Louis Friend Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Right now, the Lions have about $28.5M in cap space (12th in the league). If they cut Vaitai, Brockers and Romeo, that number jumps to $53M (4th in the league). We have a few guys to re-sign but no one to a high amount. Lions Free agents: Italics are guys I'd like to keep QB- Nate Sudfeld RB- Jamaal Williams, Justin Jackson or Craig Reynolds WR- DJ Chark TE- Brock Wright, Shane Zylstra OL- Evan Brown, Dan Skipper, Matt Nelson DL- John Cominsky, Isaiah Buggs LB- Chris Board, Alex Anzalone S- DeShon Elliott CB- Will Harris, Amani Oruwariye Who do you see out there that would improve the Lions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Of the list players above, I would say that DJ Chark, Brock Wright, Evan Brown, Dan Skipper, John Cominsky, Alex Anzalone and DeShon Elliot should be re-signed. Shane Zylstra will get an offer for more playing time. Chris Board hasn't done much outside of special teams. Amani Orumwariye and Will Harris aren't good enough to be brought back. It is still too early to tell who will actually be available in free agency. Some players may re-sign. Some players may become available unexpectedly due to salary cap issues or a team deciding to blow up their roster and start over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 My thinking on free agency is that the Lions should address problems that they don't think they can or want to address through the draft. For example, there don't seem to be a lot legit first-round DTs other then Jalen Carter and Brian Brisee so they may choose to add a free agent to solidify the position and address DT later in the draft with a more developmental prospect. At CB, they might actually need to take a CB high and add a quality free agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 The most important thing the Lions need to do with respect to their own free agents is evaluate them objectively. We have gone from 3-13 to 9-8. If we are going to make some serious noise in the playoffs the talent level on the roster will have to improve. That means some popular players who were good enough to compete for a roster spot on a 3-13 team may no longer be good enough. Example: Alex Anzalone had the best year of his career and is a free agent. The Lions have to ask themselves if he can sustain that performance for 1-2 more years. They also have to ask themselves if they are going to need something more from him and the rest of their LBs in order to improve from 9-8. I think the Lions will re-sign him but also had some talent to the LB room in free agency and the draft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lions017 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 22 minutes ago, Just Want A Title said: The most important thing the Lions need to do with respect to their own free agents is evaluate them objectively. We have gone from 3-13 to 9-8. If we are going to make some serious noise in the playoffs the talent level on the roster will have to improve. That means some popular players who were good enough to compete for a roster spot on a 3-13 team may no longer be good enough. Example: Alex Anzalone had the best year of his career and is a free agent. The Lions have to ask themselves if he can sustain that performance for 1-2 more years. They also have to ask themselves if they are going to need something more from him and the rest of their LBs in order to improve from 9-8. I think the Lions will re-sign him but also had some talent to the LB room in free agency and the draft. Definitely. I think that up until now they've been big on giving guys chances and taking hard workers and high character guys. That should definitely still be a big factor, since the culture that they have built is working, but at a certain point you need to add talent. Anzalone is a great example. If you have him as a guy that gets some snaps and provides some leadership and depth...great. If he's your starting LB and out there all the time...that's something that you can upgrade. He has reached his peak by this point and just isn't enough sometimes. The roster is quickly reaching the point where you can look to add some impact to make a difference. Adding a solid veteran or two that can lock down a position on defense opens up your options in the draft and makes the defense look a whole lot better. They don't need to sign the top guys and commit all of their money in one place, but they should be in on those second and third tier guys. On offense I think they just need to add depth. We could use a guard, for example, and probably take a look at RB if Williams goes elsewhere. A bigger WR would be nice if Chark goes, but the WR class is pretty weak this year, and we saw how crazy those contracts got last offseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 10 hours ago, Just Want A Title said: Of the list players above, I would say that DJ Chark, Brock Wright, Evan Brown, Dan Skipper, John Cominsky, Alex Anzalone and DeShon Elliot should be re-signed. Shane Zylstra will get an offer for more playing time. Chris Board hasn't done much outside of special teams. Amani Orumwariye and Will Harris aren't good enough to be brought back. It is still too early to tell who will actually be available in free agency. Some players may re-sign. Some players may become available unexpectedly due to salary cap issues or a team deciding to blow up their roster and start over. I think Evan Brown will get more on the market than we are willing to or should pay. Not sure he is worth the projected 10M that Sportrac is projecting. I think Jamaal Williams will be the first FA we re-sign. His locker room presence and running ability shown this year have earned him another contract. Hopefully a very similar contract to what he had before with a 2 year, 9-10M deal. Chark I am all for re-signing but have to be careful on the cost. He already counts around 6M towards the cap next year and not sure adding another 10-15M on top of that is worth it. He is solid but hoping Williams can step into that role next year to make him expendable. If he wants to stick around on a shorter, cheap contract (2 year 15M or so), I am all for it. Elliot is also someone that should be brought back. With Walker recovering from an Achilles injury we will need more depth and starters at S. He likely will get a raise but hopefully not too big of one. I hope we don't go crazy in free agency and have an offseason similar to last year. Bring in some guys who have something to prove on shorter deals and keep us flexible. I think adding a CB and maybe a DT would be smart. Also will need to likely sign a RG if cutting Vaitai. Holmes did a good job of finding the young guys with upside like Cominsky and Buggs so hopefully we can find more along those lines. I think Will Harris has done enough to be re-signed if cheap enough. He graded out quite well in the slot/nickel role and run support. He isnt elite, but you cant have elite at every position and he is solid enough to keep around. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 I don't think Evan Brown gets anywhere close to $10M, but if he does, good for him and thanks for your time as a Lion. John Cominsky took to Instagram to embrace a great season and to beg the Lions to bring him back. He and Jamaal Williams have both now come out and said they want to remain Lions. The culture is changing. 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnivolcm Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 You can take Roquan off of your most wanted FAs lists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karnage84 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 2 hours ago, Louis Friend said: I don't think Evan Brown gets anywhere close to $10M, but if he does, good for him and thanks for your time as a Lion. John Cominsky took to Instagram to embrace a great season and to beg the Lions to bring him back. He and Jamaal Williams have both now come out and said they want to remain Lions. The culture is changing. 😎 I want Cominsky and Jamaal back on this roster, assuming the price is right. Let's get a really sold DLine rotation that allows us to flex Hutch all over the place. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Free agency is another tool to create an organization that wins consistently. I don't think the Lions will make a huge signing but they will probably add one or two significant free agents at positions where a veteran presence makes sense. I think the more interesting discussion is what players probably should not be on the roster next year. We should be looking for upgrades with Matt Nelson and Logan Steenburg. We re-signed Charles Harris but he wasn't playing very well prior to his injury. James Houston has played well in a role that Charles Harris was supposed to fill. If we re-sign John Cominsky, I don't see how he keeps his roster spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 2 hours ago, Louis Friend said: I don't think Evan Brown gets anywhere close to $10M, but if he does, good for him and thanks for your time as a Lion. John Cominsky took to Instagram to embrace a great season and to beg the Lions to bring him back. He and Jamaal Williams have both now come out and said they want to remain Lions. The culture is changing. 😎 Brown has been better at RG and C than Vaitai was when he hit free agency as a versatile backup OL and he got 9M a year three years ago. He also had very similar PFF ratings the last two years before free agency as Austin Corbett and Alex Cappa who each signed for 8.75M per year last year. Being Brown is only 26, relatively low wear and tear, he likely will get close to that or more on the market given inflation. As for the other two, I hope we keep them around as long as they remain reasonable. There are a ton of free agent RBs on the market this year and some decent talent in the draft so I dont think Williams will be too expensive. Cominsky should get a bump but how much is the question. If he signs in the 2-3M per year range I am all for it. Much more than that and I would have to think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karnage84 Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 4 minutes ago, Sllim Pickens said: Brown has been better at RG and C than Vaitai was when he hit free agency as a versatile backup OL and he got 9M a year three years ago. He also had very similar PFF ratings the last two years before free agency as Austin Corbett and Alex Cappa who each signed for 8.75M per year last year. Being Brown is only 26, relatively low wear and tear, he likely will get close to that or more on the market given inflation. As for the other two, I hope we keep them around as long as they remain reasonable. There are a ton of free agent RBs on the market this year and some decent talent in the draft so I dont think Williams will be too expensive. Cominsky should get a bump but how much is the question. If he signs in the 2-3M per year range I am all for it. Much more than that and I would have to think about it. I took a look at Spotrac. Cominsky isn't given a proper market value but Zach Allen is. Allen has a projection of $6.6M at 25 years old. 6 sacks, 21 stops and 8% pressure rate. Cominsky is 27 with 4 sacks, 16 pressures but a 12.3% pressure rate. I have a feeling that Cominsky could come back but it'd be looking like $3.5-$4.5 per year based on the Spotrac projections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superduperman Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Guys I'd like them to look at, knowing nothing about H&C's goals or thoughts (and leaving out QBs and kickers): Jessie Bates, Javon Hargrave, Dalton Schultz, Dalvin Tomlinson, Jonathan Jones, Devin Bush, Da'Ron Payne, Marcus Davenport, Tremaine Edmunds, Kyzir White Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 4 hours ago, Nnivolcm said: You can take Roquan off of your most wanted FAs lists. This might mean that the Ravens will move on from Lamar Jackson and let him become a free agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 Some insight into Brad Holmes with free agency. I doubt he will spend big but he will continue to look for value signings. Personal favorite targets: Guard Nate Davis and CB Cameron Sutton. Neither should be too pricey but are very under-rated players. EJ Speed and maybe Bobby Okereke could be in play also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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