Avril Update

[lp4ever41]

Citing a person familiar with the negotiations, the Detroit Free Press expects the Lions to hammer out a deal with free agent LE Cliff Avril before he hits the open market on March 13.
Avril is Detroit's highest free-agent priority after setting career-highs with 11 sacks, six forced fumbles, and two TDs. Still just 25 years old, Avril could be aiming for a deal similar to Charles Johnson's six-year, $76 million contract.

 

[johnny2x2x]

Avril had a great year, but if they give him anywhere near what Charles Johnson got they are stupid.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Stop worrying about what you think they might give him and lets just see.

 

[mhughes0021]

sign and trade would be nice

 

[manchild98]

I have to confess...I had no idea Avril was only 25. Not sure why but I thought he was a few years older than that.

 

[mhughes0021]

ef him...sign mario williams, Laron Landry, and Ladarius Webb and im happy with our D

 

[lp4ever41]

ef him...sign mario williams, Laron Landry, and Ladarius Webb and im happy with our D

Where is all that money coming from?

Mario Williams is gonna get tagged anyways.

Landry could join if he's cheap.

Webb had one good season, he'll get overpaid. Thats not Mayhew's style.

 

[af1991]

It would be nice to know what Mayhew is "aiming for." Keep LoJack and Willie and spend the remaining $10MM/year on DBs.

 

[mhughes0021]

ef him...sign mario williams, Laron Landry, and Ladarius Webb and im happy with our D

Where is all that money coming from?

Mario Williams is gonna get tagged anyways.

Landry could join if he's cheap.

Webb had one good season, he'll get overpaid. Thats not Mayhew's style.

Restructuring of contracts (CJ), not resigning avril to a large contract and letting Logan go and using Webb as your returner would be a start.

Plus i think the cap is supposed to be higher in 12' isnt it?...cant remember.

Eric Wrights cap hit was 3.5 million last year and is now a UFA....upgrading to Webb wont cost THAT much more...maybe another mil???....mayyyybe.

Landry shouldnt be a huge hit comming off such a bad injury.

So in my crazy scenario CJs restructure would make the room neccesary to sign Mario instead of Avril

I wouldnt be so sure about the tag for Mario....for how well the Houston D did without him this year i could see the reason why they wouldnt want to throw all that money at Mario via extension/tag. Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin both had a hell of a year on the outside and are more of a prototypical 3-4 guy.

 

[lp4ever41]

Where is all that money coming from?

Mario Williams is gonna get tagged anyways.

Landry could join if he's cheap.

Webb had one good season, he'll get overpaid. Thats not Mayhew's style.

Restructuring of contracts (CJ), not resigning avril to a large contract and letting Logan go and using Webb as your returner would be a start.

Plus i think the cap is supposed to be higher in 12' isnt it?...cant remember.

Eric Wrights cap hit was 3.5 million last year and is now a UFA....upgrading to Webb wont cost THAT much more...maybe another mil???....mayyyybe.

Landry shouldnt be a huge hit comming off such a bad injury.

So in my crazy scenario CJs restructure would make the room neccesary to sign Mario instead of Avril

I wouldnt be so sure about the tag for Mario....for how well the Houston D did without him this year i could see the reason why they wouldnt want to throw all that money at Mario via extension/tag. Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin both had a hell of a year on the outside and are more of a prototypical 3-4 guy.

Even if we restructure CJ so his cap # falls from $22 mil to $12 mil (somewhat reasonable), and we release Corey Williams, the Lions will only be at about $23 million in free space. Thats assuming the cap is at $120 mil, which is expected (its not going up). We need to re-sign Backus, Tulloch, Hanson, and Shaun Hill (backup QBs are more expensive than ppl think). All of that together will leave us with maybe $10-11 mil to fill out the rest of the roster + picks. Williams himself will command more than that per year for sure. Him AND Webb? No way.

If the Lions get any free agents, it will be the same way as last year: short-term and cheap. Tulloch, Wright, and Durant all got about $3.5 million. Expect the same.

 

[mhughes0021]

Restructuring of contracts (CJ), not resigning avril to a large contract and letting Logan go and using Webb as your returner would be a start.

Plus i think the cap is supposed to be higher in 12' isnt it?...cant remember.

Eric Wrights cap hit was 3.5 million last year and is now a UFA....upgrading to Webb wont cost THAT much more...maybe another mil???....mayyyybe.

Landry shouldnt be a huge hit comming off such a bad injury.

So in my crazy scenario CJs restructure would make the room neccesary to sign Mario instead of Avril

I wouldnt be so sure about the tag for Mario....for how well the Houston D did without him this year i could see the reason why they wouldnt want to throw all that money at Mario via extension/tag. Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin both had a hell of a year on the outside and are more of a prototypical 3-4 guy.

Even if we restructure CJ so his cap # falls from $22 mil to $12 mil (somewhat reasonable), and we release Corey Williams, the Lions will only be at about $23 million in free space. Thats assuming the cap is at $120 mil, which is expected (its not going up). We need to re-sign Backus, Tulloch, Hanson, and Shaun Hill (backup QBs are more expensive than ppl think). All of that together will leave us with maybe $10-11 mil to fill out the rest of the roster + picks. Williams himself will command more than that per year for sure. Him AND Webb? No way.

If the Lions get any free agents, it will be the same way as last year: short-term and cheap. Tulloch, Wright, and Durant all got about $3.5 million. Expect the same.

Backus, Hanson and Hill wont cost us anymore than they did last year.

Tulloch will be like 2 mil more than last year if given a good long term deal.

Wright was a 3.5 mil cap hit by himself...as stated....Webb will be only a 1-2 mil upgrade from him.

The room you get from the CJ restructure plus not resigning Avril to 8-10 mil should be enough to sign Mario

Cutting Corey Williams would just be icing to the tulloch, webb, landry deals.

A good GM would get it to work lol

 

[lp4ever41]

Even if we restructure CJ so his cap # falls from $22 mil to $12 mil (somewhat reasonable), and we release Corey Williams, the Lions will only be at about $23 million in free space. Thats assuming the cap is at $120 mil, which is expected (its not going up). We need to re-sign Backus, Tulloch, Hanson, and Shaun Hill (backup QBs are more expensive than ppl think). All of that together will leave us with maybe $10-11 mil to fill out the rest of the roster + picks. Williams himself will command more than that per year for sure. Him AND Webb? No way.

If the Lions get any free agents, it will be the same way as last year: short-term and cheap. Tulloch, Wright, and Durant all got about $3.5 million. Expect the same.

Backus, Hanson and Hill wont cost us anymore than they did last year.

Tulloch will be like 2 mil more than last year if given a good long term deal.

Wright was a 3.5 mil cap hit by himself...as stated....Webb will be only a 1-2 mil upgrade from him.

The room you get from the CJ restructure plus not resigning Avril to 8-10 mil should be enough to sign Mario

Cutting Corey Williams would just be icing to the tulloch, webb, landry deals.

A good GM would get it to work lol

Hanson + Hill + Backus from last year = $11 million

Webb will probably get $7-8 million per year if he hits the open market.

And your numbers still don't add up. You don't seem to understand that players like Stafford and KVB have monster increases in salary from last year to this year. You're just comparing last year to this year, but that's not gonna work. Take a moment and check out the current cap situation before you start talking $

 

[lionsFTW]

you guys talking about Mario Williams do realize he's arguably the best DE in all of football and will get P. A. I. D.

zero chance we get him.

and the Webb/Wright deal comparisons are off too imo. Wright was considered a mediocre corner who had pretty much reached his ceiling and had some pretty major flaws as a player. Webb on the other hand is a young DB with a lot of upside left and provides utility in the return game as well. I'm thinking he's going to get a much bigger offer than a mill or two more than what Wright was paid last year.

Landry is interesting though. When hes been healthy hes been a very exciting player on the back end. Not sure what it would take to get the kid but in terms of raw talent hes as gifted as anyone at safety and I would love to see him in a Lion uniform if the price wasn't too steep.

 

[mhughes0021]

you guys talking about Mario Williams do realize he's arguably the best DE in all of football and will get P. A. I. D.

zero chance we get him.and the Webb/Wright deal comparisons are off too imo. Wright was considered a mediocre corner who had pretty much reached his ceiling and had some pretty major flaws as a player. Webb on the other hand is a young DB with a lot of upside left and provides utility in the return game as well. I'm thinking he's going to get a much bigger offer than a mill or two more than what Wright was paid last year.

Landry is interesting though. When hes been healthy hes been a very exciting player on the back end. Not sure what it would take to get the kid but in terms of raw talent hes as gifted as anyone at safety and I would love to see him in a Lion uniform if the price wasn't too steep.

hes not even close to the best DE in football...agree to disagree there.

Im sure MM thought Wright was still young and had a lot of upside too lol. I dont think itd take more than 6 mil/yr to get a deal done with Webb. If the difference is 2.5 million between him and Wright...id still do it.

Cromartie got 8 mil/yr last season

Joseph 9.75ish/yr

...he wont be anywhere close to that imo.

 

[lionsFTW]

We are talking about the same Mario Williams that was a #1 pick by Houston, has 53 career sacks in 82 games and is only 26 years old right? I mean I understand he got hurt this season but it wasn't like he wrecked a leg or anything. Dudes gonna get Julius Peppers money if he somehow hits the open market!

And Wright was like what, the 6th most coveted corner in last years free agent market? Nobody was beating down the door there. The only other team that gave him a sniff was Cleveland where he had spent his whole career. He actually took a pay cut from what they offered him to come here and be a starter because he lost his starting job to Haden and he was hoping a one year deal being a starter here would lead him too a bigger payday. Well guess what? IMO it didn't happen and I honestly believe hes not back next year.

Webb on the other hand has had a very nice third year, starting for Bmore. He already has 5 picks and could make a big impression with the Ravens still playing if he has a big game or two in the playoffs. Might get 5 yrs and 30 mill or could blow up and get 6 yrs for 45 mill or something.

Not sure we're in the market to spend that much on a CB unless he's gonna be a major upgrade. Still too many spots to improve. Just my opinion though.

 

[lions2011]

isn't Mario Williams an OLB now ?

 

[lp4ever41]

isn't Mario Williams an OLB now ?

The guy is assuming he'd move back. But he doesn't understand that Williams will get franchised, and if he doesn't, he'll certainly get more than the $12 mil per year Charles Johnson got.

 

[boogerlovejoy]

Saw a report that Staff restructured last year and could do it again this year. Same report said that Suh restructuring this year would save about 6.5M in cap space for 2012.

Mayhew will make the cap work for what he wants to do....but IMO...you offer Avril a very team friendly contract....and if he says no you let him walk. NO WAY should they pay him top DE money. It would be a Juan Gonzalez type mistake.

Avril is good. No question. But an 11 sack season, in todays league, is probably equivalent to a 8-9 sack season 10 years ago and he is still terrible against the run. I'd be pretty happy with a Willie Young/LoJack combo next year.....I don't think we would lose much, if anything, in production from those two and would be better against the run.

That money would be MUCH better spent on a coverage Safety, Offensive Line. or CB free agent.

 

[lions2011]

Saw a report that Staff restructured last year and could do it again this year. Same report said that Suh restructuring this year would save about 6.5M in cap space for 2012.

Mayhew will make the cap work for what he wants to do....but IMO...you offer Avril a very team friendly contract....and if he says no you let him walk. NO WAY should they pay him top DE money. It would be a Juan Gonzalez type mistake.

Avril is good. No question. But an 11 sack season, in todays league, is probably equivalent to a 8-9 sack season 10 years ago and he is still terrible against the run. I'd be pretty happy with a Willie Young/LoJack combo next year.....I don't think we would lose much, if anything, in production from those two and would be better against the run.

That money would be MUCH better spent on a coverage Safety, Offensive Line. or CB free agent.

you can't keep restructuring , the money eventually has to be PAID out....Raiders and Redskins both got in salary cap hell by restructuring deals and moving money around from year to year.

Calvin has to be done this year , 22 million is an assinine cap # for a WR....and Stafford is going to have to be done after 2012.

picking in the top 5 those few years and actually hitting on the picks and having guys become studs costs....and those guys will get bigger deals now ten they saw in those crazy rookie deals.

Im in total agreement about Avril...IMO Willie Young and Jackson can handle that job.

 

[mhughes0021]

isn't Mario Williams an OLB now ?

he was forced to that position when houston switched to a 3-4. With how well brooks reed and connor barwin played on the outside for them I wouldnt be surprised if they didnt offer mario huge money via extension/tag. Hes still a de first imo...dude is huge. Not like he shed 30 lbs to become a lb or something.