A week after Lions GM Brad Holmes detailed the "financial constraints" the team is facing this offseason, president Rod Wood explained for the same reason why they were "never in the game" for one of the top edge rushers on the free agent or trade markets.
Wood reiterated that the Lions remain committed to "trying to make sure that we don’t overcommit today so that we can’t take care of our own guys," in an interview with the Free Press at the league meetings in Arizona.
The organization is prioritizing extensions for in-house players Jack Campbell, Jahmyr GIbbs, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch, hoping to get the stars of its 2023 draft class locked up within the next year. To the Lions, that's more important than making expensive external additions.
"When we’re looking at our cash and cap budget, we’re looking at it as is and as it will be with those guys knowing that we want to keep many of them, all of them if we can," said Wood. "So if we had gone out and done the biggest – let’s say we did the Maxx Crosby trade or the Trey Hendrickson signing, that probably would have meant, which one of these guys are we going to let go?"
The Ravens originally traded two first-round picks to the Raiders for Maxx Crosby and his $35.5 million salary, before signing Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million deal after the Crosby trade fell through due to a failed physical. Other free agent edge rushers also cashed in, including Jaelan Phillips (four years, $120 million) with the Panthers, Odafe Oweh (four years, $100 million) with the Commanders and Boye Mafe (three years, $60 million) with the Bengals.
Veteran options like Cam Jordan, Jadeveon Clowney and Joey Bosa remain on the market,
To fill the void across from Aidan Hutchinson, the Lions opted to sign D.J. Wonnum to a one-year, $3 million deal that could be worth up to $6 million in incentives. Wonnum is a much better run defender than Al-Quadin Muhammad, who signed a similar deal with the Buccaneers after posting 11 sacks for Detroit last season.
Wood said that the clamor for the Lions to acquire a proven edge-rusher to pair with Hutchinson "reminds me so much of everybody said we needed to have another receiver opposite Calvin [Johnson]. And when you have one of those guys, trying to get another one is really hard. How many teams have two?"
"It’d almost be like you have a great starting quarterback as a backup, because there just aren’t enough guys to go around," Wood said. "And then if you pay one like we did with Aidan, to try and pay another one, let’s say you did and you now have $75 million or $80 million of your cap tied up with your pass rushers, you’re giving up something else. So would we love to have another great pass rusher? Yeah, but we’ll probably have to find him in the draft vs. we go out and pay top dollar for him."
Asked if the Lions considered delaying extensions for Gibbs, Campbell, Branch or LaPorta for a year to give themselves more money to spend in free agency this offseason, Wood said, "Even doing that, it still would have been a difficult situation over the next two years with cash, so we just never were in the game for that, I’ll be honest with you."
