Detroit Lions GM Martin Mayhew spoke to the media Friday to talk about the upcoming NFL draft and take questions from the media.
The draft board is about 95 percent done six days away from the draft in Chicago.
Mayhew said that the Lions would be picking up offensive tackle Riley Reiff’s 5th year player option after the upcoming 2015-2016 season. The move keeps Reiff under contract for another two years. Reiff has been a decent piece of a recently struggling Lions offensive line.
Riley Reiff's fifth-year option will be worth $8.07 million. Guaranteed for injury only, fully guaranteed 1st day of 2016 league year
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) April 24, 2015
Another thing Mayhew revealed is that the Lions and linebacker DeAndre Levy have been in negotiations to extend his contract. Levy had a breakout season last year registering 121 tackles. The move to extend his contract would make sense since Levy becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2016.
On the other hand, Mayhew said there has been no contract extension talks with newly acquired defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, who also becomes a free agent in 2016. But Mayhew did say both sides are willing to make a deal down the road. Sounds like they need to see what Ngata is all about before they throw money his way, smart decision.
An offer was also sent to left guard Rob Sims’ agent about three weeks ago Mayhew said, but hasn’t heard back since.
Mayhew says he doesn't know what will happen with Sims, who the team made an offer to
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) April 24, 2015
The GM said he did sit down with guard Rodney Austin before he released him and said he told him he may bring him back after his legal issues on domestic violence were sorted out.
Mayhew was also not too upset with safety James Ihedigbo for missing the first week of voluntary workouts. He would not say whether or not he would look into reworking his deal but did say he was looking forward to taking to Ihedigbo.
Mayhew says he has empathy for Ihedigbo because there was a point in his career where he felt he was being underpaid as well.
— Tori Petry (@sportstori) April 24, 2015
So, many interesting topics disscused before the draft, which will play out in the next few weeks more than likely. It should be a very productive off-season for the Lions as we head into draft week.
