SCRUTINY: Detroit Lions’ Free Agency Choices EXPLAINED—Why Isn’t Jared Goff’s Money Being USED?

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Based on the February 2025 Nilsen report, say the lines are taking their time and taking

a measured approach and free agency is an understatement.

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And a pleasant afternoon everybody, welcome into a Wednesday edition of Locked On Lions.

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My name is Matt Derry.

Thank you for being with us on this Wednesday, March the 11th, day three of NFL free agency

and man, the lions are cooking into Thursday, May 12th.

I'm making myself laugh.

I'm trying to entertain myself.

I'm like, what am I supposed to do for 28 minutes today?

Seriously.

Colton Pouncy from the athletic.com is going to join us tomorrow on the program to talk

about free agency.

I, you know, I'm trying not to be a total a hole here.

I'm really trying hard.

And my texts are blowing up.

Our every dayers are out there.

Some of which are texting me.

What are the lines doing?

What is this?

They have the lions and I'm going way off the script today.

So bear with me.

The Detroit lions right now have three defensive ends on their roster, three.

As we reach day three of free agency and yes, they're going to sign somebody.

I don't know who I don't know when they have to.

You got Aiden Hutchinson.

You got a stud, a horse.

Hutch is about to be making over $30 million a year pro bowl or all pro.

That's number one.

Can you name the other two defensive ends or edge rushers on this roster?

I'm going to give you a minute here.

Think about it.

You're sitting there watching maybe on YouTube or you're listening on Odyssey or Spotify

or Apple podcasts.

Who are the other two edge rushers on the roster right now?

One is Tyler Lacey.

Uh-huh.

Who?

He was on the team last year.

There were games he was out there.

I never heard his name called.

And number two is the legendary six round pick from last year Ahmed Hassanine.

Wee.

You know who's still out there, folks?

Oh, yeah.

Al Qudin Mohammed is still sitting there, still sitting there, but it has been a quiet

day.

Yes.

There's a Jared Goffery structure that we will discuss.

We will discuss the edge rusher room and how there are some, uh, uh, capable players

out there.

Although today, I saw Bradley Chubb get three years and 43 millions of the bills.

That guy had a terrible year for the dolphins last year.

And that is a massive overspend.

We'll get into that.

And the Josh Paschal era has come to an end.

What a, what a, what a four year mystery Josh Paschal was as a, yes, second round pick

for the Lions.

All of that today right here on locked on lion.

Thanks for being with us, everybody again, Colton Pouncy from the athletic dot com is a great

job covering the Lions.

We always love having them on the show is going to join us tomorrow.

All right.

I, I don't know what to say.

I'm not sure how to go about discussing free agency for the Lions right now and just

how quiet, uh, it, it kind of has been especially today.

I thought today when the Lions announced this morning or it was reported this morning, the

Jared golf and restructured his contract and I'll get to that in a second that the Lions

were going to spend some money someplace.

And again, they might be waiting for the day.

This is not a race, all right, but as somebody that has followed this team and has podcasted

about this team and everything else.

I just figured by now, there would be more, unless the Lions are just deciding, look,

the money that we have is going to go to our own players.

Now again, if you extend Sam LaPorta, if you extend Jermir gives, if you want to extend

Brian branch or Jack Campbell, who you really need to extend those extensions will be down

the road.

You, you can, you can extend them and pay them down the road.

So not technically that money goes to this season, it doesn't have to.

But you know, I, I, I just, I look at the, the depth chart right now, especially on the

defensive side and look, some of the players that were brought back, uh, whether it was

Rocky a scene, Malcolm Rodriguez, um, you know, uh, uh, you know, re-upping with Ali McNeil

a couple of years ago, Aiden Hutchinson's got all those things.

And yes, Avantamatics is still out there and there's other guys that are still out there.

And who knows?

Maybe Alcadine, Muhammad has to suck it up and take another one year deal.

Yes, Levi owns a Rika returns from injury and the Lions like him.

They obviously don't care about Josh Pascal anymore because he gone, but regardless, I expected

more.

All right.

The Lions, I still think need another offensive line or, or a couple and maybe just maybe,

what all this is and then maybe another tight end and, and, and we got to talk about, um,

you know, replacing at a starting linebacker spot, Alex Anzaloni, the gains media poster

boy who was heading to Tampa Bay, but I look at this and say that maybe starting next

year because I didn't do it this year because I got sucked in.

All right.

That maybe just maybe this franchise, this organization just does not believe in free

agency and that they are sticking to their guns, they're sticking to the plan.

And maybe the general manager Brad Holmes, well, I'm not taking a shot at it all.

He's built this thing and it's done a good job.

But maybe he just says, I just, our philosophy has got to stay the same.

We are not going to overspend on anybody, anybody today of the Packers who rarely dip their

toe into that free agency hot tub.

They went out and signed Javan Hargrave, X of the Vikings to a two year 23 million dollar

deal.

Right.

Sort of similar to the deal that DJ Reader had signed a couple of years ago.

And Javan Hargrave is an average player.

He's okay.

He had a great game for the Vikings against the Lions back in week 17.

But regardless, he's a guy that's bounced around recently, whether it was San Francisco,

Philly, Minnesota, et cetera.

That's a lot of money for Javan Hargrave.

And I'm just thinking that maybe things are quiet and maybe the Lions are being tempered

with their approach because the last couple of contracts that they have handed out in

free agency, haven't exactly been home runs.

Remember, like I said, two years ago, the Lions gave DJ Reader two years and 26 million.

How did that work out?

Not so good.

Last year, the Lions lost Carlton Davis to the Patriots and said, our next best move is

to give three years and around 13, 14 million dollars a year to DJ Reed corner back.

He's going to be our number one corner.

We're getting them from the jets.

How did that turn out?

Not great, Bob.

So maybe this franchise is like, look, we are, we are going to fill needs.

They had a needed center, they had a need a backup quarterback, they had a needed backup

running back.

They needed another corner, they re up DJ Reed, they need, they needed a tackle, Larry

boredom, er, boredom, traded for juice, shrugs.

And that's been it.

And I get it sexy isn't what always wins, the Tennessee Titans every year load up, load

up that load up that, that, that, that, that blackjack table, they've sucked for years.

Ever since they let Mike Vrable go, Worland Saints giving 18 million a year to Travis

ETN.

And you know, people are going, what are the same, like the commander is adding four players

yesterday.

And none of them, I'm doing backslip so the Lions are taking this tempered approach, but

I get the fans frustration because we just, for as transparent as Brad and Dan are and

maybe Brad will answer some questions after free agency.

This is not an organization that is, is, is thinking much about the free agent period

and going out and, and getting Max Crosby, all right, they freed up money today with the

Jared Goff restructure to make a play for Max Crosby based upon Crosby, of course, failing

is physical, the Ravens, the Ravens and pivoting to Trey Hendricks in, et cetera, but the Lions

aren't doing.

That's just not in their bag of tracks.

So I can understand the fans frustration because you're looking up going, who's, who's

going to play linebacker next to Jack Campbell?

Do we have another safety option in case Kirby Joseph is, is, is not ready?

Who's the right tackle?

Who's the left techno?

Not one of them's, but a soul.

You know, the center is Cade Maze.

Most everybody applauded that, that's signing, most everybody.

So there you have it, as far as a quiet Wednesday.

So far, again, I'm recording at 520 and 630 after I put this thing and I can, they could

go out and do a spending spree tonight and this show could be null and void, but I do

a show every day.

Starting up next, the Jared Goff restructure, a little bit of an explanation on that.

We will do that right here, unlocked on Lions.

It is a Wednesday edition, as I mentioned before, our main man, Colton Cup, Colton Pounds

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All right, so earlier today, fans got excited because Jared Goff restructured his contract.

It was your basic restructuring where Lions took a good chunk, like 40 million dollars

that they owed Jared Goff and moved it to a signing bonus, meaning it freed up about

32 million dollars for the Lions to utilize here in for agency or whatever else cap space

for 2026.

So this does not automatically mean that the Lions have to use that cap space, have to spend

it on a player, are going after Max Crosby, et cetera.

But let me just check my phone to make sure that they haven't gone after Max Crosby.

But regardless of the situation here, this was an opportunity for the Lions to move some

of that Jared Goff salary into a bonus, free up some space, and if they want to do some

re-ups, if somehow they wanted to sign some more players, they have more space to do so.

All right, now what the Lions did not do is move all of the money.

There's still some money left over, which means maybe the Lions don't view this as some

sort of spending spree.

But remember, there's also around $12 million or so that the Lions are going to have to spend

on their rookies, on their rookie class.

You can't, if you're a team right now and you're at zero cap space, you're going to have to

cut some players, because you have to free up money to sign your draft class.

So that's probably between 12 and let's say $15 million, it just depends on how many of

the Lions draft picks that they use.

And as we told you yesterday, Lions of a first round or a second round or two fourths,

two fifths, leave two sixths and a seventh.

So the Lions have a lot of luck.

That's where the Lions are going to have to butter their bread here, is the draft.

I think that's where the Lions and Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell and everybody are really

looking forward to adding to this roster.

You can't tell me they're not going to draft an edge rush.

You can't tell me they're not going to draft a starting tackle.

I'm sorry, but Giovanni Manu, Larry Borum, these are not starting tackles on a

super bowl contender.

But maybe Kaden Proctor at 17, if that's who they want to take or either the Utah tackles

or anybody like that could be the guy for Detroit.

So golf restructures, there was some silly consternation about what if they don't, what if they,

no, golf got that done, the Lions got it done next year as cap numbers like 62 million,

they'll probably restructure again.

It's just moving money around to free up salary for other spots.

And like I said before, maybe the Lions have freed up some space to go get an edge rusher

or two.

I don't believe Max Crosby is going to be that guy.

Now if you like Caleb on chase on, he signed a day with the Washington commanders like Bradley

Chubb, he signed a day with the Buffalo Bills.

The guy I want the Lions to go get, I think he would be out of one of your deal is Cam Jordan.

All right, he was in New Orleans with Dan Campbell for a few years.

Yes, he's 36 about to be 37 years old and has played 15 years in league, but he's a good football

player.

Maybe that's where this money is going.

Maybe the Lions sign Cam Jordan and bring back Alcadine Muhammad.

He is still available to Davey on Clowny is not somebody that I'm interested in.

He is bounced around from team to team.

AJ Epinessa is a guy that coming out of Iowa and he went to Buffalo.

I thought would have a better career so far.

He got demoted a year ago.

Joey Bosa took his spot and he only has 24 career sacks in five or six years.

But he could be a guy that the Lions could look at.

I mentioned Chubb is off the board.

D'Nico Autry is available.

Maybe Cam Sample, Joey Bosa, who I don't think is good a fit for the Lions as let's say

Epinessa or even Cam Jordan, but those are the players that are out there.

And we've talked about this for the last couple of years.

That Hey, Mark is down in Portugal.

I told you I'm a little weird.

I'm in the weird mood today.

We've talked about it for years at the Lions, you know, just don't they don't spend big.

They spend big on their own guys.

They were not going to go out.

I don't think and get Trey Hendrix in or Max Crosby and that's the weirdest story ever

in in football.

Now the Raiders say they're keeping Crosby and that he's going to come to the facility

and everything's going to be fine.

After they of course agreed to trade with the Ravens, but he failed his physical.

But there's a lot of time left here, but maybe Detroit's just playing the waiting game.

For those maybe Mohamed's agent is still demanding multiple years or something like that.

And maybe the Lions are like, we're not ready to go there.

We're at home.

Some of his better free agent, sign ease and guys that he's picked up have been on one

year deals.

That might be the maneuver right now, but those are the kind of players that are available

for Detroit.

Josh Pascal was on the Lions as of this morning.

Now he is not.

You want to talk about I don't I wouldn't even know how to describe.

Josh Pascal's four years in Detroit.

We're going to try to do that.

We'll do that next right here on Locked Online.

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So Brad Holmes has hit on a lot of draft picks.

He has done a very, very good job drafting.

The last two years has not been the best.

All right, I think we can all admit that.

But if you go back and look at the players,

that Brad Holmes has has plucked out of the draft.

Whether it's Elie McNeil, Penaisule, Aiden Hutchinson,

I'm in Rossane Brown, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, Jamir Gibbs.

The list goes on with players that have come in here and really helped this team

and have done a very, very good job.

There have been some clunkers and Josh Paschal is a clunker.

2022 second round pick, very injured in college a lot,

but a guy that could play both detackle and defensive end.

And today, your Detroit Lions released Josh Paschal.

I don't believe the Lions ever had the intention of bringing him back.

But after last year, where he was on the non football injury list,

so his contract got told me, meaning nothing happened last year.

It was almost like he wasn't on the team and his contract got pushed to this year

because he had back surgery.

The rookie year, he missed seven games.

His second year, he missed five games in this past year.

He missed the entire season.

But Josh Paschal is a guy that had a lot of potential.

All right, 36 games, 18 starts, 5 sacs, 62 tackles in four years.

But never really, never really could crack the code on being an impact player.

And, you know, we've talked about something like Levi and Zarek and Josh Paschal are very similar.

And you look at their bodies of work and you go, man, in 2024, Levi balled out.

He played very well.

He was healthy and he did the job at detackle.

And he was as good a detackle as Lions had that year.

Paschal just like, it's a mystery.

He never could stay on the field when he was on the field.

There were games.

I remember when he made his debut.

I believe in 2022 with the Lions, Lions played in Dallas.

And he had a couple of tackles for a loss and he went, man, it's finally healthy.

And this is the guy we've been waiting for.

Put him back out there.

I want to see more of Josh Paschal and it just never, ever came to fruition for him.

And now with the Lions having a need for an ed draw shirt and having a guy coming off

a back surgery, that they know.

And the Lions still want to release him.

That should tell you something about how they felt about the player.

And maybe he's just never going to be healthy and maybe that back injury and the surgery

is something that is going to just hamper him forever.

But how to kind of explain the four years of Josh Paschal, it's hard to do.

It is a total mystery.

But it's on Brad Holmes now and the rest of the front office to find some folks to replace

those guys.

Tyrus Wheat, by the way, who was on the team last year too, whom the Lions picked up

from Dallas on Cut Down Day, he's going back to the Cowboys today.

So there is a definite boy and whole along the defensive line.

And again, this is not a race.

I get where the fans angst is right now.

They're like, who's going to play ed draw shirt?

You know, we, we, we, we, we put in Dan Miller out there.

Okay.

By the way, I didn't mention yesterday because we didn't have the numbers.

I'm going to find them right now.

The Isaiah Pacheco contract.

And we talked about it, all right?

Pacheco is a guy that had a lot of sex appeal for football fans, for how he ran the rock

in 2022 and 2023, then the broken leg two years ago.

He agreed to terms with the Lions on a one year, $1.81 million deal.

You want to talk about small money.

I mean, rock is seen as getting $4 million.

I mentioned before, Tyrus Wheat going to Dallas, he's getting $1.8 million for one year.

And the Lions are getting Pacheco on a one year, $1.8 million deal.

So the question has to be, and I've seen some folks on our discord channel for the

every day or club on the chat.

There was a trash talking board for each division, and I locked on AFC West board, a lot of

the folks that are what that saw Pacheco last year said he just wasn't hit holes.

So Lions had some work to do with him, but they got him for nothing, basically $1.8 million.

So I didn't mention the money yesterday, but that came out this morning.

All right, Colton Pouncey is going to join us, beat writer for the athletic, going to

join us tomorrow on the Thursday edition of Lockdown Lions.

Hopefully, there's more news.

Hopefully, we're talking about some guys that Detroit has brought in here with some of

that money that they get back from the Jared Goffa Restructure.

So this has been a Wednesday edition of Lockdown Lions.

Thanks for being with us, everybody.

Check it out wherever you get your Pacheco.

It's, by the way, Jedrick Will's, remember, I mentioned Jed Will's X of the Browns, who

I didn't want the Lions to go after.

The big tackle is getting a one-year opportunity with the Chicago Bears, yes, touchdown bears.

So not coming to Detroit.

Talk to you again tomorrow.