The big news out of Detroit yesterday was the team’s decision to postpone extension negotiations with star defender Ndamukong Suh until after the 2014 season. Despite the added uncertainty at the defensive tackle position now that contract talks with Suh have been tabled, the Lions don’t regret their decision to decline Nick Fairley‘s option for 2015, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes.
“Two totally different situations, two totally different players,” said general manager Martin Mayhew. “Neither one affects the other. They play the same position, that’s the only similarity between the two of them.”
Here’s more on the Lions:
- Mayhew tells Birkett that the Lions are “shopping for everything,” and are always talking to people around the league about possible trades or ways to upgrade their roster. The GM specifically identified the secondary as “a place we need to look.”
- As Birkett tweets, the Lions believe that Chris Houston, whom the team released earlier this offseason, is probably done, or at least won’t recapture his previous form, due to health issues. In the Free Press piece linked above, Mayhew acknowledges that the Lions could have approached the offseason differently if they’d known the extent of Houston’s health issues earlier.
- Birkett and John Niyo of the Detroit News both recapped the Suh developments from yesterday, conveying the idea that the Lions remain optimistic about getting a deal done, despite not being able to guarantee that the standout defensive tackle won’t hit the open market in March.
- Having slid down the team’s running back depth chart in recent years, Mikel Leshoure was asked on Monday if he’d prefer to move on if he isn’t getting regular touches for the Lions. “I feel like I’ll get a role somewhere,” LeShoure said, suggesting that could happen in Detroit or elsewhere. “So I’m going to think about that right now“(link via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com).