Josh Sweat signed a revised contract with the Philadelphia Eagles last offseason (one-year, $10 million), which effectively put him into a "prove-it" situation. Then he went out and proved what he had to, registering 54 quarterback pressures and eight sacks during the regular season with free agency on the horizon.
Then on the big stage of Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sweat had 2.5 sacks and six pressures of Patrick Mahomes as he made a strong case for MVP of the game (and arguably should have won it).
Sweat is the top edge rusher on the free agent market, and the Detroit Lions need help there. The half-measures that have been done on that front, outside of the out of anyone's control injury-forced additions that had to be made this past season this side of Za'Darius Smith, should be over.
While it's easy to push the Lions toward a big move on the trade market to get a marquee edge rusher (Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby, Trey Hendrickson), Sweat should be somewhere on their radar in free agency.
Analyst sees Josh Sweat and the Lions as a good match
Mitch Milani of Bleacher Report has predicted the landing spot for some notable free agents, including matching Sweat with the Lions.
"I view him as a good Detroit Lion. I think he's got the ideal skill set to complement Aidan Hutchinson. He's not an overwhelming pass rusher, but he can certainly take advantage of matchups, as we saw in that Super Bowl. You can give him a matchup one on one, and he'll feast. He can win with finesse and dip and bend, and he can win with length and power as well. You know, he's got a really good just compliment of moves and compliment of skill set. Aidan Hutchinson is one of the best pass rushers in football who's constantly, you know, being asked basically to beat double teams. So Detroit could desperately utilize another rusher on the opposite side that can also just feast on the other side."
Of course any conversation about the Lions signing Sweat has to involve what it would cost.
Spotrac currently has Sweat's projected market value at $18.8 million per year on a three-year, $56.47 million projected deal. Cap expert Josh Queipo has him projected for a three-year, $50.2 million deal ($16.75 million per year). Considering where other possibilities on the upper tier of edge rushers (like Garrett) are or will be per year, Sweat would come in noticeably cheaper.
The Lions will have plenty of competition to sign Sweat if they have interest in him (and it's established they should have interest). What's unclear how is far they'd go in a possible bidding war, but the fit looks nice-for both sides.
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