My expected off season moves.

Now that Furrey has been signed to a long term contract, I suspect the Lions will try to lock up Redding long term as well. Thing is, they're running out of time so I expect he will receive the Franchise tag keeping him from going into Free Agency and heading to another team (unless a team is willing to give up two first round picks to sign him anyway).

When FA starts, I expect to see the Lions go all out to land two guys. Curtis, the WR from the Rams, and London Fletcher, a MLB. After that I expect there won't be much activity until they can get a few more guys for decent money... such as Simeon Rice if he's released, and a RB just in case KJ isn't going to be ready for training camp.

The Draft should, if my hunches are correct, land the Lions a high quality DE. The rest of the draft should net another starter or two... but will it be Oline or other defensive players? I'm not sure yet in what order, but I suspect both will be addressed in this draft.

To summarize, my mid-February picks are:
Franchise tag on Redding.
Curtis in FA.
Fletcher in FA.
DE in the first round of the Draft.

I'll make more predictions later, when more information becomes available to make a half-way educated guess.

Got that one wrong

Yeah, Millen and Marinelli stayed, and so far so has Martz. I just didn't see Henderson getting fired for the son-in-law (figured he end up the d-line coach). I do not like the fact that Breightol was canned, if it was indeed because of Martz.... well, Martz may only be here one more year, our OLine coach was good enough to stay longer then that. Never saw Preifer retiring either. I guess that makes my prediction about half right. (sigh)

Now we'll see what happens from here. Many think the Lions will draft a QB in the 1st round. I have to think that will not be so. Neither Millen nor Marinelli can withstand another 3-13 season, they need help NOW. Plus, if they don't create a winning season, the next coaching staff will have their own ideas on who should be QB, so drafting one in 2007 seems wrong in every way to me. A MLB or DE is the way to go, I'm sure of it, at least, in January I'm sure of it.

Millen won't be fired.

At this point, I don't see Matt Millen getting fired. He may resign at the end of the season or go into an advisory role, but even then I don't see him being fired by Ford Sr. I hope that a genuine and qualified Personnel Director is hired to head that department, even though I am unsure if that will happen. The scouting department and the whole department needs direction, and I'm uncertain if Marinelli is the one to give it to them. Millen has already proven he is not the man to do it. Perhaps together they can get the job done, but I am very uneasy about that situation for another year too.

I don't see any of the main coaches being fired. Again, they may get interviewed for head coaching jobs elsewhere, but I'm fairly sure that this group will remain in Detroit in 2007.

I don't any changes at QB in 2007.

In fact, the changes I foresee are (or at least hope for are):

Defensive End. Kalimba Edwards is NOT the man. Maybe he can be a linebacker, or maybe Cleveland would still like him enough to trade for him, but he's all but useless as a DE. Hall is above average and a keeper, and after that the depth is all on IR or just bad. DE has got to be a top priority this coming off season. No Tweeners either.

Middle LineBacker. The Lions are set at weakside with Sims. They have a number of talented players to choose from at strongside, but so far, none of them have shown they can be above average to great at middle linebacker. A true genuine MLB would really help this defense a lot (along with a great DE).

Guard. Woody has proven a disappointment, and at his salary may not even be on the team next year. Then again, if I were the Lions, I wouldn't make that cut or even hint at it until the end of preseason, allowing time for any pickups to prove they deserve the starting job. The DeMulling, Verba, Stokes experiment failed. One or preferably two Guards are needed on O.

Right Tackle. Scott was an improvement over Butler, but not much of one. Perhaps after another offseason he'll prove worthy, but I'd be looking for a possible starter or quality depth at this position as well. The winner can start, the other the depth. The Lions haven't had a quality RT in well over a decade, despite annually trying to address the position.

Slot Wide Receiver (WR#3). Assuming Furry gets a contract extension, the lions need another WR to go with Roy Williams. I don't think it'll be Mike Williams (who I think they might trade to trade this off season). Drummond, Ellis and the others don't seem to be above average either. If Martz stays you can bet that a third WR will be high on his list.

That's the list so far, there will be more needs addressed later. Just to summarize though, I do not foresee Millen being fired, nor Marinelli, Martz or Henderson. I see Kitna as the starting QB next year with the exact same QB corp as this year. And I see changes at the positions of DE, MLB, G, RT and WR3.

Remember, the above is not what I want or believe should happen (except for the 5 starters listed). It is merely what I believe will happen. There is usually a difference between what I want and what happens, as I'm sure there is with anyone who reads this blog.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog on the Detroit Lions. For many years I have kept a web site on the Lions and have today decided to add a blog to it. If you haven't already visited my Lions page, please feel free to click on the link on the left. Updates could come sparingly, whenever the mood strikes me, but updates will be forthcoming none-the-less, so please bear with me.