The Detroit Lions and their fans alike were hoping to see Ziggy Ansah on the field in the Honolulu blue sooner rather than later, and it’s being reported that their wish will be granted. According to the NFL Network and Ian Rapoport, Ansah will sign the franchise tag and report to voluntary workouts on Tuesday.
“DE Ziggy Ansah is returning from Ghana today and will report to work for Detroit tomorrow, source said. He’s going to sign his $17.143M franchise tag and participate in new coach Matt Patricia’s first offseason conditioning program.”
#Lions star DE Ziggy Ansah is returning from Ghana today and will report to work for Detroit tomorrow, source said. He’s going to sign his $17.143M franchise tag and participate in new coach Matt Patricia’s first offseason conditioning program.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 16, 2018
Ziggy Ansah, a Defensive Leader
Ansah was the leader on the defensive line last season for Detroit, as he led the team with 12 sacks. General Manager Bob Quinn told the Detroit Free Press that signing Ansah was a significant priority for this franchise this offseason.
“That’s something when we were going through the process, Matt got on board, and Ziggy was the No. 1 conversation,” Quinn said. “What are we going to do with Ziggy? I had my thoughts. It didn’t take long for me to show Matt why we should do what we did. To have an outside edge rusher that can be as dominant as Ziggy was something that was appealing to Matt because Matt has had a lot of great players in New England and I think Ziggy would rank right up there with some of the best players that Matt has ever coached.”
Bob Quinn’s Next Steps
The next step in the process should be for Quinn to start talks about a possible new long-term deal with Ansah and to try and lessen the cap hit overall. Detroit has until July 16th to get a new deal together.
If the franchise tag stays in place and no long-term extension is reached, 2018 will be the most critical year of Ziggy’s career. He will be 29 years old in May, and if he can avoid injuries this coming season, expect that a monster contract is coming his way next offseason.
Now that Ansah is back on board, the next order of business for Quinn and the Lions is to have a solid NFL Draft down in Texas on April 26th.