With the season ending a couple of days ago, I think it is the perfect time to preview the 2011 Free Agency. First off, let’s start with the Lions and their free agents: Unrestricted Free Agents: Vinny Ciurciu, Chris Houston, C.C. Brown, Nathan Vasher, Landon Johnson, Brian Clark
Restricted Free Agents: Drew Stanton, Kevin Smith, Jerome Felton, Cliff Avril, Andre Fluellan, Corey Hilliard, Ashlee Palmer, Bobby Carpenter, Dylan Gandy
Exclusive Rights Free Agents: Stefan Logan, Caleb Campbell Unknown: Price Miller, Tye Hill, Eric King, Randy Philips, Paul Pratt, zac robinson, Aaron Berry, John Wendling, Dave Rayner Alright, before I actually get into who the Lions should sign and who they should release, lets quickly do a NFL Free Agency 101 and find out what the difference between the three types of free agents are. · Unrestricted Free Agents are pretty obvious. With the old CBA expired last season, players with six or more years of NFL experience can become unrestricted free agents. These players can sign and negotiate with any team in the NFL. · Restricted Free Agents are players with three to five years of NFL service. These free agents, depending on the level of salary they are offered by their original team, have a tag of picks ranging from as high as a first and a third round pick to as low as no draft pick at all. Restricted free agents are allowed to talk to any team they want, but if a team signs the player to an offer sheet, then the old team has one week to match that offer. If they don’t, then the player walks and the original team gets the allotted draft picks. · Exclusive Rights Free Agents: These are players that have less than three years of NFL service under their belt. These players are only allowed to be in contract negotiations with their original team and can only sign with their original team. If the two parties do no reach a contract agreement, then the player has to sit out the season. Now that we know what exactly the three types of FAs are, I want to give my input into who should be kept and who should be let go. It is safe to say that Stefan Logan will return as a Lion, and I don’t see Caleb Campbell being brought back to active roster; he will most likely stay on the practice squad. Out of the UFAs, I think the Lions should keep Chris Houston, and Landon Johnson are the only two worth keeping around. Houston should be the tough to sign, but a little extra cheese should bring him back to Motown. The RFA list is the more interesting one. For the first time in a long time, I think the Lions RFAs will cause a lot of buzz in free agency. The biggest question in free agency for the Lions is what tenders will be offered to each of the RFAs. I can see Clifff Avril getting a second round tender, Kevin Smith getting a 3rd round tender, and the rest just getting salaries somewhere around the minimum offer required for the “right of first refusal” to kick in. Basically, if a RFA chooses to sign with another team, then the “right of first refusal” gives the Lions a week to decide whether or not they want to match the offer sheet. If they refuse to do so, then the RFA walks, but the Lions don’t get a pick in return.
Written by:
