Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions Re-Sign RB Cason, CB Fisher and TE Owens

The Lions have re-signed three players from last season’s roster who were unrestricted free agents. Aveion Cason, the little running back who could, if you’ll allow, is an incredibly resilient and valuable utility back who possesses great intimacy with the Lions coaching staff and offensive scheme. Which is about the best thing you can say about him and his past performance. Cason can be plugged in at any time and be up to speed immediately.

Fisher is a serviceable veteran who can start, but is best utilized in nickel or dime packages, in the slot. Fisher’s return, along with the retention of Keith Smith and Stanley Wilson, Jr., begs the question, Is Leigh Bodden, without any other corners added to the current roster, enough of an upgrade that Lions opponents will not continue to complete nearly 70% of their passes in ‘08/09?

John Owens is also returning to his special teams, journeymen, blocking tight end role.  Owens’ signing may actually be a sign that either veteran Dan Campbell, or H-Back Casey FitzSimmons is going to pushed out of the organization.  With the new “balanced” offense, my guess is that FitzSimmons may be the odd man out.

Lions Sign TE Gaines, Warrick Dunn Next Ex-Buc to Join Lions?

The Lions have added solid, blocking TE Michael Gaines to their roster this weekend. Gaines provides the team with insurance, since Dan Campbell is unlikely to be ready at the season’s onset. Gaines provides depth and is in line with their renewed emphasis on establishing a “balanced” offense by running with the ball more frequently.

The Lions off-season haul of Leigh Bodden, Michael Gaines, Keith Smith and Dwight Smith doesn’t conjure images of a magical playoff run in the team’s near future, in my eyes. The Lions are still likely to add a MLB, R.OT, and CB in free agency, as long as the market bears it.

CB Brian Kelly is still going to visit this week. Should Warrick Dunn eventually gain his release from the Falcons, I would expect the Lions to attempt to meet with him, too. Dunn is an outstanding NFL citizen, and would create a serviceable tandem with a healthy Kevin Jones. That being said, it would be nice to see the Lions add at least one difference-maker to their roster, and for them to engage in a free agent conversation with at least one player who is not a former Buccaneer. The Lions are also still slated to meet with DT’s Chuck Darby and Ellis Wyms, with Darby likely being the preferred player in this case.

Their are potential difference makers still out there, too. DE Antwan Odom, who had eight sacks for the Titans last year, still hasn’t been signed. The Giants are living proof that depth at defensive end, especially quality depth, will always be beneficial. In other words, even if Ikaika Alama-Francis emerges as a regular contributor, Odom would be an essential component to improving the Lions near-dormant pass rush. The rub remains is Odom more of a 3-4 outside linebacker or is he a 4-3 defensive end?

The Lions also may be meeting with RB Julius Jones, who even as an underachiever in Dallas, has a great deal of talent and represents more of a “home run” threat than Dunn would at this point in his career.

With the upcoming draft being well-stocked at running back and offensive tackle, I’d like to see the Lions devote picks to these positions, along with their high draft picks which are likely to be utilized on upgrading the defensive line and secondary.

Their remaining off-season targets should be a veteran MLB who fits the Tampa-2 scheme, a defensive tackle(either Chuck Darby or Ellis Wyms, who are visiting the team this week?), and a veteran offensive linemen.

In regards to the Lions ticket price increases, the Ford’s had better be careful. 20% ticket increases coupled with another lost season in ‘08, in a string of so many, may send the organization reeling, given the current economic situation in Michigan.

I realize that the people who attend Lions games are generally insulated from the state’s current financial hardship, and the Ford’s will still make money even if no tickets are actually purchased, but the growing perception is that the Lions will not ever provide a serviceable, competitive franchise while all of the current franchise heads are in place. Eventually, the sum of all of this negativity will hurt the franchise.

The other interesting tidbits that have emerged from this weekend are that the Lions/Bengals trade was aborted, at least in part, due to front office incompetence on both sides.

SI.com’s Reuben Frank has also provided a chart indicating that the Lions grossly mismanaged their salary cap in ‘07, which lead to them leading the league in “dead money” in ‘08, or money which applies to the ‘08 cap but is not being utilized for ‘08 personnel moves.

The bumbling, moronic incompetence of Matt Millen, and in the latter case, Tom Lewand, compounds by the second.   I don’t think we will fully understand the harm that will have been inflicted upon the Lions franchise until these two parties are finally gone.  Gauging by the current state of affairs, both will be in Detroit for the foreseeable future, we could be in for a long hard ride.

Shaun Rogers to Cleveland

The long rumored trade of Shaun Rogers ended with a particularly strange turn last night. Media reports originally indicated that Rogers had been dealt to the Bengals for a third and fifth round draft pick.

Somehow, the Lions or Bengals eventually backed out of the trade, and the Lions instead dealt Rogers to the Browns for CB Leigh Bodden and a third round draft pick. The Lions addressed a serious need with the addition of a cornerback, but Bodden is not likely to be significantly better than players like Fernando Bryant or Travis Fisher were last season.

The rub is the third rounder. If Millen plays his cards right he can find instant help with that pick, or package it to trade up higher in the draft in the first or second round. That being said, to quote the Detroit Free Press’ Drew Sharp, giving Millen an additional third rounder is akin to “handing a running six year old a pair of scissors”. Very sharp ones, at that, too.

That’s what makes the decision to move Rogers ultimately so difficult. The Lions could now feature both a terrible secondary, and a huge hole in the middle of their defense that allows teams to gash them with not only their passing attack, but their ground game, too.

Lions fans have to find the faith that Bodden will eventually play much better than the team’s incumbents, and that Matt Millen will actually find a player in the third round who will contribute to the team in some form in the future. As a point of comparison, the “flat earth” theory is actually more easily digested, and infinitely more believable, than the aforementioned scenario actually playing out without a hitch.

The Lions have addressed their secondary needs with the addition of S Dwight Smith and the newly acquired CB Bodden, along with the return of CB Keith Smith, but it remains to be seen if these players will actually represent an upgrade. In the meantime, the Lions are still interested in free agents Travis Fisher, Brian Kelly, and Randall Gay and have tendered restricted free agent Stanley Wilson, Jr. If they sign Wilson, Jr. and one more free agent, corner will be a lot less of a concern entering the draft than what was originally projected.

The Lions team needs still appear to be RB, MLB, OT, DE, TE, DT, and a returns specialist. The market for defensive tackles to replace Rogers is quite thin, especially with the rash of trades (Rogers, Marcus Stroud, Kris Jenkins) that have occurred involving that position.

The Lions will bring in DT’s Chartric “Chuck” Darby and Ellis Wyms, and my belief is that they will sign Darby, since he has previously played in Tampa. Anthony “Booger” McFarland and restricted free agent Jovan Haye may also be players who pique the Lions interest since they have both played in Tampa, also. None of these players have near the ability that Rogers possessed.

The Rogers saga is now complete, finally. As a Lions fan it is bittersweet to see such a spectacularly gifted player slip from the team’s grasp. But with his inconsistent performance and his inclination towards cutting against the organizational grain, the Lions were left with little option, but to trade him.

I will still pull for Rogers to meet his potential, and find success, even if he was ultimately a surly, underachieving, locker room cancer. In these dark times within the failing Lions organization, with it’s few bright spots, even vicarious success might be perceived as some sort of up-tick, or sign of better days to come. In other words, the Lions might have found their proverbial pot of gold, or rainbow at midnight, or whatever outlandish, pie in the sky homily you can conjure to sheath your denial inside of.