Your current grade for the Lions 2015 off season is...

[LionsWhyMe]

The lions had the number two defense last year finding something that worked and they threw it away.

1st against the Run, 2nd against the Pass and 3rd against scoring.

 

[Dr. Evil-er]

Simple question to ask yourself in grading, "are we a better team than we were coming into the draft?".

The answer is clearly HELL NO WE ARENT. So the offseason has been a failure, plain and simple

Don't give me the draft argument that we could get better there because so can every other team in the league, including those who got better already.

Suck a tailpipe Millenhew cause you blow!!! Probably having dinner at Millen's house tonight laughing about how they got paid millions to ruin a proud franchise and make them into a laughing stock

 

[TBBishop]

I would give them a C-. Suh was walking. I'm not sure why anyone doesn't understand that at this point, he wasn't coming back and tagging him would have been imbecilic. with only $17 mil to spend, they locked up our own guys and brought in 2 DTs to replace the 2 starters that left. Ngata is certainly not better than Suh but he's better than what we've gotten out of Fairley even though he may be less naturally gifted. this Tyrunn Walker kid, I don't know enough about and if you say for certain that he's a downgrade or an upgrade from Fairley you're probably full of shit. they need to get Mathis back in the fold or find a better option. If that happens I may upgrade them to a C. If they can get Mathis back (or upgrade) AND find a better option than Rob Sims at LG then I'd be willing to go as high as a C+. But I won't give them a failing grade for not bringing back a guy who simply wasn't coming back. I read that there has been a rift between Suh and the brass since he kicked that Packers puss Dietric-Smith. Apparenlty he left the stadium and they made him come back to face the press. So he's been being a baby about that for 3+ years. A year or 2 ago his sister said she couldn't wait until he was out of Detroit. He tried to spin it as him not having control over what she says but she didn't pull that out of her ass. So everyone can blame Mayhew and Lewand for not getting him signed but he wasn't signing, period. At the end of the day though, a star walked out the door, an extremely talented although often hurt and low motored starter also walked, our "starting" RB is gone, and we still don't have a replacement at LG, a starting corner or a backup DT (or maybe we do in Walker) so at this point I can't give them more than the C-.

 

[TBBishop]

I will also add that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won free agency last season according to a lot of people. They will be picking 1st this year.

 

[Old Lion]

Bishop, I would give you 100 likes for those 2 posts if I could. You are 100% correct. Suh was not coming staying under any circumstances. Selling the farm to keep him 1 more year would have been moronic. Funny thing is that might have been the 1 thing that could have gotten Mayhew and Lewand fired, yet those who are desperate to do that are the ones that wanted them to spend 20% of the cap to tag him.

I have bumped my grade up to B- now that we acquired NGata (and Walker somewhat). We cant afford to fill all the holes in FA, but we should have enough money for another O-lineman and to resign Mathis. If we do that I could go to a B. The only way to a B+ would be with a younger CB to replace Mathis.

 

[Thruthefog]

F.

For FIRE Mayhew.

 

[Dr. Evil-er]

Everything that has been reported was that the Lions had a chance the year before to lock him up. He was asking to be the highest paid defensive player at that time, which was less than we ultimately offered him in what is reported as a last minute offer. We negotiated this year even with the stupid mindset that he would sign for an amount less than that.

Here is a simple question, if the player told you the previous year that he wanted to be the highest paid defensive player in the league, then went out and had a monster year showing you just how valuable to the team he is, and you resume negotiations trying to sign him for less than he told you he wants are you an idiot? Because that is what The Clown Show did and that is beyond stupid and incompetent.

The Clown Show absolutely screwed up, and in a huge way. We wanted an extension on him last year which would have freed up cap space even. Tagging him this year would have been insane but he is not on the team anymore because our front office is the worst in the league.

 

[jdwills126]

I will agree Suh was walking! If I can see it, and most fans why the hell can't the GM? He could have made moves to offset the loss.

1. Although drafting Donald was a last offseason move I think it still applies to this offseason.
2. The Lions didn't have any FA strategy to offset the D-Line defection.
3. They still are making moves I don't get. Bringing back Tulloch instead of using his 3.2 million cap space on needed positions like CB and guard.
4. Not signing a CB to play against the slot or a guard. Losing the 4th and 5th round picks limit what the Lions can do in the draft. I just don't see enough players added to address what was needed.

A solid D-

 

[Old Lion]

F.

For FIRE Mayhew.

Say it all you want. It aint happening.

 

[broncosmitty]

Im withholding my grade until I see how many ex-Ravens we can add.

Mayhew really dropped the ball by letting Jacoby Jones get away. Could have wasted some money there. Still a chance he could throw away some draft picks though.

(Ngata thinks Ray Rice would be a great addition. I think he'd be about as good of one as Ngata, which isn't saying much. Detriot Lions' Haloti Ngata: Ray Rice would be great addition - NFL - SI.com )

 

[Thruthefog]

Say it all you want. It aint happening.

Not until the Lions shit the bed this year.

 

[RobBase]

D- only for getting Ngata. They've signed one new FA and he's on a 1 year contract.

Basically, they've signed nobody this off season w all those Suh savings.

Just as I suspected.

 

[RobBase]

There isn't a DT in the league worth 27 million for one year. Plus the 9+ million in dead money is one-quarter of the Salary Cap. Why drag it out if Suh wanted out of Detroit?

Because they could have traded him. You're telling me the Dolphins or Miami wouldn't have given up two 1sts or at least just traded for him? They would have.

Mayhew convinced himself Suh was coming back on a long term deal, so trading him or tagging him or both never ever crossed his mind. It should have, but he's obviously stupid.

 

[Old Lion]

Not until the Lions shit the bed this year.

Millen sucked 10 times as much, never came close to making the playoffs and had to go 0-16 before they shit-canned him. Lions would need several seasons in a row of less than 5 wins before that even becomes a possibility.

Wishing for them to suck in order to get rid of Mayhew is pointless. Its not going to happen anytime soon. The team is still a playoff contender.

 

[Old Lion]

Because they could have traded him. You're telling me the Dolphins or Miami wouldn't have given up two 1sts or at least just traded for him? They would have.

Mayhew convinced himself Suh was coming back on a long term deal, so trading him or tagging him or both never ever crossed his mind. It should have, but he's obviously stupid.

I agree that this should have been done if it was an option. I do not think Suh would sign for anyone who traded for him though either and I think pretty much every team knew it. Otherwise why wouldn't other teams make an offer? They knew Suh was going to free agency to the highest bidder so why give up anything more.

 

[TBBishop]

Everything that has been reported was that the Lions had a chance the year before to lock him up. He was asking to be the highest paid defensive player at that time, which was less than we ultimately offered him in what is reported as a last minute offer. We negotiated this year even with the stupid mindset that he would sign for an amount less than that.

Here is a simple question, if the player told you the previous year that he wanted to be the highest paid defensive player in the league, then went out and had a monster year showing you just how valuable to the team he is, and you resume negotiations trying to sign him for less than he told you he wants are you an idiot? Because that is what The Clown Show did and that is beyond stupid and incompetent.

The Clown Show absolutely screwed up, and in a huge way. We wanted an extension on him last year which would have freed up cap space even. Tagging him this year would have been insane but he is not on the team anymore because our front office is the worst in the league.

You don't start a negotiation giving someone exactly what they want. that's why it is a negotiation. I mean do you honestly think that the Lions didn't offer him a huge contract last year? And at the end of the day, he's not better than JJ Watt and he plays a position that tradiationally gets paid less than DE so why should he be paid better than Watt? No matter what they offered him last year, you can be certain it was a competitive offer for what he had given the team and what his position calls for and he balked. If he wanted to be in Detroit, especially knowing how much paying him more than Watt would cripple the team, he would have done it. I'm not saying the front office has no fault in this, they could have gutted the team to keep Suh, but signing Suh would have just kept them in cap purgatory. You already have Calvin and Stafford signed and soon enough you'll have Levy, Ansah and Slay due for raises. Something had to shake it it pretty much had to be the guy demanding to be the highest paid player.

 

[TBBishop]

I will agree Suh was walking! If I can see it, and most fans why the hell can't the GM? He could have made moves to offset the loss.

1. Although drafting Donald was a last offseason move I think it still applies to this offseason.
2. The Lions didn't have any FA strategy to offset the D-Line defection.
3. They still are making moves I don't get. Bringing back Tulloch instead of using his 3.2 million cap space on needed positions like CB and guard.
4. Not signing a CB to play against the slot or a guard. Losing the 4th and 5th round picks limit what the Lions can do in the draft. I just don't see enough players added to address what was needed.

A solid D-

You know a lot of people are acting like Donald was this can't miss prospect. The guy played great as a rookie but he wasn't some can't miss prospect. I do remember a few people talking about him on the boards last year but I really don't remember anyone acting like the brass was morons if/when they passed on him. And Whitehead played well last year but Tulloch is a far better player and if he's back to form after the injury, he'll be worth every penny he makes.

 

[TBBishop]

D- only for getting Ngata. They've signed one new FA and he's on a 1 year contract.

Basically, they've signed nobody this off season w all those Suh savings.

Just as I suspected.

They used that money to sign back some of our own guys. How many more holes would we have had they not resigned our guys?

 

[RobBase]

They used that money to sign back some of our own guys. How many more holes would we have had they not resigned our guys?

Not impressed. The back up safety is ok. Our back up QBs are just kindling for the dumpster fire.

 

[TBBishop]

Because they could have traded him. You're telling me the Dolphins or Miami wouldn't have given up two 1sts or at least just traded for him? They would have.

Mayhew convinced himself Suh was coming back on a long term deal, so trading him or tagging him or both never ever crossed his mind. It should have, but he's obviously stupid.

You assume too much. The Dolphins or anyone else may not have been willing to give up high draft picks for Suh and the Lions may have been stuck paying that outrageous tag number on him. They simply could not tag him.