Lions 'Never Done' In Free Agency, But Mayhew Says Focus Is Shifting Toward Draft
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
PHOENIX - Barring any surprises, the biggest move of free agency for the Detroit Lions was the trade for 31-year-old defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, a five-time Pro Bowl selection who finished 2014 on a four-game suspension.
The Lions also signed another defensive tackle, Tyrunn Walker, from the New Orleans Saints.
For the most part, however, Detroit's offseason has consisted of re-signing its own players, including cornerback Rashean Mathis, kicker Matt Prater, backup quarterbacks Kellen Moore and Dan Orlovsky, long snapper Don Muhlbach, linebacker Josh Bynes and safety Isa Abdul-Quddus.
General manager Martin Mayhew disputes the notion the Lions have been relatively inactive in free agency.
"I felt like I've been pretty active," Mayhew said Monday in a sit-down with Detroit reporters at the owners meetings. "We've signed a number of our own guys as well as traded for a guy and signed a restricted free agent who was not tendered. I think there are different levels of activity, as you know. We've been pretty busy with the process, though. We talked to a lot of guys who signed elsewhere, but each decision you want to make, you want it to be a good decision, so there are times when players got to certain values and we let them go.
"I think in any negotiation, you have to have a point where you say, 'I'm not going to go beyond this point. It doesn't make sense for me to go beyond this point,'" Mayhew continued. "It's called the reservation point, reservation price or whatever. You have that point you're not going to go beyond, and that point, you start looking at your other alternatives, and that's kind of how the process has gone for us this offseason."
Mayhew told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday that, while the Lions are "never done" in free agency, the organization is shifting its focus toward the upcoming draft.
"We'll still be active, and we're still talking to a few guys ... kind of like second-wave free agency guys, third-wave guys, so we're still talking to a few players, but a lot of our preparation now will be starting to gear toward the draft, with the pro days going on right now, those evaluations," Mayhew told the radio show. "We'll be doing some interviews of players, bringing guys into our building, interviewing those players. We have our local pro day coming up … We're starting to shift that focus toward the draft, but there's still some free agency loose ends that we're trying to tie up."
Mayhew told SiriusXM NFL that it looks like 2015 will be a strong draft, especially at a pair of positions where the Lions have need.
"There are definitely a lot of good defensive tackles out there, for sure," Mayhew said. "A lot of those guys, a lot of good running backs, [that is a] strength there. There are not many areas I would say are particularly weak. There are not a lot of really top quarterbacks, I would say that, but across the board, you can find good players in this draft."
The Lions likely need to add a defensive tackle, given Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen all hit free agency, and the team will also probably pick up a running back, since they have released Reggie Bush.