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.

A couple of days ago I handed out my end of season grades for the Detroit Lions Offensive unit. If you read that post, it’s pretty easy to see I wasn’t too happy and certainly let down by the offense this year. But how did the Defensive unit fare in my viewpoint? The Lions defense was supposed to struggle this year, so I took that into consideration when grading them this year. Again, my grades are determined as much for how they did against expectations as they are for simple performance. Well, let’s get to em…

Defensive Line: C-

The defensive line was supposed to be the anchor of a weak defensive unit this year. Sean Rogers and Kalimba Edwards were supposed to be heavyweights this year. They both were busts and I hope are not with the team next year. Early in the season, the Lions seemed to win or lose based on the play of the defensive line. When they disappeared, the Lions got blown out. The second half of the season, I think they were on the field, but one can never be sure. The lone bright spot on the line was DeWayne White who had half a dozen sacks and let the team in fumble recoveries. Unfortunately, he was never the same after his shoulder/arm injury midway through the season. We have to improve her next year.

Linebackers: D

Watching the Lions linebackers try to tackle was laughable this year. - except for Ernie Sims. Sims is a man amongst boys on the Lions. We need a few more of him. This grade would have been an E except for the stellar play of Sims. These guys were quiet all year. Baily, Lehman, Lenon and Lews just didnt make enough plays. In Marinelli’s scheme, these guys have it pretty simple, play the gaps. If the ball carrier got past the line, it was likely a CB or S making the stop - unless Sims was around. I wish we could clone Sims. This area needs to be addressed in the offseason.

Seconday: C

I really struggled coming up with a grade here. The coverage by the secondary was terrible. We gave up lots of yardage every game. Opposing quarterbacks had big days and lofty ratings. Still, the for much of the first half of the season, the Lions led the league in takeaways and were near the top in interceptions. This from a unit everyone knew was going to be bad. I give them credit for a better than expected first half. Unfortunately, the second half was pretty much what was expected. They were eaten alive. I think cornerback could be our number 1 need this offseason. I think we are okay at safety with Bullocks coming back from injury and the inspired play of Greg Blue the last few games.

Defensive Coordinator: C-

This is really for all the defensive coaches. You have to give them credit the first half of the season. The Lions went 6 - 2 largely because of big plays by the defense. However, throughout the season, the defense took too many stupid penalties that kept opposing drives alive. The anchor of the defense, the line, was bad all year. Why couldn’t the coaches get them to play?