Mike O’Hara of the Detroit News has reported Roy Williams says he wants to stay here. Williams spoke about Marinelli calling him on the phone and telling him not to believe the rumors.
You can read the article here.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
The Lions over the next few years will eventually have to deal or release one of their receivers. All 4 of their top receivers can be a starter on any football team. Even though Mike Furrey didn’t have the season he had the previous year, eventually he, along with McDonald, as they get better, will demand more money to stay in Detroit. If the front office plan s to spend a decent percentage of their salary cap money to keep Williams AND Johnson, the likelihood McDonald and Furrey both stay Lions may prove to be extremely slim.
“Why worry about this? These guys are 3rd and 4th string.” It’s quite obvious the impact Furrey and McDonald have had on this offense has been stellar. In most cases they both have been Kitna’s “go to” guys when CJ or Roy were not open. Granted there’s a new Offensive Coordinator who has plans to run the ball a lot more than Martz did…but in 3 & 4 receiver sets, the key has been “YAC” (yards after catch). McDonald and Furrey have excelled at that. Besides, it’s one thing for Colletto to say they are going to run the ball more than they pass, but obviously with this C to D grade offensive line that has seen no improvements this offseason is going to put Colletto in positions where they still have to pass the ball just as much as in Martz’s offense.
ESPN SportsNation has picked the Lions to draft Illinois RB Rashard Mendenhall. That seems to be a general consensus even in this area…however if I had the opportunity to be Lions GM for that weekend, I would do all I could to move up and take Darren McFadden. He is the best athlete on the draft board. It would also allow for more creativity on the offensive side, as McFadden has played the QB position as well.
(I still think they should trade Roy Williams and move up in the draft. He won’t stay here after the season unless the Lions throw a ton of their money into applying that wonderful Franchise tag.)
