Detroit Lions Free Agency: Oh Captain, my Captain?

The Detroit Lions are looking for help at cornerback. Could they look to a recently released veteran as a starter while a rookie draft pick develops?

As the Detroit Lions make preparations for the start of free agency and the NFL draft, they are looking at all the options for every position of need. One of those positions of need has a new option as the Carolina Panthers just released cornerback Captain Munnerlyn on Monday.

Every time a recognizable name gets released, it’s fun for fans to think of that player coming to their favorite team. Fans throw out a player’s age and their contract numbers and anything else that might obviously prevent a union from happening, just so they can dream for a moment. But for one of the 31 teams out there, the dream is a real possibility.

In this instance, the Lions are looking for someone to start opposite cornerback Darius Slay. Much has been said about the talent drop off between Slay and his counterparts on the team, as well as the chances of a rookie cornerback being drafted to stardom. It points to free agency as a possible solution the teams’ need in the secondary.

While injury-plagued cornerback Ronald Darby was linked to Detroit by NFL.com’s Marc Sessler, that connection was made before Munnerlyn was cut yesterday. Now, that probably wouldn’t have changed Sessler’s assessment. He’s looking for a potential hit at a position of need and the risk versus reward makes sense with Darby.

The risk versus reward might also make sense with Munnerlyn. While Darby is only 25 year’s old, Munnerlyn will turn 31 before the 2019 season starts. He’s older and, thus, more experienced. His time in the league could be a very useful teaching component for a newly drafted cornerback.

Drafting a cornerback and having him sit behind, or even split time, with Munnerlyn would be beneficial for both players – Munnerlyn hasn’t started 16 games in a season since 2014. It would also ensure the rookie isn’t thrown to the wolves right out of the gate.

A somewhat inexpensive free agent signing to help the development of the future wouldn’t even come at the expense of success today. While Munnerlyn is turning 31, he’s still making plays with one interception, two sacks, nine passes defended and 47 total tackles in 2018.

This Detroit Lions team is looking for playmakers and Munnerlyn can still make plays. Does that mean he’ll end up in the Motor City? Not necessarily. But he’s an option that would make sense as a stop-gap between today and the future at cornerback for this team.