Like a flock of vultures, detroit lions fans have been circling the free agent cornerback market.
The position is clearly one of the team’s biggest needs, and with some free agency funds to invest, it’s easy to imagine that the lions would land a young, talented cornerback when free agency begins in two weeks.
However, reports from the nfl combine show that two of the best options may never make it to free agency in the first place.
Bears cornerback jaylon johnson and chiefs defender l’jarius sneed are widely regarded as the top two options in this year’s class, but it seems that acquiring either of them will be difficult, if not impossible, after the general managers of each team spoke on tuesday.
Poles said, “conversations are going well at this moment.”
“we feel like we’ve done a really good job coming to the table strong, demonstrating the respect he’s owed just for his success throughout his career, as well as a lot of emphasis on the turnovers he generated this year.” We expect that he’ll continue to play with the bears.”
Of course, that is only one side of the talks. It’s unclear how happy johnson is with the upcoming talks.
When poles was asked if the team was able to use the franchise tag if they are unable to reach an agreement by the start of free agency, he said he’d prefer not to use it but didn’t rule it out. Poles said, “i’d like to omit the franchise tag for him.”
“i think we have a good place to look for a middle ground,” he said. We always have the tag, but i really want to get something done long-term,” johnson said. if the bears do place the franchise tag on johnson,
it will give him the opportunity to negotiate with other teams. However,
if johnson is offered by an outside team, the bears will then have the ability to match the bid or take two first-round picks from the offering team in exchange for signing.
The possibility that detroit would not only invest a lot of money on cap space but also part with two valuable draft picks for johnson is extremely unlikely.
And it’s reasonable to wonder if the bears would even make a split move like this.
Which brings us to sneed. According to espn’s jeremy fowler, the chiefs are able to use the franchise tag on sneed, but are open to facilitating a trade beyond that.
chiefs general manager brett veach said at the combine that the team is likely to use the franchise tag on sneed and potential free agent defensive tackle chris jones.
Veach said, “we do have one tag, and i think we’ll probably use it to help us.” “but i think our aim is to get both of those players done and then work down the rest of our roster,” he said.
So, again, landing sneed would not only cost detroit a substantial salary cap investment, but also draft capital.
Does general manager brad holmes do that? The answer to holmes’ question is a simple and obvious “no” based on just about everything he’s said this offseason.
“it’s going to be the same strategy we’ve always had,” i think i said in the (past) press conference. It’s easy to win headlines, and it’s easy to win march.
That’s easy to win, but, man, we’re trying to win december,” holmes said. “those are two different viewpoints, and that’s how you’ve got to plan and i think that’s how you’ve got to approach it,” he says.
in other words, it could be time to raise hopes that the lions will land sneed or johnson this offseason.
