Detroit Lions in a No-Lose Situation with Alphonso Smith

NFL.com’s Jason LaCanfora broke the news that the Detroit Lions are willing to move cornerback Alphonso Smith and it seems that they are quite active in trying to make it happen. Here’s the tweet:

Lions willing to move CB Alphonso Smith. Have shopped him to at least one team. Was a 2nd round pick by Denver in 2009 #insideslant

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) February 25, 2012

Andrew Weber- US PRESSWIRE

With cornerback being one of the team’s weak spots it is interesting that the team seems motivated to move Smith. He has one year left on his contract and has shown a knack for coming up with big plays, although that aggressiveness has also worked against him (See Thanksgiving Day 2010). If he ends up staying with the Lions the team has a player with enough talent to compete for playing time at a position of need.

Even if Smith’s days in Detroit are over, whatever he brings through a trade will be a net gain for the Lions. Smith, a former second round draft pick by the Denver Broncos, was traded to the Lions for tight end Don Gronkowski – a player that wasn’t going to survive the final cuts following training camp in 2010. In effect, the Lions got Smith for nothing.

Trading Smith for a sixth-round pick might be asking a bit much considering his shortcomings (remember, the Lions got Chris Houston for a sixth-round pick and a conditional seventh) but even a seventh round pick in April’s draft would give the team flexibility. The Lions currently hold their own seventh-rounder and that of the Seahawks in the deal that sent Tyler Polumbus to Seattle. Three seventh-round picks would give the Lions the ability to potentially package two of them to move into the sixth round or as additional picks to create a package to move up earlier in the draft.

Considering trading Alphonso Smith could get that done, it’s like getting something even more for nothing. If not, they’ll continue getting use out of a player they got for nothing.

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