Detroit A Desirable Destination For Free Agents? Players Say Times Are Changing
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - When guard Rob Sims came to Detroit in 2010 from the Seattle Seahawks, the Lions had won only two games over the two previous seasons.
"When I first walked in the door here, I was kind of like - very iffy about this whole thing here in Detroit and thought this is the place where players went to die, to be honest," Sims said Monday, the day after Detroit's season ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. "I thought my career took a bad shift."
Five seasons and 80 straight starts later, Sims has a different perspective. Now a free agent, he calls Detroit his home.
"I just think this place has a way of growing on you," Sims said. "After a while, you realize you can make a home here and make some stuff happen here. The things we've done the last five years, we flipped the franchise from 0-16 to a playoff contender, and we went through a lot of bumps and bruises to get there.
"When you come in and you meet people like Dominic Raiola, make lifelong friends, people like Jeff Backus, Jeremiah Washburn, people like that, I think that's when it starts to switch until - I think that's when it just starts to switch into, 'This is home. It feels right,'" Sims said. "I know everybody that comes in this locker room, it's a certain feeling they get about being here, something about fighting the blue-collar fight and overcoming stuff and taking on the personality of the city. There's something about it that is infectious."
Lions safety Glover Quin, who came to Detroit in 2013 after four seasons with the Houston Texans, said without hesitation that his experience with the Lions has been better than he expected.
"Several years ago, I can't say a lot of free agents wouldn't have wanted to come to Detroit just from the history of the team, the things that you hear across the world about the city," Quin said, "but when I came here on a visit, [general manager] Martin [Mayhew] told me that he was trying to bring guys in there to make a change. He wanted me to be a part of the change, and I thought that was something that was kind of special to try to be a part of something that was greater than myself, to be a part of somebody that helped change a franchise, helped revive a city, to help do something that's bigger than just playing football.
"It's worked out great," Quin continued. "I prayed about it, and God opened up doors for me to come here, and I couldn't be happier."
Wide receiver Golden Tate, who came to the Lions from the Seahawks as a free agent before the 2014 season and proved himself an enormous asset, also spoke about the process of turning around the image of the franchise.
"A lot of people have never been here or given us a chance, have a lot of negative thoughts about us, but if you guys keep writing the articles you're writing and we keep getting involved in the community and winning ball games, that's going to change," Tate said. "I was in Seattle when we were 7-9, and we got no love from the media, no one wanted to watch us play on prime time football. I think that's all going to change."
This offseason the Lions elected to decline the fifth-year option on defensive tackle Nick Fairley, now a free agent, but it would appear that move has not soured him on re-signing. He said he believes he has a bright future and wants it to be with the Lions.
"I love Detroit, to be honest," Fairley said. "The city, the people in it, I love the atmosphere and basically the hard work ... I'm just a hard worker, and that's kind of the vibe that I get from the city, and I like it."
Kicker Matt Prater, whom the Lions brought in after he served a four-game suspension for substance abuse, will also be a free agent, but he has already told his agent that he wants to stay in Detroit.
"I'd love to stay here and finish out my career," Prater said. "I've had a lot of fun with the players and the coaches. It's been a fun place to work. It's different when you enjoy coming to work. I'm going to miss it this offseason. I'm going to be bored now. I'll miss hanging out with the guys. That's the best part of it is coming to work and enjoying yourself, getting to meet quality people and have fun.
"Everyone's been super good to me out here," he added, "and I want to stay here."
Many other Lions become free agents this offseason, but the most valuable one did not make himself available in the locker room Monday. Four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh showed his emotion Sunday, however, when he cried at the podium after the loss to Dallas
Lions center Dominic Raiola - also a free agent - said he did not believe the tears by Suh meant goodbye. Raiola believed Suh simply felt the pain of losing out on an opportunity - the same pain many of the other players have expressed.
Suh joined the Lions the same year Sims did. The franchise has a long history of struggle, but it appears to be headed in the right direction, from four wins in 2012 to seven wins in 2013 to 11 wins in 2014.
Along with Tate and Prater, who stabilized a terrifyingly rocky kicking game, safety James Ihedigbo was another free agent who made an impact for Detroit this season. In the past, maybe those players would never have considered the Lions. In the past, maybe Suh would have never considered staying in Detroit past his rookie contract.
What Suh will do remains a mystery. Given glowing player testimonies about the franchise and the city, however, it appears the likelihood of Detroit keeping Suh - and on a larger scale, bringing other talented players into the fold - is much higher than it once was.