A lot of times free agency winds up producing bloated contracts for veterans that represents the new team paying for what the player did before arriving, not what they might be able to do with the new team.
That is certainly not the case with the Lions and the first wave of reports connecting free agents who have agreed to sign in Detroit.
Sure, Danny Amendola is a 33-year-old slot receiver. At least he’s on a 1-year deal for an affordable $4.5 million. That deal is already done because Amendola was cut following the season, so the Lions did not have to wait until the official beginning of the signing period on Wednesday.
The other three deals reported in the first few hours of the “legal tampering” period reflect a move towards signing younger players on the rise…
When the team has done this in the past, it’s worked quite well. Golden Tate and Glover Quin both provided several years of very good play in Detroit, improving upon what they’d done with their original teams.
Regardless of how fans might feel about the money being thrown around, at least most of it is going towards players who can do more in Detroit than they’ve done before. That’s smart spending.
