The Detroit Lions have some work to do in the offseason as they prepare for the 2019 season. Here are five moves they should make.
The Detroit Lions‘ 2018 season didn’t play out to anyone’s satisfaction. There is much work to do as Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia head into their second year together in Detroit and how successfully they go about that work will determine how hot their seats get later in the year.
Here are five moves the Detroit Lions should make this offseason to improve their chances in 2019.
Add a veteran and a rookie tight end
It’s hard to talk about what went wrong for the Lions and not mention the situation with Eric Ebron at some point. Bob Quinn made the decision to release Ebron only to see Ebron put together a career year for the rejuvenated Indianapolis Colts. Meanwhile, the wheels fell off the Lions offense while getting virtually no production from their entire tight end group. Quinn is left with egg on his face and the need to again rebuild his tight end depth chart.
Quinn tried to fill out his 2018 tight end group with low cost free agents but that did not work out. Add in that 2017 fourth round pick Michael Roberts still hasn’t grabbed control of a consistent role and Quinn must be looking for options that are more than short-term patchwork.
The good news is that it is a good time to need a tight end as it is one of the strengths of the 2019 NFL Draft class. The draft’s second day looks like a good spot for a tight end with players like Alabama’s Irv Smith Jr., Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson and Stanford’s Kaden Smith and others up for consideration.
Drafting a tight end is a near must but that isn’t the only work to be done at the position. Bringing back Levine Toilolo on another short-term, low-cost deal is an option but rather uninspiring, as are most of the tight ends who will be available in free agency. A better route could be looking to the trade market and there is at least one target out there that makes a lot of sense.
The newly-hired Bruce Arians doesn’t have a big track record of making use of tight ends but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a good pair in O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Trying to trade for Howard is probably off the table form the Bucs’ perspective because he is the younger, better, cheaper player who also offers the least amount of financial flexibility given his contract as a first round pick.
Brate, on the other hand, could be moved with no dead money being left behind on the Bucs salary cap because there is no more fully guaranteed money left on his contract and the deal was structured without a signing bonus prorated over future years. Brate is under contract through 2023 with annual salaries ranging from $6 million to $7.5 million ($7 million for 2019).
It is worth at least a phone call or two because it is reasonable to wonder if the Bucs would put more value on what they could get for Brate in a trade than what they believe they will get from him in the offense they will run under Arians.