The Lions have gone on record to say that they want to keep Kenny Golladay. However, they won’t automatically keep him from the open market. The Lions have decided against using the franchise tag on their star wide receiver, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. 
Now, the Lions have less than a week to keep Golladay on a new deal, before he can start chatting with other teams. From a financial perspective, it would behoove Golladay to wait. After the latest round of franchise tags and recent extensions, Golladay now profiles as one of the very best players on the open market.
Hamstring and hip injuries limited Golladay to just five games last year. All in all, he finished with 20 receptions for 338 yards and two touchdowns. It was hardly the platform year he wanted and, apparently, it wasn’t enough for the Lions to give him a top-5 salary at his position.
“We want to make the best decision for the Lions, and sometimes those decisions take a little bit longer,” GM Brad Holmes said recently. “We’re not gonna rush it, so whether it is a franchise tag on a [Romeo Okwara] or Kenny or whoever it is, we’ll definitely have a process in place that we believe in that we’re trusting … and we’re sticking to it and [making] sure it meets the Detroit Lions’ timeline and that’s really the thing that matters the most.”
The Lions now have the tag available for Okwara, but it’s not a given that they’ll cuff the edge rusher. It’s also not a given that Golladay is a goner, of course, though the Lions’ WR group is due for a reset no matter what. Veterans Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola, and Mohamed Sanu are also out of contract, leaving youngster Quintez Cephus as the last one left.
Smart move, 1 good season wants to be paid like a top wr….wonder if he tries to go to Rams?
to be fair, the injury hurt his chances of an encore
Two very good to excellent seasons.
Great point although rams cap situation worse than. The lions
I expect the Jets and Ravens to both be in on him big time. Jets have so much money to spend. Should sign Golladay and Jonu Smith
As a lions fan I can’t say I love this decision. Yes he was going to be expensive, but he is a top receiver of healthy. They just better draft a receiver now
I dont like it either. I was hoping to use our draft picks on other areas of need….. OG, DE, LB, DB
Let them both walk, get comp picks and move on.
Exactly. He’s too expensive for what you get. He’s one of the best WRs on contested catches but one of the worst WRs in the league at separation.
He’s not a #1 no need to pay like he is. If he can’t blossom with Stafford he’s not gonna do it on the Jets or Ravens.
Maybe he’s one of the best at contested catches because he’s one of the worst at separation. If he can’t get separation essentially every catch is contested.
Come to Baltimore!
Why so he can catch 35 passes
He will get paid. Giants, Jets, Ravens, Colts, WFT, Patriots, Dolphins, 49ers. There’s a lot of suitors.
This just means they are not going to tag him. Still a chance he will sign long term.
@dugdog has it right with what he said above. I love Golladay but not at the numbers he is looking for.
Colts! Golladay, Pittman & Campbell…
Terrible decision. He’s 27 and in his prime. The Bears locked up Robinson and the Bucs locked up Godwin. Why can’t the Lions do the same? They’ve come out and said they’re not going to franchise him or Okwara. So who are they going to franchise? No one? The only reliable target they have on the roster now is Hockenson. Hopefully, they can work something out because I hate the idea of letting him walk for comp picks.
No surprise here. The Lions last won a title in 1957 and the Ford’s think they should be paying their most talented players 1957 wages. Teams have no chance of being contenders when they keep letting All-Pro talent walk.
They did offer him $18 mil last year and he turned it down