Detroit Lions: With the pressure on, did Bob Quinn nail free agency?
By Robert Jones
Did the Lions do enough?
Yet even with that gimme in hand, Bob Quinn rolled up his sleeves and did dive into free agency like his job depended on it. He made several moves he hopes will help the Lions bounce back next season, but the question is; did he do enough?
Quinn opened the tampering period by coming to terms with former Philadelphia Eagles reserve tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai. The five year $50 million price tag wasn’t cheap and quite frankly makes him higher paid than if the Lions had kept Rick Wagner who they released last week.
Vaitai or ‘Big V’ as he was called in Philly has made several spot starts for the Eagles and even was in the lineup two years ago when they beat Matt Patricia and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The questions are because he has never been a full-time starter, but in fairness, there are two points we need to remember, the first is that he is still only 26 years old and the second is that he was behind one of the best tackle combinations in the NFL. Jason Peters and Lane Johnson would’ve been hard for the majority of the tackles in the league to beat out.
However, Peters was allowed to walk out the door in free agency and the Eagles seemed to be fine with not retaining ‘Big V’ as his replacement. That would be the concern. Vaitai should be an asset to the ground game, but he needs work on his pass protection, which will be vital to keeping Stafford off his back and on the field.
The Lions then agreed to term with former Patriot linebacker Jamie Collins. After a forgettable one year hiatus in Cleveland, Collins returned to the Patriots, his team of original origin and played very well. As a matter of fact, well enough that after coming to terms with Collins, the Lions released Devon Kennard. If Collins can play as well here then this may be a good trade-off.
Fortunately, Quinn didn’t forget about how thin his defensive line has become and was able to come to an agreement with former Chicago Bear, Nick Williams, and another former Patriot, if you can imagine that, Danny Shelton to beef up the defensive tackle position.