We are almost to free agency. The fun starts on Monday when the legal tampering period begins at noon eastern time. Then the new league year starts on Wednesday at 4:00 PM eastern time. With this being the last Friday before we jump into the madness, it’s time for one last list of guys for the Detroit Lions to avoid. Let’s jump into it.
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The Lions currently have just two safeties under contract at the moment. Ifeatu Melifonwu and Kerby Joseph. They need some depth there and the former All-Pro Adams seems like someone that could fit. He is not. Adams has struggled a lot in recent years. He had an injury that kept him out for the 2022 season and then he had a very bad 2023 season.
So bad that the Seahawks benched him in December and made him a healthy scratch against the Eagles. He then did not show up to the game after being benched. He didn’t play again for the rest of the year. Not exactly the type of player the Lions tend to gravitate towards.
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This one is really simple. White was once a really good player. An All-Pro cornerback in 2019 and 2020. If the Lions got that version of him, it would have been amazing. Sadly he has not been that player for a while.
White tore his ACL on Thanksgiving in 2021 and did not return until Thanksgiving 2022. He played six games for the Bills in 2022 and his play had taken a dip from the 2022 season. In 2023 he came out looking to get better and tore his Achilles in Week 4.
White would be a solid depth piece if the Lions weren’t already working with a player coming off two ACL injuries back to back. They just don’t need to add another often injured player to the roster.
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Yes, there are actually people calling for this. I mean what are we doing here? The Denver Broncos just ate an NFL record $85 million to get him off their team and you want him to come in and take over for Goff? I just, I just don’t know what is happening is some peoples heads.
Wilson is going to find a place to play next year, but it won’t be for the Lions. I’m not sure who it will be for, but I would imagine that wherever he goes, he won’t be a starter there. If he is, it won’t be for long.
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I want to say that Clowney has been on this list before in the past when I was at Pride of Detroit. That tackle he had against Michigan was so amazing that I think it’s burned into peoples brains to the point where they just don’t want to accept that Clowney is just an ok player in the NFL.
He did have a pretty good 2023 with the Ravens though. He had 10 sacks and 71 pressures. That’s a strong year. I’ll just say it right now, Clowney is this weeks player that I won’t complain about if he’s signed.
With that said, it’s concerning that he seems to be somewhere else every year and teams aren’t rushing out there to get him. The other concern is that he does have experience with new Lions defensive line coach Terrell Williams. They were together in Tennessee in 2020. That was Clowney’s worst season though. So maybe these two aren’t a match.