Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions Re-Sign OL Saipia, Franchise Redding and More

The Lions re-signed veteran utility offensive linemen Blaine Saipia this week.  Saipia, who is well-versed in Mike Martz’s offense from his days with Martz in St. Louis, filled in admirably as a starter for a few games last season.   Ideally, Saipia will provide versatile, quality depth for the Lions O-Line going forward.  Saipia can even fill in as a jumbo tight end, if necessary.

The Lions franchised DE/DT Cory Redding this past Wednesday.   Redding is far too valuable of a member of this franchise for the Lions to take a chance of not keeping him by allowing him to enter free agency.   Redding, as most players who are given the franchise tag, was less than thrilled with the situaton.   The Lions will eventually reward him with a long term contract before June 15, like they did with Jeff Backus last season.   Redding will miss out on his chance to see what the market is for his services, but I think that the Lions will pay him quite well, in lieu of his breakout performance this past season.

Their are growing rumblings about who will be heading out of town before next season.   The Lions have no interest in bringing veteran FB Cory Schlesinger back into the fold next season.   Schlesinger has been a quality member of the franchise for a number of years and it is sad to see the cold reality of his career winding to a close.

Rod Marinelli has referred to this off-season as a “weeding out” process, particularly with players who don’t fit their personnel schemes or players unwilling to fully buy into the aforementioned coaching schemes.  The 4 players who were given permission to pursue trades will likely be gone very soon.   CB Dre Bly and DE James Hall will likely remain until the Lions find quality replacements for them.   G Ross Verba will be released before he receives his March bonus.   DT Marcus Bell could be jettisoned any day now.   It is no coincidence that Bell and Hall, who filed a grievance with the league over Marinelli violating practice guidelines, will be looking for work elsewhere this season.   The sad reality is that all four may eventually be released, since opposing franchises are aware of that the fact that the Lions do not want to retain any of these players.

The Lions have begun to disseminate the faints, decoys and smokescreens that are part and parcel of possessing the second overall draft pick.    They are attempting to keep their draft intentions a mystery, so that in the eventuality that they might receive a trade offer they will have the leverage to do so.   That being said, the Lions have reportedly met with OT Joe Thomas at the draft Combine in Indianapolis and it has become clearer that he will likely be their first choice.

Thomas will provide the Lions with a bonafide Left Tackle prospect.  The selection of Thomas will not come without concern.   Thomas has suffered a knee injury while in college and several scouts believe he is too short-armed to be successful at the Left Tackle position.    That being said, Thomas suffered the knee injury in a bowl game, playing Defensive End to help his team, even though it was a near certainty that he planned to leave school early and enter the draft last season.  Obviously, Thomas is willing to sacrifice for success, which is a highly desirable trait.