Brad Holmes and the Detroit Lions are sticking to the plan
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What is happening, everybody? Matt Derry with you. It's a Tuesday edition of Locked On Lions right here on the Locked On Podcast Network on a Tuesday, March 11th and a Wednesday, March 12th. Thank you for making us your first listen, checking us out wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to our everydayers that are out there that watch or listen to the podcast daily. We appreciate all of you. Big show today. Tomorrow, John Buchko, who hosts Locked On Jets, is going to join us.

We'll get the update on DJ Reed and what he thinks about the Lions picking up the now former Jet cornerback. We'll ask him, too, about what the Aaron Glenn era is looking like in New York right now. John Butchco locked on Jets tomorrow on this very program. Thanks for checking us out, everybody, and telling your friends about us. We had a good chunk of our YouTube.

viewership back yesterday for the first day of free agency at just around 10,000 views for yesterday's show. If you missed everything we talked about with DJ Reed and the Lions losing Carlton Davis, gaining DJ Reed, go back and listen to or watch yesterday's program. Got a lot to get to today, including a call of the day. If you want to be our call of the day,

please go to speakpipe.com slash dairy podcast page. That is speakpipe.com slash dairy podcast page. Our best call of the day, if you keep it under a minute, keep it clean, will be played on this very podcast.

A lot to get to today. That is for sure. I want to talk about some panic that apparently has set in with Lions fans, which I think makes no sense because we know what Brad Holmes usually does in free agency. We will get into that. There are a couple of Lion free agents that I wanted to re-sign for Detroit that are still available here on Tuesday afternoon as we record at about 540 on Tuesday. I have an idea for a possibility for the Lions today.

As a free agent pass rusher, and again, like we said, a call of the day. But first things first, all right? How have the Philadelphia Eagles, the Super Bowl champions, done in free agency? Anybody? What about the Kansas City Chiefs, who today just lost Justin Reed to New Orleans? I know they re-signed Trey Smith, their guard. But how are the Chiefs doing in free agency? What about the Baltimore Ravens? Are they dipping heavily into this free agent market? Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay Packers got a brand new guard, Banks from the Niners. But other than that, how busy are they? A lot of these teams that are winning the offseason and winning free agency are bad teams, are teams that have so much cap space because they don't have good players on their team that they are already paying.

I got Lions fans hitting me up on all the social medias. What's Brad doing? How come Brad's not cooking? How come there's not more moves? How can we let this guy go? What happened here? Like, Ify Malafonwu today signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Dolphins. And I got Lions fans, some, not all of you, some of you, complaining like we couldn't have kept him. No. You have two starting safeties, Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch.

What do you need Malafonu for? The Lions know what they have and had an iffy Malafonu, who becomes the first Brad Holmes draft pick to leave in free agency in four years. Like, you know, I know Jamar Jefferson was cut, came back. I know Chase Lucas was cut, came back, then was cut again and signed elsewhere. But iffy Malafonu is a good football player. He's getting a one-year deal for a reason. He can never stay healthy.

And the safety market, there were a lot better players that got multi-year deal. Indianapolis could have used Malafon. They settled for Cam Bynum, who's a better football player, and got Bynum at four years and six. Terrell Williams, the former Lions defensive line coach, is the defensive coordinator in New England. They didn't want Malafon. Aaron Glenn left the Lions as defensive coordinator to become the head coach of the Jets. You don't think the Jets couldn't have used another safety?

They didn't sign him either. I'm not bashing Melifanu, but I'm making a point that I don't understand. I get it now, all right? Lions are all in. Lion franchise is dedicated and focused on bringing a winner to this fan base and to finally, finally get this organization over the hump and into the Super Bowl. They're trying. But what has Brad Holmes done now for four off seasons? Four versus five.

21, 22. This will be his fifth offseason. He has not gone out and spent a lot of money on free agents. Last year, he got DJ Reader. This year, he gets DJ Reed. Reader and Reed, both named DJ. But this is not a franchise that has spent a lot of money on free agents unless it's their own.

When they knew they needed to re-sign Taylor Decker last year, they did it. When they knew they needed to re-sign Panay Sewell, they did it. They extended Jared Goff. They've extended Amon Ross St. Brown. A couple years ago, they extended Alex Anzalone. Holmes has talked about extending and keeping Aiden Hutchinson. They're going to need to do a deal after this year with Kirby Joseph. Aleem McNeil got locked up. Locked up, don't let me out. They didn't let Aleem McNeil out.

Frank Ragnow has been extended. The Lions, David Montgomery got extended. Should I keep going? Good football players drafted, signed, retained, kept. That's what this organization does. So just because, look, Carlton Davis left. We talked about it yesterday. They bring in DJ Reed to be the team's top corner for right now.

Yes, there are other good players in free agency. Yes, I watched the St. Brown's podcast today, just like you did, where Amin Ra is on there going, what's up with the Bears? They have so much money. They're just spending, spending, spending. All these teams in our division are doing so great. I'm sorry, but Amin Ra, but that's not what the Lions do.

And I get it. Minnesota's kicking ass right now. Vikings are doing... Yesterday, I told you that the Bears are imitating the Lions and building out their offensive and defensive lines, building from the trenches. That's exactly what the Lions have been doing for four-plus years. Today, what have the Vikings done? The exact same thing.

Jonathan Allen, three years, 60 million. Javon Hargrave, got an all-tire deal. Both defensive tackles. Oh, Vikings needed a center. They go get Ryan Kelly from the Colts, two years, 18 million. And then they signed Will Fries, another Colts interior offensive lineman, giving him a ridiculous five years and 88 million dollars.

The Lions are going to do their best, I'm sure, to try and retain Kevin Zeitler, who, oh, by the way, is still on the market. We're going to get to that momentarily because I'm stunned at a couple of players that have not been signed yet. But regardless, the Lions, their big Super Bowl is not free agency. March 10th is not what Brad Holmes has circled number one on his calendar. He's got the draft circled at the end of next month. He wants to hit 100.

Home runs in the draft. Bring in guys that can compete right now. Bring in players that can help right now. Did that last year with Terry on Arnold. His 2023 draft with Branch, Laporta, Gibbs, Jack Campbell will go down as one of the best draft classes in Lions history. So yes, we're sitting here going, man, can we get some action with the Lions? What's going on? This is not a surprise.

They've retained players. They've kept Marcus Davenport, Derek Barnes. Today they re-signed Miles Adams for depth on the interior of that defensive line. Played four games last year after they got him off of the Seahawks practice squad. Dan Skipper, shout out to Big Skip, number 70. Number 70 is reporting eligible for another year. He was brought back.

They want to keep these glue guys and these important guys around, and they're not really messing with a lot of other names. Now, there are going to be some other names down the road. There are going to be some players that come by the end of this week are going, I can't believe I don't have a job yet. And I think Brad will pounce then. Remember, last year he didn't get DJ Reader until like the third or fourth day of free agency. Came in for a visit, took a physical. They wanted to check out the medicals. Then they got him. Be patient.

Yeah, I got Lion fans. Did you hear some guy on one of these networks said Cooper Cup's coming to Detroit? Okay, right. Now, Cooper Cup hasn't been traded or released yet, but just hold the fort here. Eagles aren't making a lot of splash signings. They lost Milton Williams. They lost Darius Slay. They lost Josh Sweat. But they've drafted and retained guys, and they know they have players that they've drafted they have to re-sign.

So they're not dipping into free agency heavily. Neither the Chiefs, neither the Ravens, neither the Packers. So I just hope Lion fans can be a little bit patient and not thinking that just because all these other teams are loading up, the Bears are loading up because they did have a lot of money to spend and their entire offensive line has been rebranded because the guys from last year sucked. Brad Holmes drafted Christian Mahogany in the sixth round last year. He's going to be a starter on this team this year. I don't know if it's right guard or left guard, but he's going to be out there.

You got them for cheap. All right, coming up next, a couple of Lions players I cannot believe, at least Lion Free agents, are still available. We'll tell you about that next here on a Tuesday, Locked Online. Ben hadn't had a decent night's sleep in a month. So during one of his restless nights, he booked a package triple broad on Expedia.

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We welcome you back to Locked On Lions right here on the Locked On Podcast Network Tuesday edition. Again, John Buchko, who hosts Locked On Jets, will join us tomorrow on the show. We got to talk about DJ Reed and what he has seen over the last three seasons with the now Lions cornerback and what he looked like in New York. Only in New York. All right, let's talk about something that stuns me. I am recording right now.

Tuesday, second day of free agency at 5.51 in the evening. A lot of players have been signed. A lot. All right? Players were scooped up like crazy these first couple of days. The Detroit Lions have two players from this past season that were big contributors that are still sitting on the sidelines. Number one, I got a text today from my buddy Dave Softy Mailer. Softy and Dick Show. That's a real name of a show.

Softie and Dick, afternoons on KJR in Seattle. Softie is a fantastic local talk show host. I know some of the best there are in the country doing local sports, whether it's Mike Valeni, whether it's Ken Carman in Cleveland. There's some great ones. Softie is another buddy of mine in Seattle. He does a great radio show. Softie texts me today. He says, is Kevin Zeitler a free agent? I said, yeah, still out there. He's like, we want him. Softie's a big Seahawks fan.

But as of right now, Kevin Zeitler remains unsigned. We talked about this for weeks on this show. Who should the Lions re-sign and have more of an agency for quickly? Carlton Davis or Kevin Zeitler? Davis, obviously a cornerback, ends up getting a multi-year deal, getting three years and $60 million from the New England Patriots. But here's Kevin Zeitler at 36 years of age, still wants to play.

Still very, very valuable and still very, very durable and solid. PFF grade over 80 this year. And the Lions didn't have to worry much at right guard when Zeitler was out there. He was phenomenal. Had a really good season. Teams need offensive linemen. We saw that with the Vikings. We saw that with the Bears. We saw that with the Packers. Yet, none of those three teams tried to pilfer away our guy from Detroit.

i've talked to a couple of sources zeitler i've heard from a couple of people might want a multi-year deal might want a two-year deal he settled for a one-year six million dollar deal last year with the lions but here we are second day of free agency late in the afternoon and he's still available if i'm brad holmes and the lions i i'm i'm bringing him back maybe he tested the market didn't like what he saw

You got to have a guy like that back. And yes, Mahogany could step in and play right guard. But again, I think Christian Mahogany could win the left guard job this year from Graham Glasgow, who really struggled in the second half. But as of right now, Kevin Zeitler still available, which is wild to me. The other name that is a bit of a surprise is Levi Onzareke. The usually injured but had a good, really good season this year. Defensive tackle is unsigned.

Two days into free agents, everybody's going out looking for offensive and defensive linemen. Levi was solid this year. Good amount of pressures. Stopped the run. Was healthy for the most part this year for the first time. I know he's been battling back injuries for years. I don't know if the medicals are bad on him. I don't know if teams don't want to give him any more than a one-year deal. I'm sure Onzerike's agent is looking for a multi-year deal. Levi Onzerike is...

Much better player than Javon Kinlaw. And yet Kinlaw got three years and $45 million yesterday. So maybe Onzorike's agents are dug in like we're getting and we want multi-years and we want Kinlaw type money. Look at the PFF grades. Look where Onzorike was graded in the 70s. Look where Kinlaw was graded in the 50s. But as of right now, I think teams are shying away from a guy who's injured a lot because Levi is still available.

I said it before. Terrell Williams is coaching the defense in New England. They just traded Gottschalk to the Saints. They need a defensive tackle. What about Aaron Glenn? The Bears went out and got some defensive linemen over the last couple of days. Didn't sign Onzerike, and Ben Johnson knows Levi very, very well. So a little bit surprising here that Levi Onzerike is still available. And if you're the Lions, you need defensive linemen.

I would bring Levi back on a one-year deal. He knows the system. Played pretty well this year. Stunning, a little bit stunning that Levi is still available. All right, so I have an idea. I think it could be a little bit wild. I didn't expect this player to still be around and maybe just maybe another Brad Holmes third or fourth day of free agency, one-year deal steal. One-year deal steal, yes. Could be in the mix. But if you recall the other day,

36-year-old Von Miller cut by the Bills. Didn't want to pay him the $17.5 million contract and salary that he was due this season. Could the Lions, who are in need of edge rushers, re-sign Marcus Davenport. They're bringing back Josh Paschal. They've got some other guys in the mix. I would hope they would draft, at least with one of their two first picks, 28 or their first pick in the second round, an edge rusher. You're getting Aidan Hutchinson back.

Um, but could Von Miller be a one year, 10 and a half, $11 million a year guy for the lions still can play at 36 still as a guy that teams game plan for was a dominant player for many, many years with the Denver Broncos.

Could that be a veteran stopgap one-year situation for the Lions to take a look at? I'm well aware that Joey Bosa is still out there. I've seen reports he wants to play with his brother in San Francisco. The Niners are gutting their roster. So I don't know if Joey Bosa wants to go there. But could Von Miller be a fit for Detroit? The other day I would have thought, no, he's probably going to want multiple years. He was making $17.5 million this past year. But now that you're entering the third day of free agency tomorrow,

some of these guys want to want to get signed want to find a team and so i'd be very intrigued by a von miller signing and what else is interesting is nobody has signed zadarius smith yet i don't know if the lions want him back i don't know if that was all salary cap space by letting him walk and saving about six million but those are a couple of veteran free agent defensive ends and edge rushers that could be there for the lions in the next few days um

Not out of the realm of possibility. And these other teams are emulating what the Lions have done for the last few years. They're building up their offensive and defensive lines. Lions right now, if you want to talk about their weak spot and where they need help, it's along that defensive front. Davenport said it yesterday. Man, it killed me to not be playing last year. I got to stay healthy this year. I know I can do it. I want to help this team. I want to be disruptive.

Hopefully Marcus gets that opportunity and stays healthy because when healthy, when he was in Minnesota or with the saints, he was a good football player. So we'll have to see about that because his injury history has not been great. We know that. And the lions just can't afford to be losing more defensive linemen. McNeil's probably not starting here on time. Who knows about Hutchinson? Um, gotta have Davenport back and healthy.

All right, coming up next, let's do this. Let's talk call of the day. We'll hear from one of our listeners who asked a very interesting question, certainly, about the state of the Lions from a financial standpoint. We'll do that coming up next right here on a Tuesday edition of Locked Online.

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For a limited time, you can get KFC chicken with the sweet heat of hot honey. And after one bite, you'll wonder, how do bees make hot honey so hot? Are they special bees? Does KFC have dragon bees? Fire-breathing dragon bees that create spicy honey? No, silly. There's no such thing. KFC just partnered with Mike's Hot Honey to drizzle all over their crispy chicken.

But Dragon Bees would be so cool. Try it now for only $7 or share a box with friends for $25. Prices and participation vary while supplies last. Taxes, tips, and fees extra. Before we get to our call of the day, I saw a stat today. Next-gen stats when you talk about veteran cornerbacks or cornerbacks in the NFL. Tight window target rate, meaning how often cornerbacks were –

quarterbacks had to throw to a receiver guarded by a cornerback in what is referred to as a tight window. The best cornerback in terms of tight window target rate, Tariq Woolin of the Seahawks, 39.3%. Tyson Campbell of the Jaguars, 38.1%. Denzel Ward of the Browns, 37.5%.

Your Detroit Lion newest cornerback, DJ Reed, when he was with the Jets, 37.3%. And Ahmad Sauce Gardner of the Jets, 35.3%. Posing receivers averaged 2.1 yards of target separation against Reed in coverage last season, third fewest in the NFL. Solid, solid. DJ Reed coming to Detroit. More with John Buchko, the host of Locked on Jets, tomorrow.

on this very podcast. All right, time for our call of the day. Jacob from out of state. Let me tell you something. Can I get a call of the day from like Michigan? Everybody call, all of our call of the day folks at speakpipe.com slash dairy podcast page seemingly come from out of staters. I appreciate all of you.

for checking in with us. That includes our man, Mike K. Cook, AM 800 CKLW Mornings, Mike and Meg show. Mike does a great job. I love listening to them. But here is a call of the day today from Jacob. I just had it queued up. Let me get it fixed. Jacob is, I believe, down in Texas. All my exes live in Texas. All right. Let's hear from Jacob on our call of the day.

Hey Matt, Jake Meach is from Omaha, Nebraska. Two part question. So I know that they brought Teddy Bridgewater out of retirement. Do you think that means that they just had a little to no confidence in having Hooker and then if they are

showing lack of confidence in hooker do you think they could use him as a little trade bait during the draft to get another draft hit and then going back to the tom brady era i know he restructured his contracts a lot to make sure that his teammates could stay around and took less so he took less money to get teammates paid do you think that any of our

teammates would actually do that to keep around like Laporta, JMO, Branch, Kirby, Reeder, basically anyone that we truly need that are key players to our team. And then if they really want to win a Super Bowl, then you think that would be the most beneficial. Thank you. I appreciate it. And always happy to be listening to your podcast. Thank you, Jake. Mike G's down in Texas. Listen, a couple of things. Let's start with what he said last here, the latter, and that was,

Does he think Lion players and current Lions players would give up some salary and give up some money or maybe have their contracts restructured, put in bonuses in order to help the Lions re-sign players? The answer is yes, absolutely, yes. Absolutely, Tom Brady did it for years with the Patriots, took less. And look, Brady made so much money other places.

But I could see a scenario where Jared Goff would absolutely do that and other veteran players. And again, the Lions have a lot of decisions to make. You know, this off this next offseason, Kirby Joseph, Hutch, JMO, these guys are all going to be extension eligible. And those are really good football players. Chris Godwin just got twenty two million a year from the Bucs. You don't think JMO is going to not want twenty three, twenty four, twenty five.

I was talking about this with Chavez Vincent that I work with at financial architects today. Max Crosby got 35 and a half miles. Garrett got 40. Hutch is going to want at least 37. So yes, I can see a scenario where lion players are willing to do something. Maybe Taylor Decker veteran players that want to win would be willing to restructure. Yes. His first question about Hendon hooker is interesting. Here are the New York jets. Use them as an example.

Here are the New York jets meeting a quarterback and Aaron Glenn knows Hendon hooker. Well, they've been together for the last two years and yet the jets go out and spend 30 million guaranteed 20 million a year for two years on Justin Fields. Now, Justin Fields has played a lot more NFL snaps and hooker has, but if Glenn thought hooker was the guy, yes, he would trade for him. I think teams, uh,

I don't know if it's because Bridgewater came in at the end of last year and Hooker went from two to three that maybe teams are blocking at that. I just think with the injury history and his age, I'm not so sure teams are going to be willing to fork over cash. Now, and draft picks, I should say. But again, you know, Daniel Jones signed with the Colts today for one year at 14 million, which I actually think is a decent signing. And he's going to compete with Anthony Richardson. The Steelers need a quarterback. It only takes one team.

But as of now, we have not heard any smoke regarding Hooker, a trade, or anything like that. And I don't know what Teddy Bridgewater's future is and whether he's going to go back to high school coaching next year. And that was just his one last hurrah. I don't know. The Cleveland Browns need a quarterback. There's a lot of teams that are still looking. I mean, the Saints are bringing Derek Carr back, but give me a break, right?

All right, John from Locked On Jets. Tomorrow we'll get into the DJ Reed stuff. We'll see if any more movement happens with the Lions and free agency on tomorrow's Wednesday edition. Thanks for making us your first listen, everybody. Thank you to our everydayers and everybody that checks us out daily. We appreciate all of you and love the listenership and viewership. Back again with a Wednesday edition tomorrow, everybody. Enjoy this weather, and it's springtime here in the D.

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