Detroit Lions: Why this season is more trick than treat

What the Lions did before Tuesday’s trade deadline was called being proactive. If they were unable to re-sign Tate during the offseason, as they suspected would be the case, they were going to have to learn to live without him anyways.

The third round pick they acquired from Philadelphia for Tate is a prime opportunity to acquire a building block for this team. If properly used, it will do more to help the Lions win games in the future than Tate would.

That isn’t a slight against Golden Tate, its actually a commentary on the situation. The Lions were not going to offer Tate the type of money he was going to ask for. Monies he actually deserves based on his body of work. The reason is simple, general manager Bob Quinn subscribes to the New England Patriots way of thinking; Don’t overpay for any players except your franchise quarterback.

The other reason is that the receiver position is a position of strength for the Lions. Is it as strong today as it was last Sunday? Without question it’s not, but isn’t it better to get something of value in return, like a third-round pick, rather than nothing?

This also gives the Lions the opportunity to see what Brandon Powell can do. Powell made the team out of preseason only to be a healthy scratch every week until last Sunday. How on Earth does a player like that make the team, then never get playing time until this past weekend unless the Lions had a plan in mind for him?

Powell is the same body type as Tate and demonstrated his ability to gain yards after the catch during the exhibition season. He was like ‘Mini-Tate’. Powell was also the player that Tate had taken under his wing and was teaching him everything he knew. Because he saw the comparison too.

It’s better to start finding out what Powell has to offer now than next season when hopefully, the Lions will start looking like contenders after a major binge on players to fill their defensive needs during the offseason.