There’s a million and one ways to improve the Detroit Lions in 2017, one of the biggest and most important ways to do that is through NFL free agency.
While signing a coveted free agent can be the difference in putting a team over the top and into Super Bowl contention, it can also be detrimental to a team’s future throwing a good chunk of salary cap at a guy who turns out to be a dud. Free agency in the NFL is a crap shoot, so we at DSN would like to lend a helping hand and offer the Lions a list of five guys they should have on their “do not sign” list.
Alshon Jeffery, WR
Jefferey will without question be the best player on this list, however he is a locker room nightmare and did receive a four game suspension last year for PED use. It also wouldn’t make much sense for the Lions to dish out the kind of money Jeffery would be asking for with so many other holes on the roster.
Nick Fairley, DT
The Lions old friend Nick Fairley had a good year for the Saints in 2016, starting all 16 games and recording six and a half sacks, the most in his career. There’s a reason other than wild mishandling of the situation that Fairley isn’t in Detroit anymore. He’s not a very good teammate, has gotten into legal troubles in the past, and takes plays off. When he’s giving full effort, he is a nightmare to stop, but the Lions would be wise to kill any dream of a reunion.
Morris Claiborne, DB
This one is hard for me to write because coming out of college, I really wanted Claiborne to be a Lion because the talent was obvious. In fact, it still is. Unfortunately for Claiborne, the only thing more obvious than his talent is his susceptibility to injury. He has missed 32 games over the past four seasons and it likely won’t be worth it for the Lions to match whatever the highest bidder is offering.
Jared Odrick, DE/DT
Odrick is the edge rusher the Lions want, but not the one they need. After retaining an impressive bill of health throughout his career, Odrick played in just six games last year and his production has declined since his stellar 2013 season. The Lions could certainly use another pass rusher, but there are better and more reliable options on the market.
Adrian Peterson, RB
Outside of Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson might be my favorite runningback of all time, but there is no way in hell I want this version of Adrian Peterson on the Lions. Peterson’s longest run last year was 13 yards. 13. And he ended up fumbling on the play. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about a guy who is unquestionably one of the greatest runningbacks to ever play the game. He averaged less than two yards a carry last year. Was he healthy? Absolutely not. He only played in three games in 2016, but wasn’t able to do literally one good thing in any of those games. Peterson is a first-ballot hall of famer, but I would not touch him with a 10-foot poll in free agency.
