The Lions are going to the Super Bowl…Well maybe that’s a bit premature, but they did have a good first weekend in free agency. The night before free agency opened however, I almost had a meltdown when I heard that the Jets traded for CB Antonio Cromartie. I wanted Cromartie in a Lions uniform. Yea he has a troubling background, but what great player doesn’t. So I told myself that if the Lions didn’t do something at 12:01am Friday, when free agency opened, I was not getting emotionally involved this upcoming season (I’ve said that before). To my surprise when I woke up, the Lions had already made a splash by signing WR Nate Burleson, were on the verge of signing another player in DE Kyle Vanden bosch, and had traded for DT Corey Williams from the Browns. So why are these signings so great?
Last year Corey didn’t have a great season. He only had 31 total tackles and 4 sacks. But that production was in the 3-4, which does not suit him well. The 4-3 is where he shines. Back in 2006 and 2007 with the Green Bay Packers he had his two most productive seasons, with 69 total tackles and 14 sacks. Those two seasons led to the Packers placing the franchise tag on him in 2008 before ultimately trading him to the Browns. This guy can play and he will be great next to Sammie Lee-Hill and whomever the Lions draft at DT, whether that’s McCoy or Ndamukong Suh.
As for Kyle Vanden bosch, he is the perfect veteran for this system. He played under Coach Schwartz and knows everything about the system Schwartz wants to run. He can teach the young players on the line and not just by talking but by doing. Vanden bosch had some productive seasons under Schwartz. He went for 12 plus sacks twice. The key to that production was the fact that he had a dominating DT, Albert Haynesworth, next to him. The trade for Corey Williams and the possible drafting of Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy will attribute to his success.
The big signing in my eyes is WR Nate Burleson. What is the one complaint from Lion fans regarding our offense? Well, I always hear people complain that we never give the ball to Calvin Johnson. This is true, but how many times has he had single coverage? You could probably count that number on one hand and he’s been here for 3 seasons. That’s not good! Having Nate will alleviate the double and triple teams that Calvin receives. However, this would not happen if Nate wasn’t a threat, which he definitely is. Last year he had 63 receptions for 812 yards. That’s not much production, but his best production came under whom else, Scott Linehan, the Lions offensive coordinator. He will be exactly what Bryant Johnson wasn’t this past year, productive.
When it came to free agency this year Coach Schwartz and Martin Mayhew wrote out a game plan and executed that game plan masterfully. Both Coach Schwartz and Scott Linehan targeted the player they wanted, and at 12:01 eastern standard time, they began to wine and dine and tell Vanden bosch and Burleson everything they needed to know about Detroit. These moves will only pay off if Martin Mayhew continues to do the job in the draft. If this is done, then who knows, we might be heading to the Super Bowl in two seasons. Ok, maybe the playoffs!