Reason #4: The trading of Golden Tate and Quandre Diggs
The NFL is a business, we all know that. But sometimes, the front office can make moves that don’t seem reasonable to fans at the time.
In 2018, the Lions ended up trading veteran wide receiver Golden Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles. The move seemed questionable to me at the time as Detroit wasn’t out of playoff contention at the time of the trade, nor was Tate’s production suffering.
To many fans, it seemed like the Lions were throwing the towel in way too early.
Darius Slay is a competitive player. Week in and week out, he’s tries to do what he can to win. He expects everyone else to do the same.
But it can be maddening when it seems as if your front office is throwing in the towel on a season that’s not even close to over.
Last season, the Lions traded safety and team captain Quandre Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks.
Diggs was another well-liked personality in the locker room and earned the respect of his peers, but ironically it was not enough for the front office to keep him in Motown.
This trade raised questions with fans about not only if the front office wants to win, but if they even know what they’re doing.
Detroit’s defense was already bad enough, and then they take out an essential piece of an already porous unit? That move certainly had to be confusing and disappointing for Slay and the rest of a close-knit secondary.
If it was that easy for the Lions’ brass to trade away Diggs, perhaps Slay questioned his value to the organization as well.