The Lions made a couple of more free agency moves yesterday. It was no surprise that they released Kalimba Edwards. The surprise of the day was that they released running back Kevin Jones. Both were once considered to be some of the key blocks around which the Lions would construct a winning team.

Kalimba was another experiment gone bad. He was a 2nd round pick (another high draft pick bust for Millen) in 2022 that never panned out for the Lions. He wasn’t a total failure and will likely end up somewhere. The problem was he never lived up to a second round pick and the wasn’t likely to live up to the money he was going to count against the cap this year. I have long speculate he would not return this season.

The release of Kevin Jones, however, was a complete surprise to me. I did not see this coming and suspect few folks did. Jones was a 1st round draft pick in 2006 and also didn’t quite live up to that hype, though the inability of the Lions offensive line to block well during his tenure cannot be forgotten. Jones has missed a lot of playing time this past two seasons with injuries. Though he claimed he would be ready for the season opener, I think the Lions would have been lucky to get a half of a season out of him in next year.

Jones was schedule to make $2.37M this upcoming season as a Lion. I suspect that with the injury, the amount of time he would play next year and the fact he would be a free agent the following season, caused Coach Rod to decide to make this surprise move.

The move really leaves us limited at running back for next year. Our lone back, no, I don’t count those other guys, is Tatum Bell. Tatum was so far down the depth chart last season, that one cannot logically assume he can be your back of the future. I have mentioned before that the Lions were likely to take a running back high in the draft. This pretty much confirms it. Still, I had expected Jones and Bell to share the load while the rookie was brought along slowly. Now, the new guy is likely to have to contribute immediately, unless Bell has a sudden re-emergence of his old self.

What will become of Jones? I have no doubt he will be given another shot with a different team, but it likely won’t be until he knee is better. Assuming his knee recovers, which is no sure thing given the extent of the injury, he may well go onto a nice career.

This move also pretty much assures us that we are stuck with Jon Kitna as QB for another year. I don’t see much chance of the Lions taking a QB early. We have too many other needs, including RB, OL, LB and CB. Some folks think CB is set with the free agency moves, but I am not convinced we wont take a mid round CB.

It’s time for me to give out my grades to the Lions offensive squad. It’s not really that pretty. Some of the less than stellar grades are directly related to expectations at the beginning of the year. Bottom line is that the as a unit, the offensive line did not perform up to expectations and were a disappointment. Let’s get to the grades…

Quarterback: B-

Jon Kitna certainly threw for a lot of yards this year (over 4000), but his other stats weren’t quite as impressive. He completed 63% of his passes this year, which was fair, but his 20 interceptions with only 18 touchdowns was horrible. Throw in all of his fumbles and you have way too many mistakes for a veteran quarterback to be making. Too many of those mistakes were in the Red Zone and cost his team points.

I give Kitna credit for early in the season getting the Lions off on the right track. During the first half of the season, the Lions certainly looked like his team. He was able to rally and focus them on the task at hand. He appeared to be a true leader for the team. However, when things went South in the second half, he started running his mouth and said some stuff a leader shouldn’t say. He was unable to get the guys back on track.

Running Back: B-

This grade may not be entirely fair due to the game plan of Martz, but the Lions didn’t really have a running game. Why in the World did we bring in Tatum Bell during the offseason. He was a complete flop, though I don’t really know if he was given a chance. Kevin Jones fought back from his injury this year and showed some moments of why the Lions drafted him a few years back. TJ Duckett was hot or cold. Some games he couldn’t do anything and other games he looked unstoppable. I suspect if the Lions had a more balanced attack during the past season, this grade would have been somewhat higher.

Wide Receivers: B

The Lions drafted heralded wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the last draft and big things were expected from the offense this year. Calvin had a more than respectable year, but most of it was in the first half of the season. Like many rookies, he appeared to tire and fade late in the season. Hopefully, he does some serious conditioning in the offseason and comes back ready to light it up next year.

Mike Furrey led the team in receptions last year. This year, he ended up as the fourth receiver statistically. Roy Williams was expected to exert himself as a big play receiver. While he did have a few plays, they were not of the big play variety. He often seemed to run the wrong route or drop a ball at the worst time. Roy will be a force in this league, but I think the thing he has to overcome most is himself. If he convinces himself he wants to be one of the elite receivers, he can be. Sean MacDonald was the surprise receiver this year leading the team in receptions. Unfortunately, there were too many times where he caught the ball and then gave up yards and first downs by running backwards trying to make something happen. He needs to just lower his head and get a few more yards.

Offensive Line: D

This is where the Lions offense failed the most. The offensive line was the most porous in the NFL giving up a league leading 63 sacks. Yup, that’s right, 63 sacks. That’s just about an average of 4 per game. That puts an incredible amount of stress and pressure on the quarterback. The line also failed to be consistent in the running game. Some games they opened up some holes and others they did nothing. In the past, I have thought pretty highly of Backus, but he had his worst year as a Lion. George Foster, who was acquired with Bell, was a complete failure. The bright spot was how well Damien Woody stepped in at right tackle in the last quarter of the season. One can only wonder what might have happened if he had started the season there. Unfortunately, Woody is a free agent this year and is likely to not return though he isn’t against it.

Offensive Coordinator: C-

It’s no secret that Mike Martz likes to pass, but to have games where you only attempt 8 runs is crazy. And those games were not out of range early forcing the Lions to throw. We just came in to some games with game plans that I just didn’t understand. I wouldn’t have minded us throwing more than running, but it shouldn’t be as lopsided as it was with the Lions this year. I actually respect Martz and his football savvy, but he just wasn’t right for the Lions. I don’t know if he and Marinelli ever saw eye to eye. I think he failed to react to the way his offense was playing. While giving up all those sacks, Martz kept doing the same thing instead of altering his game plan to best utilize the teams strengths.