensue, many dreams will be crushed, but for a special few a unique opportunity will be born.

CHRIS HOUSTON back for 2 more years

Post #37 » by **ajaX82** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:11 pm

Houston for 2 for about 3 million. Looks like the team is set....I'm freakin excited

Collymore · Post #38 » by **Collymore** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:14 pm

Sweet!

Bartender · Post #39 » by **Bartender** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:50 pm

What a win of an offeason.

Trust in the Mathew.

TSE · Post #40 » by **TSE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:09 pm

Yep, the draft and FA portions work so far, now we just need to follow up with some strategic trades to cap it all off.