No, the Detroit Lions are not behind on their free-agent signings. Promotions usually don’t start until at least Sunday.
By Jeremy Reisman
on March 10, 2023 7:00 am
Why Haven’t the Detroit Lions Resigned Jamaal Williams Yet? What the hell are they waiting for on John Cominsky? Have the Lions abandoned all their free agents????
It’s the Friday before Free Agency Week and I can already feel the blood pressure rising in the Lions fans as the team has been incredibly quiet all week. Their only announcement was an accidental signing of reserve offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher.
But I’m here to tell you all to relax. I know we’re excited to bring back some of our favorite Lions players, but nothing about this week was exceptional. As former Packers front office member Andrew Brandt is fond of saying, “Deadlines spur action,” and Detroit has until Monday before one of those players can even negotiate with another team, and another two days before they can with another team can sign.
All you have to do is look back over the past year to see that the Lions are just following their own schedule. As of the Friday before free agency opened in 2022, the Lions had signed just three players: Josh Reynolds, Rashod Berry and Ryan McCollum.
Unsurprisingly, the action began on Sunday — the day before the free agency manipulations began.
Deadlines spur action.
This Sunday, the Lions re-signed Alex Anzalone, Jalen Elliott, Shaun Dion Hamilton and CJ Moore. The next day saw Detroit’s big signing of Tracy Walker, with Evan Brown and Tim Boyle signing later in the day.
So when John Cominsky says he’s going to test the market for a few days, that’s perfectly normal. See what’s out there and there’s a more than reasonable chance he’s still coming back. A great example is Caliph Raymond and Charles Harris, both of whom agreed on terms on the second day of manipulation and formally signed later in the week. They waited to see the market and then returned to Detroit. It’s a smart way to recognize and negotiate your own worth.
And the Lions are far from the only team doing so. Check out this week’s NFL transactions. Since Monday:
The Giants have signed Daniel Jones again
The Falcons have signed Lorenzo Carter again
The Texans have re-signed Scott Quesenberry
The Giants have re-signed Jarrad Davis
The Lions have signed Ross Pierschbacher again
The 49ers have re-signed Colton McKivitz
The Patriots have signed James Ferentz again
The Raiders have signed Ameer Abdullah again
The Bengals have signed Joe Bachie and Jalen Davis
Only a handful of moves have happened and essentially no big names have come off the board yet. This is a standard operation nowadays, but we forget about it every year.
I get it. We are all happy to see our boys returning to the team. And while there’s no guarantee that all the guys we want to return to will come back, we won’t really know for the next few days. Until then, enjoy the calm before the storm.
Continue reading