6 thoughts after the NFL's opening day of free agency negotiations
Commonly referred to as the legal tampering window, Monday marked the opening of the two-day period when NFL teams can negotiate and agree to contracts with pending free agents, ahead of Wednesday’s start of the new league year.
Here are some thoughts following Monday’s frenzy.
Departures leave fresh holes
Monday brought more goodbyes than hellos, or even welcome backs.
The Lions saw four departures, or maybe better described as pending departures since they can’t sign their contracts until Wednesday. Semantics.
Bidding farewell are linebacker Alex Anzalone, cornerback Amik Robertson, defensive tackle Roy Lopez and quarterback Kyle Allen. From both production and football character standpoints, they’re all players you’d have loved to keep in the building, but Detroit’s cap situation was always going to require some sacrifices.
With the supersized deals they’ve doled out to their stars in recent years, and some still on the docket, they simply couldn’t pay everyone.
The writing was on the wall for Anzalone for the better part of a year. He wanted to stay in Detroit, sought an extension, but it was never in the cards. Even though Anzalone has been a captain the duration of his five-year stay in Detroit, the team has repeatedly made it clear that it’s Jack Campbell’s defense now. And who are we to argue. In his third season, he emerged as a first-team All-Pro. The guy is the best of the best at his position.
And, looking at it now, it’s clear the Lions chose Derrick Barnes over Anzalone when they gave former a three-year, $24 million extension last offseason. They’re different players, admittedly, but Barnes has youth in his favor.
With Campbell due for an extension, one that is likely to reset the market at the position, the Lions simply couldn’t afford to tie up that many resources in the corps. They’ll pivot to a cheaper option, one who likely commands considerably less than the $8.5 million average salary Anzalone netted from Tampa Bay on Monday.