Like vultures, Detroit Lions supporters have been stalking the free agent cornerback market. With some free agency money to spend, it’s easy to dream that the Lions would sign a young, brilliant cornerback when free agency opens in two weeks. The position is undoubtedly one of the team’s top needs.
However, information from the NFL Combine indicates that two of the best possibilities could not even be available for free agency. The general managers of both teams discussed Tuesday, and it appears like obtaining either of the two players in this year’s class—Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson and Chiefs defender L’Jarius Sneed—will be challenging, if not impossible.
Ryan Poles, general manager of the Bears, stated that he expects to reach an agreement with Johnson this summer.
“At this point, the conversations are going well,” Poles stated. We believe we’ve done a great job of showing him the respect he deserves based solely on his career productivity, and we’ve placed a lot of focus on the mistakes he made this past year. We anticipate that will carry over while he plays for the Bears.
That is, of course, just one aspect of the talks. Johnson’s level of satisfaction with the ongoing negotiations is unknown. Poles stated that while he would prefer not to use the franchise tag, he would not completely rule it out when asked if the team was ready to do so in the event that they cannot reach a deal by the start of free agency.
Poles stated, “I’d like to avoid the franchise tag for him.” We should be able to establish a good medium ground, in my opinion. Although we always have the tag to use, I would really like to finish this project in the long run.
Johnson would have the chance to negotiate with other teams if the Bears decide to apply the franchise tag to him. If Johnson receives an offer from an outside team, however, the Bears will have the option to either accept the deal in full or acquire two first-round picks from the team making the offer in exchange for allowing Johnson to sign.
It seems improbable that Detroit would part with two significant draft picks in addition to a substantial sum of cap space in exchange for Johnson. It’s also reasonable to question if the Bears would ever undertake such an intra-divisional acquisition.
This brings Sneed into view. As to Jeremy Fowler’s report on ESPN, the Chiefs are willing to apply the tag on Sneed; however, they are also willing to facilitate a trade that goes beyond that:
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach stated at the Combine that the team will probably utilize the franchise tag between Sneed and possible free agent defensive lineman Chris Jones.
Veach stated, “We do have one tag, and I anticipate probably using it to help us.” “But I believe that our objective is to try to finish both of those players before focusing on the remaining players on our roster.”
Thus, once more, signing Sneed would require Detroit to commit draft capital in addition to a hefty salary cap outlay.
Does Brad Holmes, the general manager, seem like he would do that? In light of nearly everything he has spoken during the offseason, the response is unambiguously “No.” When asked whether the team would go after the “biggest fish” in free agency, Holmes responded as follows in a radio interview this week.
We’re going to take the same strategy as we’ve always used because—I believe—I mentioned it during that previous press conference. Winning a headline and winning March are both simple tasks. “That’s simple to win, but we really want to win December,” Holmes remarked. “Those are two different viewpoints, and that’s how you should approach it and plan,” the speaker said.
Put another way, it might be time to scale back expectations if your dream situation is for the Lions to sign either Johnson or Sneed this offseason.
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