The Lions have announced they resigned Tatum Bell to a new one year $1.6M contract today. This was not unexpected news based on how free agency has gone for the Lions this year. However, I think it would have been unexpected if you had asked about this 2 or 3 months ago.

Bell saw very limited action last year as a Lion and it was widely expected that he and the Lions would part company. In fact, many thought he would be released or traded during the season last year. Coach Rod’s decision to hand on to Bell seems to have played out nicely for the Lions now that Duckett has left the organization and they were unable to land stud running back in free agency.

I don’t really question this move very much though if Bell wasn’t your back last year, he isn’t likely to be your back of choice this year either. Martz is now gone, so there will likely be more running opportunities in the offense in the upcoming season. With Duckett gone and Kevin Jones injured once again, there is another opportunity for Bell to step in and snatch the starting job.

Also, I expect the Lions to target a running back of the future in the upcoming draft. Having Bell around for another year, with Jones coming back from injury, will give the new kid some time to grow into an NFL running back. While I wouldn’t have said this 2 months ago, the Lions may very take a running back now with their first round pick in the draft. Previously, I had felt that CB was the more pressing need, but we have band aided that enough to the point where we can probably get the CB with our second pick. Of course, we can’t forget about pressing needs on the offensive line and at linebacker.

The Lions continue to underwhelm in free agency once again. That would be okay if they had a decent draft strategy, but history shows Millen doesn’t. Today, they have resigned George Foster to a 1 year deal. What?

I guess they have decided to give the ultimate under achiever another shot. They brought him in last year and he couldn’t have been any worse at right tackle than he was last year. Foster kept trying to give his job away, but nobody would step up and outplay his display performance until Damien Woody did towards the end of the season.

The only reason I can think of why they resigned him was as an insurance policy since they lost Woody to free agency. I guess they are keeping him around in case they can’t find someone else in free agency or the draft. All I can see is, we are in for another long season if Woody is anchoring that right side again.

In other news, Julius Jones signed with the Seahawks, so obviously he won’t be a Lion. That would have been somewhat intriguing but as I said in a previous post, I am sure his asking price for what the Lions wanted was too high.

There are also a bunch of internet reports out there about the Lions being interested in Pacman Jones. Come on, you can’t be serious. Millen might not be much of a GM, but he is a man o character and I can’t see him bringing that trash into Detroit. It would also go in the face of what Marinelli has been preaching about building a cohesive team with chemistry that starts in the locker room. Danger - stay away from him, which I think Detroit will smartly do.