Casualties of the ‘Patriot Way’?
The two moves that have every Lions fans wondering how it improves the team are Bob Quinn’s willingness to allow former starting center and guard, Graham Glasgow to leave in free agency and what seems to be the destined trade of cornerback Darius Slay.
Both may just be ‘Patriot Way’ decisions. Players Bob Quinn doesn’t have an interest in paying to keep their services and just planning to plug-in replacements who can do their job.
The only problem with that idea is that the Lions don’t have anyone on their roster to replace them with.
We now live in the salary cap era where teams have to watch their spending. Being fiscally responsible is a must in order to build and sustain winning teams. The problem with the idea that the Lions can just replace both Glasgow and Slay is that it will cost them just as much to overpay players in free agency to replace them, if not more.
If Bob Quinn decides to go the other route and replace them in the draft, that will be more financially responsible, but there are also the growing pains that come with young players learning how to play in the NFL.
Once again, that isn’t the worse scenario in the universe when you’re building a team. But if the goal is to win now, you have to get lucky that those draft picks are fast learners and mature enough to contribute at a relatively higher level immediately.
So the fact that no one can understand these moves isn’t all that surprising. Especially under the circumstances that both Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia are working to keep their jobs.
This brings into the play the idea that subtracting these personalities from the locker room will only help the team. We all know that Darius Slay is a free thinker who is willing to say what he believes which quite frankly seems to be the root of all the trade talks.
Just like when they traded Quandre Diggs last season. Yet Slay is incredibly well respected by his teammates, just like Diggs was. So unless he has actually stirred up his teammates to question Matt Patricia’s scheme or the Lions are actually rebuilding, one has to wonder about trading Slay.