Category: Lions News

Report: Lions picking up ERFA tender on Dee Virgin

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein is reporting that the Detroit Lions are picking up exclusive right free agent tender on defensive back/special teams gunner Dee Virgin.

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein is reporting that the Detroit Lions are picking up the exclusive right free agent tender on defensive back/special teams gunner Dee Virgin.

As a tendered exclusive right free agent, Virgin will not be able to enter free agency and can only accept an offer from the Lions — unless they choose to release him.

Because the Lions hold all the leverage in this negotiation, they will likely only offer him a league minimum contract with no guaranteed money, and if Virgin wants to play in the NFL in 2020, he will have to accept the offer.

As one of the Lions starting gunners, this was a no brainer move for the Lions to (likely) retain one of the key members on their special teams. In his 15 games played last season — almost exclusively on special teams — he had 10 tackles and a forced fumble.

The only other player from the Lions 2019 roster that also an exclusive rights free agent is cornerback Mike Ford. We reached out to get an update on Ford’s status, but at this time, there has been no confirmation either way.

Lions re-sign long snapper Don Muhlbach for a 17th season

Muhlbach is back in Detroit for a 17th season

On the eve of NFL free agency, the Detroit Lions locked up their longest-tenured player. Long snapper Don Muhlbach will be back in Detroit for a 17th straight season.

The Lions announced on Saturday they have signed Muhlbach to another one-year contract. It has become an annual rite of passage to lock up Muhlbach for one more year. Terms were not disclosed, but Muhlbach made $1.12 million in 2019 after making $1.10 in 2018.

Muhlbach has been the Lions long snapper since 2004, when he signed with the team after being dumped as a rookie free agent by the Baltimore Ravens. Only kicker Jason Hanson has played more games in a Lions uniform than Muhlbach. He did not miss a game in the entire decade of the 2010s.

Lions have released starting RT Rick Wagner

The Detroit Lions have announced that they are releasing starting right tackle Rick Wagner from the final two years of his contract.

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The Detroit Lions announced Friday that they have released starting right tackle Rick Wagner from the final two years of his contract.

Wagner signed with the Lions during the 2017 offseason and commanded one of the largest contracts for a right tackle in the NFL. Wagner had a stellar first season, but in each of the two years since, his play has fallen off and was not living up to his current salary.

Wagner’s Pro Football Focus scores during his time in Detroit were 75.2 in 2017, 71.6 in 2018, and a below-average 59.1 in 2019.

Injuries have also played a factor in Wagner’s lack of success — he missed three games in 2017, one in 2018, and four this past season. Further complicating matters for Wagner, when he was replaced in the lineup by Tyrell Crosby, the drop off in success was minimal if at all.

Wagner was scheduled to count $11.9 million against the cap next season, and while the Lions will absorb a $5.8 million cap hit, they will also clear $6.1 million in cap space, bringing their available salary cap space to nearly $55 million as they move towards free agency.

Currently, Crosby is in line to start at right tackle, but the Lions will likely be looking for competition in free agency and/or the NFL draft. Names to keep in mind for free agency include Jack Conklin, Bryan Bulaga, and Germain Ifedi. In the draft, Tristan Wirfs (Iowa) and Jedrick Willis (Alabama) would be instant replacements but cost a first-round pick, while Isaiah Wilson (Georgia) and Ezra Cleveland (Boise State) are names to keep in mind on Day 2.

Lions announce suspended travel for coaches and personnel staff

The Detroit Lions are being proactive and have announced that they are suspending travel for coaches and personnel staff.

With mounting global concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the Detroit Lions are being proactive and have announced that they are suspending travel for coaches and personnel staff.

Typically this time of year, members of the Lions front office, coaching staff and scouting staff are spread out across the country attending college Pro Days — they were at Clemson’s today — but everyone is being asked to work remotely at this time.

Here is the Lions full statement:

“The Detroit Lions have been closely monitoring the global events surrounding the spread of COVID-19 and fully support the precautions being taken in response. Our organization has been in direct contact with the NFL, leading health administrators and city officials throughout this process.

“Over the past week we have asked employees to participate in a variety of proactive measures to reduce the risk of transmission at both Ford Field and the team’s training facility in Allen Park. At this time our organization has suspended travel for coaches and player personnel staff. Additionally, we have encouraged all employees, except operationally critical staff, to work remotely until further notice beginning Friday, March 13, 2020. It is imperative that we remain diligent in our responsibility to keep our players, coaches, staff members and their families safe and help slow the spread of the virus.”

Several other teams from around the league have taken a similar approach with their staff in the name of safety. NFL owner’s meetings have also been canceled and it’s fair to speculate if the opening of the league new year — set to take place next Wednesday — will also be postponed as it coincides with the NFL Free Agency period, which also requires travel for contracts, medical checks, etcetera.

Stay tuned to Lions Wire as this situation unfolds further.

Former Lions WR Kris Durham is safe, but quarantined in Italy

Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Kris Durham is safe in Italy, but with the elevated status of the coronavirus in Europe, he is currently quarantined.

The seriousness of the coronavirus has forced governments around the world to take precautionary and reactionary measures to ensure the safety of their communities.

Currently, here in Michigan, my children’s school has been closed so the district can take appropriate steps to ensure safety and prepare teachers for potential future steps they may need to take.

In Europe, some governments have taken strong steps to protect their citizens to prevent to spread of the virus. This is the case in Italy, where former wide receiver Kris Durham is currently living while coaching with the Parma Panthers of the Italian Football League.

Durham is most widely known as Matthew Stafford’s roommate at the University of Georgia and his role in the comeback victory over the Dallas Cowboys in 2013 — he made a critical sideline catch, setting up the throw to Calvin Johnson inside the 1-yard line and the game-sealing quarterback sneak by Stafford.

After Durham left the NFL he joined the Parma Panthers football team in Italy and explained to ESPN’s Mike Rothstein how he rediscovered his love for the game. Rothstein recently caught up with Durham again, this time for his podcast “The Michael Rothstein Show“, where the two discussed where Durham was today and revisited how he ended up in Italy.

Durham is currently living in a village just north of Parma, Italy and is among the masses that have been quarantined to their homes. He took a video of the situation, passed it along to friends, and the video eventually landed with former NFL punter Pat McAfee who posted it on social media.

This morning, Durham talked with Rothstein again and told him that the video was not “intended for public use“, confirmed he was indeed quarantined, but also assured that “he has not shown any symptoms of coronavirus“, and “praised the Italian healthcare professionals and how they’ve worked around the clock.”

We at Lions Wire send our best wishes to Durham and encourage everyone to stay safe.

Barry Sanders will make the 1st-ever bet at new Motor City Casino sportsbook

Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders will make the 1st-ever bet at new Motor City Casino sportsbook

Sports gambling is now legal in Michigan. To kick off the in-person wagering at one of the three big casinos in Detroit, Lions legend Barry Sanders is making a special public appearance to get the sportsbook rolling.

Sanders will make the first-ever sports wager at the new FanDuel Sportsbook at Motor City Casino on Thursday when the facility opens for business. Sanders will also meet and greet fans inside the casino.

This comes one day after MGM Casino opened its own sportsbook with several former Detroit sports figures placing the honorary first bets. Other casinos around Michigan are expected to launch their own sportsbooks in the coming months now that sports wagering is legal in Michigan.

Ty Warren adds some sizzle factor to the Lions coaching staff

Warren was a versatile DL for the Patriots during his playing career

The Detroit Lions completed their official hiring of the coaching staff over the weekend. Most of the hirings were previously reported connections, including Tyrone McKenzie as LBs coach and Ben Johnson as the TE coach.

One of the coaches announced with the last group is a familiar name for NFL fans. More specifically, New England Patriots fans. New Lions defensive assistant Ty Warren spent eight seasons playing all over the defensive line for the Patriots before ending his career with one injury-marred season in Denver.

Warren is the team’s new WCF Minority Coaching Assistantship coach, a program that also created the opportunity for Billy Yates to get promoted to the assistant OL coaching job this offseason. He’s a good candidate to teach the Lions defensive line exactly what head coach Matt Patricia wants and expects. Warren’s positional versatility and ability to collapse the pocket while playing the run well on the way to the QB are what Detroit needs from Da’Shawn Hand, Kevin Strong and what figures to be an influx of newcomers to the defensive line.

Warren spent last season as a volunteer assistant coach in Detroit. The 39-year-old was a first-round pick by the Patriots out of Texas A&M in 2003.

Graham Glasgow ‘bummed’ he won’t be back with the Lions in 2020

The Lions have made little effort to try and bring back the pending free agent

Graham Glasgow is a free agent, and it’s abundantly clear his time with the Detroit Lions is over. When free agency opens on Monday, the Lions will turn their attention away from their starting right guard and one of the most dependable offensive players on the team over the last few seasons.

Glasgow is going to get paid a hefty amount by another team, but the Lions have prioritized not spending his desired asking price on keeping the interior lineman in Detroit. Negotiations on a potential extension last summer never progressed, and the Lions devalued the position with their rotation at guard to the point it makes little sense to pay a premium to keep Glasgow.

Glasgow understands the business decision, but he’s not thrilled about it.

“I’m bummed that I’m not able to stay cause I love Michigan and I love the Detroit area, Ann Arbor,” Glasgow told Dave Birkett of the Free Press this week. “I’ve been here for almost about a decade now (he played in college at Michigan) and it’s awesome and I really, really like the guys in the locker room and I think we have a good team and a good group of guys.

So in that regards, it sucks. But you don’t play football forever, so I think that being able to go somewhere else and make some money is an exciting thing.”

Glasgow earned just over $3 million from the Lions in his 4-year contract he signed as a third-round pick back in 2016. He’s poised to get as much as 10 times that amount on the open market, with much of it guaranteed. That’s a price the Lions aren’t willing to pay. As long as they don’t pay within the same contractual ballpark to replace Glasgow, it makes sense to let him get paid elsewhere.

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Lions announce finalized coaching, strength and conditioning staffs for 2020

After a few months of reported coaching hires, the Detroit Lions have announced a finalized coaching, strength and conditioning staffs list for the 2020 season.

After a few months of reported coaching hires, the Detroit Lions have announced a finalized coaching, strength and conditioning staffs list for the 2020 season.

Let’s take a closer look at the Lions 2020 staff and the umbrella each coach falls under.

Matt Patricia – Head Coach

David Corrao – Director of Football Research
Evan Rothstein – Head Coach Assistant/Research & Analysis

Darrell Bevell – Offensive Coordinator

Sean Ryan – Quarterbacks
Kyle Caskey – Running Backs
Robert Prince – Wide Receivers
Ben Johnson – Tight Ends (Promoted from offensive quality control)
Hank Fraley – Offensive Line (Promoted from assistant OL coach)
Billy Yates – Assistant Offensive Line (Promoted from WCF Minority Coaching Assistantship)
Leon Washington – WCF Minority Coaching Assistantship/Offense

Three internal changes on the offensive side of the ball, beginning with Johnson being promoted to tight ends coach. He had previously coached tight ends while with the Miami Dolphins in 2015. Fraley gets a bump from assistant OL coach to full-time OL coach, and his old spot was filled by Yates, who is moving back to the offensive side of the ball after spending time on defense last season.

Cory Undlin – Defensive Coordinator

Undlin (New hire, what the Lions are getting)
Bo Davis – Defensive Line
Tyrone McKenzie – Linebackers (New hire, what the Lions are getting)
Steve Gregory – Defensive Backs (Promoted from defensive assistant)
Stephen Thomas – Defensive Quality Control
Tony Carter – Defensive Assistant (New hire)
Ty Warren – WCF Minority Coaching Assistantship (New hire)

Major changes on the defensive side of the ball starting at the top with the hire of former Eagles defensive backs coach Undlin. McKenzie left the Titans to join the Lions and after two very successful seasons in Tennessee, with most called this a major victory for the Lions. Gregory, a former NFL safety, has been waiting in the wings for this promotion since he was hired by Patricia two years ago. Carter is a new hire and found his greatest success in the NFL playing corner under Undlin in Denver. Warren, a former first-round pick of the Patriots, spent six years with Patricia in New England.

Brayden Coombs – Special Teams Coordinator

Coombs (New hire, what the Lions are getting)
Marquice Williams – Assistant Special Teams

Coombs was universally regarded as an up and comer in the coaching industry and an applauded hire by the Lions.

Josh Schuler – Head Strength & Conditioning

Schuler (Promoted from assistant S&C)
Morris Henry – Assistant Strength & Conditioning (New hire)
Tom Kanavy – Assistant Strength & Conditioning (New hire)

Schuler has been with the Lions since 2016 — as am assistant strength and conditioning coach and was promoted to head strength and conditioning coach. Henry spent the last four seasons on the Auburn strength and conditioning program,

Kanavy was most recently the director of sports performance at Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance, but has loads of previous NFL strength and conditioning program experience, spending 1995-2005 with the Eagles, 2006-13 with the Vikings and 2015-18 with the Titans. During his time in the league, Kanavy was the Head Strength and Conditioning coach during his entire time with the Vikings and the 2018 season with the Titans.

Lions have several options at punter to replace free agent Sam Martin

Lions have several options at punter to replace free agent Sam Martin

Sam Martin has been a reliably above-average punter for most of his seven NFL seasons, all with the Detroit Lions. But Martin is a pending free agent and in all likelihood will not be back for an eighth year in Detroit.

The Lions will have several options to replace Martin, who ranks 10th all-time in average yards per punt at 46.0. In fact, the solution might already be in Detroit.

Earlier this offseason the Lions signed two free agent punters to reserve/future contracts. Jack Fox and Matt Wile deserve to compete for the job, and both are familiar with the team already. Fox and Wile both had stints on the team’s practice squad in 2019.

Fox gets a leg up (no pun intended) because, like Martin, he’s capable of also being the kickoff specialist. That’s important because placekicker Matt Prater does not handle kickoff duties all that well.

In free agency, veterans Britton Colquitt, Matt Bosher and Lac Edwards are all on the market with Martin. Edwards led the NFL in both punt attempts and yards in 2019 while booming kicks at a 45.9-yard average for the New York Jets. Colquitt, 35, spent last season with the Minnesota Vikings and has earned his reputation for being the best coffin-corner punter in the NFL over his long career.

It’s unlikely the Lions will draft a punter, though that was also said back in 2013 when then-GM Martin Mayhew tabbed Martin in the sixth round. Some of the top-rated punters in the 2020 NFL Draft include Joseph Charlton of South Carolina, Texas A&M’s Braden Mann and Arryn Siposs from Auburn, whom the Lions saw in person at the Tigers pro day last week.