This is exactly right - we're not doing things the Patriot Way, we're explicitly paying more than the patriots think these guys are worth. It's kind of the opposite of the patriot way.

Hey, they signed another scrub from the Bears, maybe they're doing it the Bearly Patriotic Way.

Seriously though, Chase Daniel? Come the **** on.

So Nick Williams is a 30 year old who could barely stay in the league and is getting... 5 mil a year? 4 mil a year for Chase Daniel?

We need a new thread title.

Koss you are supposed to talk us off the ledge.

Boob the builder

OK my bad. Here's the good spin on this.

They've got 3 new starters in FA that they needed. LB was one of their worst position groups and they got a system guy who can be a stud, and they have an out after 2 years. Nick Williams was actually pretty good last year. If he plays like he did last year, this could actually be a bargain.

I'm having a harder time justifying the OT. Although here's a hot take. He's not their RT, he's their RG. Sportrac even lists him as a guard in their salary rankings, and they got him for a couple mil less per year than what Glasgow got. Although I suspect if they had resigned Glasgow last year they might have been able to work out a 9mil/year deal with him too. Oh yeah, apparently the Vaitai deal is 5 years/45 mil, but with only 20 mil guaranteed and a 7 mil signing bonus, they can get out of this deal after a couple years if it doesn't work out.

Some of the numbers are a little raw, we won't get the official details of what they agreed to until later today at the earliest. But it looks like Quinn gave Collins and Vaitai prove it deals. If they live up to the value of their deals, great. If they don't, the Lions have effectively shot themselves in the foot for 2 years, and can reboot after that. So that seems to be Quinn's strategy. Give guys contracts above their immediate value level where you have an eject option if they don't develop into their salary. I guess it could be worse.

As for not going after a big name CB, I can sort of forgive that. Slay could very well stay with the team through this year. There's no reason to trade him for a 3rd rd. pick when that's likely his compensatory value after this year. Oruwariye played well for a 5th rounder last year and might be a viable #2. But I still think they are likely locked on to Okudah in the draft, and the most likely scenario is they stand pat at #3 and take him. It's possible that Tua's value is over estimated, and he could easily just fall to Miami at 5, and they are willing to take that chance.

I watched a sufficient number of Eagles games last year to come to the conclusion that Vaitai isn't good. So he'll fit right in.

There is a non-zero chance that they end up cutting Daniel before the start of the season, but I assume they'll keep him instead of a developmental prospect because they're the ****ing Lions. I'm not a Driskel fan by any stretch but he at least did some good things and had some upside - Daniel is an old, proven, noodle-armed recipe for 2-14 if he's forced into action.

Driskel is already gone.

He was being used as an example of a developmental prospect. It's no great loss that he's gone, but the point remains. Daniel is what he is and what he is not is a guy you want on the field.

Grabbed up another Pat. Gotta collect em all!

The Shelton signing is the first reasonable "yeah that makes sense" move they've made so far, so alright. Bob gets a pass on this one.

As for QB, they still have David Blough I guess. They liked him enough to trade a 7th rounder for him last year, which isn't exactly nothing. I believe the new CBA expands rosters to 55 this year, so I expect a lot of teams to go back to carrying 3 QB's again. I sort of like the idea of having a seasoned veteran and a developmental prospect. Blough is probably not the guy, and might not survive camp, but he has a big league arm. If he can settle down in the pocket and improve his decision making, he has a role to play as a backup.

Oh. Ok then.

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I still would have a hard time accepting less than a 2nd round pick for Slay. Make him hold out if that's what he wants. But it definitely sounds like a trade is happening.

Trufant is a pretty nice consolation prize and comes a few mil per year less than what Slay is getting. It would be fun to see them play together but I doubt it's happening.

3rd and a 5th rounder for Slay. It beats a swift kick to the nads I guess. Slay gets 3 years 50 million which seems about right. I like the Trufant deal for 2 years 21 mil as better value.

Slay will be a pro bowler for the Eagles.

Personally I'd of rathered skipped Collins and just signed Slay+Trufant then went and drafted either Simmons/Young. I get Slay isnt a "Patriots way" kinda guy and hurt the coach's feelings but he was the best player on the Defense for a long time.

3rd round pick isnt much for a cb of his level either. When I was seeing two picks I thought it would of been a 2nd+4th or at least two thirds. I'm guessing a 3rd from Philly wont even be very high.

Overall not impressed with this free agency. I imagine we take Okudah in the draft, whatever hes safe, not the what I wanted to do but you obv can't hate him as a prospect. I'd say we're looking at a 6-7 win projection going into next season by vegas.

He's been a pro-bowler for Detroit for the last 3 years, and is getting paid like a pro-bowler, so that's not exactly a stretch. I sort of knew that no teams were willing to give up a 2nd rounder for him, so a 3rd & 5th isn't terrible. The Lions now have 9 picks in this draft, and if they trade down, they could end up with 10+ with 5+ in the first 3 rounds. That would definitely plug some holes.

They also sort of hit on all the big needs I mentioned earlier, nabbing starters at CB, DT, and O-Line. How much they improved will depend on how well these FA's do and how some of their younger players develop, but they are at least in a spot now where they can comfortably go BPA in the draft. The Trufant signing definitely makes trade down more likely as they can afford to let Okudah go by, but I still predict that unless someone offers them a big haul for the pick, they probably stand pat and grab him.

fwiw the lions have apparently had the biggest jump in projected wins above replacement this free agency. that's from PFF.

edit: I do like the shelton signing a lot. paying him less than the Rams are Ashawn and I feel he's a pretty big upgrade.

I wasnt saying its a stretch he would be a pro bowler just that he will continue to be. . A 3rd and a 5th rounder for a 29yo pro bowl CB + 16.6mill is a good deal.One that a good organization makes.

Did we improve at these spots? It looks to me we just shuffled some stuff got worse in some better in others. We also got older.

1. Trade Slay for Trufant clearly worse. Trufants solid but he also has to stay healthy. Either way Slay is better.

2. Collins better then Kennard.

3. Vaittai better then Wagner but remember the Eagles didnt see him as a starter. They drafted a 1st round OT last season rather then resign him. We also lost Glasnow.

4. Shelton and Harmon for Diggs/Robinson. I call this even maybe.

We had a ton of cap space. I'm not impressed at all here. Of course we've got the draft and we are picking in a nice spot. We can have a million picks if Quinn is going to reach 2 rounds early for guys because he likes them and try to be the smartest guy in the room it doesnt matter.

I dont use PFF for win totals. I like to use sportsbooks.

https://www.nj.com/betting/nfl/nfl-w...fl-season.html

So we were at 6 before free agency. I'm betting we stay at 6 after free agency. This was two weeks ago. A good draft we might hit 7 but most likely still at 6.

The Quinn/Patricia tandem just does not impress me. To me if we dont make the playoffs this season its time to move on. We should of fired them this season. Now we keep bringing in the guys they want and its going to hold us back longer when its time to change things up.

I will be stunned if 8-8 doesn't bring both of them back. 5 win improvement!!

lol 8-8. The bell curve of likely results is currently centered around 4-12. Incompetent boobs running this franchise.

Since we might not have a season this year.

Does that sway anyone to take Tua at three

Not I. Tua is a fine player but no way am I taking him at 3 coming off an injury. The lack of individual pre-draft evaluation possible makes him a hard no.

Way too premature to talk about no season.

Tua is a high variance play. I still say Stafford is good enough with enough left in the tank to justify going with him. He is better than most top 5 QBs. Based on the number of early 1st round busts there are at QB, I would say there are no sure things at QB. DE and CB are much easier to project at the next level, and they are in a great spot to get a blue Chip prospect at those positions.

I don't know if we wont have a season so not gonna talk about that. Either way if we took him hes not going to play this season.

I'd be fine taking Tua at 3 if we feel hes going to be the same player post injury. People were saying tank for Tua for the last couple of years. Now we've got a chance at him.

So we take Tua sit him for a season.That means next season we've got the best vet QB on the market to trade. So we get some picks back for Stafford. So we're getting Tua+draft picks with the pick. Not sure how big Staffords cap hit will be if we trade him so that impacts the value of a trade Stafford to us, but I could see us getting a late 1st rounder+ more picks.

One other thing is if you take Tua any QB hungry teams who're sitting back like "Lions wont take Tua they got Stafford" will be surprised. As is currently every team knows we wont take Tua with a GM/coach on the hotseat and Stafford. Sure somebody may want to trade up to 3 to prevent a team from trading to 4 but I think the bounty gets higher if we actually take him with intents that we can keep him if a team like Miami is targeting him.

Do I think our front office has balls to take him? Hell no not even on the table. Everybody knows they wont too. Hotseat fish coach and GM must win now.

A baller move, one I haven't seen teams try too often, is if you feel like Miami & LA aren't giving you a fair offer because they think there is no risk of you drafting Tua, draft him anyway and then force them to negotiate with you. It's sort of what the Chargers did with Eli Manning & Philip Rivers. Take Tua, then immediately call Miami & LA and tell them to come up with their best offers, and if they don't get a deal done by the time they are on the clock, who they should consider drafting.