Dan O. Jilts the Lions
February 23, 2009 on 8:25 pm | In Uncategorized |Dan “The Polish Pop Gun” Orlovsky has decided to test the free agent waters and not re-sign with the Lions when free agency begins this weekend.
Interestingly enough, Orlovsky claims he doesn’t want to sign with the Lions to be Daunte Culpepper’s backup. I wonder, what NFL team, besides the Lions, will promise Orlovsky a starter’s job, let alone even an open opportunity to compete for a starter’s job.
Orlovsky is the quintessential career backup, despite his desire to be otherwise. With Culpepper, or more improbably, Jon Kitna at the helm, Orlovsky would stand a very realistic chance of starting during a 16 game season since it is very likely that each of these Qb’s would get injured at one point or another.
The interesting thing now is that Jon Kitna may now become a viable alternative to remain on the roster, should he be willing to have no guarantee of holding the starting QB job. Admittedly, this scenario is highly unlikely, too.
So if Kitna and Orlovsky don’t return, the Lions will be left with Culpepper and the “Two Drews”.
Since Martin Mayhew has made recent comments mentioning Drew Stanton’s relative lack of experience being an impediment to his being considered for the starter’s job, you have to wonder, do the Lions, without disparaging Stanton, feel that Stanton is incapable of becoming a legitimate NFL QB? It would seem so.
Does this situation realistically leave the Lions with aging, injury-prone Daunte Culpepper, one of the “Two Drews” and a draft pick to man the position next season? Does the likely loss of Orlovsky force the Lions to have to draft a Qb out of necessity, since it is unlikely that there would be any exceptionally desirable candidates available to them via free agency?
I think the Lions will select a Qb and my gut feeling is that they will not make that player the first overall draft pick. I would not be surprised to see them take someone with pick #20 or #33, since the their is a high probability that whomever they pick may have to play this season at some point, given Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton’s injury histories, if they are the two Qb’s who remain upon the Lions 53-man roster.
7 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^
I think I an irrationl emotional attachment to Dan O., mich like the entire Lions org. I just do not understand why Dan isn’t given a shot at starting. He certainly played as well as any other QB we had last year. Stanton is obviously a huge project (I say that knowing the Lions have no idea who is and isn’t talented/good) so why do they want to pay him over DanO? I really am bummed for him. I think he has a better chance of meeting his potential elsewhere however. Don’t be surprised to see New ENgland sign him if cassel goes away.
Comment by mike — February 24, 2009 #
Mike, you are wrong about one small thing. The Lions really do want to keep Orlovsky and he is spurning them. Now, if they had guaranteed him a starting job, or a chance to compete, he would have probably stayed. The interesting thing is, Orlovsky’s leaving, if he leaves, nearly ensures that they will add another QB either via the draft or free agency.
Comment by Steve — February 25, 2009 #
You may be correct STeve, but I will say this. As a manager (Martin MAyhew) one of your primary goals is to keep your team (Dan O.) motivated and working directionally in a way that will help your folks get to their highest potential. It’s how you make an organization strong. It’s why good teams talk about keeping the players they already have. Whatever verbage Mayhew used to tell DanO that he had a chance to start, he missed the mark wildly. Consequently, DanO has told him to stick it up his ass. Just another mis-step in a long line of mis-steps for these manager wanna be’s.
Comment by mike — February 27, 2009 #
Mike, I don’t disagree, but I wonder, how many Lions, given the opportunity, want to be cleansed of the taint of their careers in Detroit. Orlovsky is no superstar, but maybe the number of years he spent in the “D” were more than enough.
I am sure that Mayhew and Schwartz did their best selling job in order to convince him to stay, but they have a stop-gap spot filler in Culpepper whom they would be content in entering the season with. Culpepper has an easily release-able contract, so that if they can upgrade, cough, Jay Cutler, they can bid adieu to Culpepper. The Lions probably didn’t want to tie themselves financially to a player whom they have no long term plans for.
I agree with the logic of your assessment, but am not sure of Orlovsky is worthy of more of an investment than what a clipboard holder deserves. He WOULD have played in Detroit, he will be handing out cups of gatorade and making hand gestures (signals) from the sidelines elsewhere, so we know that he just didn’t want to return, in the long run.
Comment by Steve — March 1, 2009 #
I think the fact that Mayhew was so “in his face” about never being a starter was the last straw. It was a negative motivation and poor management.
Comment by mike — March 1, 2009 #
I am not going to disagree with your point, I just wonder, what did Orlovsky think that the Lions would do? Guarantee him a job? Pay him starters money? Should they lie to him, a tack many organizations would have taken with him?
I think if Orlovsky were pragmatic and confident, he could safely expect to play, either due to injury or poor performance, backing up either Jon Kitna or Daunte Culpepper. Feeling disrespected by the Lions shouldn’t have entered into the equation. Playing in Houston, if that’s where he signs, he could replace injury-prone Matt Schaub, but the Texans investment and commitment to him is much higher than the Lions is/was to Culpepper, significantly decreasing his opportunity to compete for playing time.
At any rate, both sides have appeared to move on, and Orlovsky will only remain a Lions through infamy, and his unforgettable safety against the Vikings last year.
Comment by Steve — March 1, 2009 #
All good points. I am just trying to view this thing fromn Dan’s perspective. Imagine you go to work everyday for years and bust your ass to be the best you can be. One day you finally get to do the job you’ve been training for and you do fairly well. In fact you’re not perfect but for a beginning you’re at least as good as the guy you replaced. The arguement could be made that you were better in some areas. The year ends and before you get the chance to compete for the job again someone who clearly is no expert in your job qualifications tells you you’ll never be a #1. He’s just being “honest”. Well, even though the guy isn’t qualified to tell you if you’re good enough or not, someone has given him the authority to say so. What are your choices? Accept the questionable guys questionable assessment, or do you dust off your dignity and tell him to pound sand and go look for a fair shake at #1? Dan chose the second choice. Now, if Mayhew was smart he would have simply told Dan that “All the QBs will get an even shot at starting”, and left it up to the coaches to say who was #1. Dan could have lived with that and kept his dignity intact. I guess the real question then is this: Did Mayhew really not want Dan to stay or did he just f up in handling Dan’s expectations? I think he just f’d up and we lost.
Comment by mike — March 1, 2009 #