- The Lions continue to engage in conversations about a Matthew Stafford extension, and the talks are unfolding amicably, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. Bob Quinn told season-ticket holders today he and Jim Caldwell, unsurprisingly, want Stafford in Detroit long-term but still doesn’t anticipate anything being done until the summer. That’s been his stance throughout the offseason.
- Stafford joins Matt Ryan and Derek Carr as quarterbacks who could become the league’s highest-paid player by summer’s end. The Lions’ ninth-year starter should look to build in protections for future cap spikes to ensure he stays near the top of that list, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. While this kind of deal has not been completed, Florio notes some quarterbacks and agents have tried to insert such language into contracts. It would cost the Lions $26.4MM to use the franchise tag on Stafford next season.
- The Panthers, Browns, Eagles, Bengals, Lions, Titans, Saints and Jets are among the teams with the most interest in Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley, writes Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. Conley should go somewhere between ninth and 18th overall, per La Canfora, whom one NFL decision-maker told: “Conley has always been a first-round corner, and I understand why he is the top guy on some boards. He may not be as flashy as some of the other corners, and maybe the upside isn’t quite as high, but neither is the risk. This is a clean player who started for two years and who made big plays in big games. There is a lot to like.”
The jump from basketball to football may not be easy, but Mo Alie-Cox has plenty of believers in the NFL. The former Virginia Commonwealth University forward is already slated to visit the Chiefs, Buccaneers, Jets, Colts, Seahawks, and Chargers, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. More teams could request to meet with the 6’7″ athlete, Rapoport adds. 
Alie-Cox held an open audition for NFL teams recently and it seems like more than half the league had scouts in attendance. In addition to the aforementioned clubs, reps from the Bears, Lions, Dolphins, Vikings, 49ers, Browns, Patriots, Redskins, and Steelers were in the house (via Lane Casadonte of WTVR on Twitter).
Despite his lack of gridiron experience, teams are intrigued by Alie-Cox’s combination of size and athleticism. He is looking to play tight end and follow in the footsteps of Tony Gonzalez, Julius Thomas, Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, and other TE standouts with basketball backgrounds. At the same time, he is open to playing other positions and he took requests from scouts to perform drills that were suited for different roles.
What really sets Alie-Cox apart from other young NFL hopefuls is that he is not draft eligible and, therefore, can be signed as a free agent. A team that is really high on the hoopster could see this as an opportunity to effectively acquire a late-round draft pick for nothing.
- Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster has set up a busy predraft schedule, as he’s scheduled to meet with the Colts, Bengals, Lions, Titans, and Ravens, according to Josh Norris of Rotoworld (Twitter link). Foster has already met with a number of clubs, and his packed itinerary is unsurprising given that he’s considered the top off-ball linebacker in the 2017 draft. He will combine medical re-checks this week following shoulder surgery, but has already shown full range of motion, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
- Laken Tomlinson, the Lions‘ first-round pick in 2015, started 14 games as a rookie and entered the 2016 campaign as the club’s starting left guard. However, he eventually lost his job to rookie Graham Glasgow and only returned to the starting lineup when Glasgow was shifted to center to fill in for the injured Travis Swanson. Glasgow will enter 2017 as the favorite to be the starting left guard, and given that Detroit is also high on guard Joe Dahl, who was selected in the fifth round of last year’s draft, Tomlinson may be fighting just to stay on the roster, as Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com writes. Making things more difficult for him is the fact that Glasgow and Dahl were selected by current GM Bob Quinn, who inherited Tomlinson from the previous regime. Just last week, Quinn indicated that Tomlinson would not be cut prior to training camp, but a poor performance over the summer could certainly lead to his ouster.
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- The Lions are planning to pursue a contract extension with defensive end Ziggy Ansah, which the 27-year-old would welcome. “OK,” Ansah told Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press. “That would be great.” Ansah is a year away from potentially hitting free agency; in the meantime, he’s slated to earn $12.734MM under his fifth-year option in 2017. Since going fifth overall in the 2013 draft, Ansah has tallied 32 sacks, though he posted a career-low two in 13 games last season.
- The Lions only have two QBs – Matthew Stafford and Jake Rudock – but it’s a “guarantee” they’ll add a third, general manager Bob Quinn informed Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. That won’t necessarily come via the draft, though Quinn did talk last offseason about the importance of regularly collecting youthful signal-callers. “I think it’s really good football business to acquire a young quarterback every year, or every other year,” Quinn said. “There’s such a value in the position, and nowadays in college football, there’s a lot of spread offenses, which means it’s a lot different than pro football. So it takes these young quarterbacks time to develop.”
- Lions linebacker Nick Bellore also inked a minimum salary benefit contract. Like Escobar, Bellore’s contract includes an $80K signing bonus (Twitter link).
- Michigan defensive end Taco Charlton visited the Lions on Friday, per Rapoport (Twitter link). As Rapoport further notes (and as was previously reported), the Cowboys and Dolphins are also among the teams interested in Charlton, who’s coming off a 10-sack season with the Wolverines.
- Anquan Boldin continues to insist he will play in 2017 but plans to wait until close to training camp to make a decision, per CBS Sports’ Jamey Eisenberg, who added the Ravens and Lions remain interested suitors. This gibes with what we’ve heard from the 14-year veteran throughout the offseason. Boldin’s teammate in both places, Haloti Ngata plans to help recruit the veteran wide receiver back to Detroit, per Eisenberg.
- DeAndre Levy also underwent surgery recently and is not happy with how the Lions handled his injuries over the past two seasons.
DeAndre Levy went from cornerstone Lions linebacker to unrestricted free agent in less than two years, with injuries largely paving his way out of Detroit.
But the linebacker appears to be at odds against his former team after undergoing a recent surgery, with an Instagram post that read, “‘Your knee is fine,’ they said,” (via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, on Twitter). This calls into question the Lions’ assessment of his injured knee and could lead to a grievance.
Levy underwent surgery a few days ago, Birkett reports. The outside linebacker underwent a previous procedure to clean up meniscus tears in his knee last season, causing him to miss 11 games in 2016. Levy characterized the latest operation as “a retouch up on the meniscus and some other damage,” per Birkett, who adds Levy is unhappy with how the Lions handled his injuries over the past two seasons.
“There was more going on than I was being told,” Levy said, via Birkett. “I can’t say what this means for free agency. My main focus is to actually heal and get healthy under trusted physicians.”
The Lions released Levy on March 9 and designated him as a post-June 1 cut. However, Levy had a $1.75MM injury guarantee in his contract. The Lions avoided paying that in the release by passing him on his physical, Birkett reports, assuming this will lead to a grievance against the team centering around that injury guarantee.
GM Bob Quinn said the team did not approach Levy about taking a paycut from the $5.75MM salary he was supposed to earn in 2017 because the Lions wanted to turn to younger linebackers. Levy turned 30 in March.
Detroit signed the outside linebacker to a four-year, $33.74MM extension in the summer of 2015 to make him the highest-paid 4-3 outside ‘backer at the time of the deal. However, he played just six games since after running into extensive injury trouble. Hip and knee problems sidetracked Levy, who had played 16 games in three of the previous four seasons. A grievance would mark the second straight complex offseason regarding the release of a linebacker for the Lions, who went through a lengthy ways-parting saga with Stephen Tulloch last year.