Free Agent Market and Free Agent Camps

[David]

Thought you might be interested in hearing Wally on a US podcast. Here, the two Indianapolis hosts quiz Wally on Alex Bazzie. Thought he handled it really well and was informative (at least he didn't talk in those evasive riddles, lol).

http://m.colts.com/s/30853/370?itemUri= ... 8444887110


DH

[TheLionKing]

Thanks for the link. Interesting interview.

[WestCoastJoe]

Thought you might be interested in hearing Wally on a US podcast. Here, the two Indianapolis hosts quiz Wally on Alex Bazzie. Thought he handled it really well and was informative (at least he didn't talk in those evasive riddles, lol).

http://m.colts.com/s/30853/370?itemUri= ... 8444887110


DH

Nice interview. One of Wally's graces ... wishing his players well.

Riddles, no. But lots of ''ya knows.''

We wish Alex Bazzie well. A sack every second game, very commendable. As Wally notes, he can play STs also. Very physical. Not big, but strong, fast and hard to block. He seemed to fade at times.

[Lionsfan65]

Thought you might be interested in hearing Wally on a US podcast. Here, the two Indianapolis hosts quiz Wally on Alex Bazzie. Thought he handled it really well and was informative (at least he didn't talk in those evasive riddles, lol).

http://m.colts.com/s/30853/370?itemUri= ... 8444887110


DH

Nice interview. One of Wally's graces ... wishing his players well.

Riddles, no. But lots of ''ya knows.''

We wish Alex Bazzie well. A sack every second game, very commendable. As Wally notes, he can play STs also. Very physical. Not big, but strong, fast and hard to block. He seemed to fade at times.

In my opinion Bazzie was a very underrated player. Yes he was small, and down the stretch he appeared to be getting tired quicker, he did have 30 sacks over three seasons, which is pretty good, however it probably would have been better if he was rotated rather than being used as an every down player.
That being said I believe D-line will be an area that we really need to focus on this off season. I would like to bring back Brooks, as I believe that his mediocre performance this season was largely the result of injuries, but at the same time I wouldn't want to pay $200,000+ for him. There are some pretty good defensive tackles who remain without contracts at the moment, most notably 6'02 292lb Alan-Michael Cash, 6'01 295lb Bryan Hall who had 33 tackles and 4 sacks this past season, and 6'03 298lb Euclid Cummings to name a few.
The best defensive ends available are Willie Jefferson, and Gabriel Knapton. I believe if we can sign one or both of these guys as well as one of the defensive tackles mentioned above we could have a pretty solid d-line this season.

[David]

If I am reading these cryptic tweets from Ronnie Yell correctly, he's not too happy with the contract offer from the Lions and is willing to wait until Feb 14 (you need to read this from the bottom up).

With a vast number of players on each team needing to be signed, I don't know that good players have as much leverage. The great ones do and always will, but there is simply too much FA competition this year IMHO.

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Tweets Tweets & replies Media

Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 13m13 minutes ago

Been down so long, all I can do is look up. Dues have been paid, it's time to #eatgreedy #25k
0 replies 0 retweets 1 like

Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 15m15 minutes ago

Off the phone with my agent, I can't wait to see what God has planned for my near future. #LUV
0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 16m16 minutes ago

I know my value and I give y'all value.....somebody going to feel me#25REASONS
0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 18m18 minutes ago

I did a lot but I ain't never hated. I just been on a different type of time
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 19m19 minutes ago

To whom it may concern.
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 19m19 minutes ago

Loyalty is a mf! I just want to ball! Just know you will be getting a savage
0 replies 1 retweet 1 like
Ronnie Yell ‏@_donpolo 22m22 minutes ago

If they really want to make it happen, they will. If not, they won't, always know your value.
0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes



DH

[DanoT]

Re: Yell, Lee, Clarke, they can tweet or facebook or whatever they want but it is difficult to get what you think you are worth when you are recovering from a season ending injury. It is especially difficult for other teams to pay big $ to FA coming off injuries. So sign a one year deal for less than you want, play lights out for 18+ games and then get a big payday in 2018 is what is most likely to happen, imo.

[CardiacKid]

Willie Jefferson was resigned by the Riders. Not surprising really as he clearly was a massive upgrade to their defensive line. He played only 5 games last year but finished 2nd on the team's sack totals.

I wasn't holding my breath he come to the Lions but I had a small bit of hope the Riders would lose him along with Durant.

[Lionsfan65]

Re: Yell, Lee, Clarke, they can tweet or facebook or whatever they want but it is difficult to get what you think you are worth when you are recovering from a season ending injury. It is especially difficult for other teams to pay big $ to FA coming off injuries. So sign a one year deal for less than you want, play lights out for 18+ games and then get a big payday in 2018 is what is most likely to happen, imo.

Something that could work against Yell, Lee, and Clarke in the open market, is that this years group of free agents is particularly deep at defensive back.

[David]

About to lose Bo Lokombo to NFL, per multiple sources. Lions have just granted him "free agent" status. Expected to sign with Baltimore Ravens shortly.

Why are we losing more players than any other team? Is it our level of talent? More players choosing to shop their wares down there?


DH

[B.C.FAN]

About to lose Bo Lokombo to NFL, per multiple sources. Lions have just granted him "free agent" status. Expected to sign with Baltimore Ravens shortly.

Why are we losing more players than any other team? Is it our level of talent? More players choosing to shop their wares down there?


DH

Lokombo is a unique case because he's a Canadian who has yet to find a starting role in the CFL, other than as a special teamer. Maybe he'll find that role in the NFL. More likely the Ravens were looking for a special teams specialist, and noted his athleticism and NCAA pedigree.

[DanoT]

I was hoping that Bo would take over the departed Bighill's LB spot. I guess now it will stay a Import spot.

Bo and Hunter Steward were my two priority re-signings for the Lions. I just hope that Wally and Dan Dorazio appreciate Hunter's talents, especially at LT, and are willing to pay the $ to sign him.

[CardiacKid]

I was hoping that Bo would take over the departed Bighill's LB spot. I guess now it will stay a Import spot.

Bo and Hunter Steward were my two priority re-signings for the Lions. I just hope that Wally and Dan Dorazio appreciate Hunter's talents, especially at LT, and are willing to pay the $ to sign him.

I am currently not hopeful that Steward will re-sign. Just a gut feeling that "things" are not aligning as they should......

[CardiacKid]

Anthony Fera has been released by the Als; Farhan is reporting Wally is going to make a serious play to get him back with the Leos....

[DanoT]

Anthony Fera has been released by the Als; Farhan is reporting Wally is going to make a serious play to get him back with the Leos....

So who will be punting and FG kicking for the Als?

[Hambone]

Anthony Fera has been released by the Als; Farhan is reporting Wally is going to make a serious play to get him back with the Leos....

So who will be punting and FG kicking for the Als?

Likely Bede. He was a disaster early in the season when it was blatantly obvious his confidence was totally shot. His punting was pretty good early in the season but you can see. One can also see that his FG accuracy was ino the tank right from the get-go and eventually as his confidence in that part of the game evaporated the punting numbers also nosedived. He hit rock bottom in late July. In a game against the Argos he punted for 46.5 ave but went 0 for 3 on FGs. The next game against the Riders his punting average plummeted to 38.4 and would drop to 33.5 the game following that.

Through the exhibition games and first 3 regular season games Bede had a 44.9 yard punting average. In his last 2 games before being 6 gamed to basically recover from shattered confidence his punting averaged dropped to 36.6. When he returned from the 6G for the final 4 games of the season his punting average had rebounded to 43.25. Similarly for his FGs he was good on only 7 of 18 prior to being put on the 6G then made 4 of 5 after his return with the lone miss being from 53 yards. I think they're probably looking at the way Hajrullahu bounced back last year after a brutal 2015 and hoping Bede can do the same. Hajrullahu's punting was consistent through his 3 years but in a manner similar to Bede his FG accuracy went south in typical sophomore jinx style. He went from 87% as a rookie to 68.8% in his second year in Winnipeg and back to 88.1% last season.