For months leading right up to the draft, there were a lot of rumors swirling that the Lions wanted to trade Roy Williams. Millen and Marinelli steadfastly denied they were looking to trade Roy Williams but said they would listen to any and all offers on any player.

I never really believed the Lions were serious about trading Williams - certainly not for a single first round pick that Dallas was supposedly dangling in front of the Lions. The way the Lions drafted this past weekend should be a good indication that they weren’t serious. If they had moved Williams, they would have had to replace him, likely in the draft. We had too many other needs to have to concentrate on another wideout. Yes, we drafted Kenneth Moore, but he will be given a shot to win the punt and kick return spot.

There was no logic to trading Williams this year. Yes, he could maybe walk next year, but so what? Trading him would have been a salary cap hit and then we would have had a spot to fill. Having Williams and Johnson at the wide receiver spots this year should pay dividends. They have a chance to be one of the top pairs in the NFL. That is, provided Detroit throws the ball enough this year.

Also, since Williams could leave next year, in the true NFL fashion, he should have a gang buster year in order to set himself up for a huge payday. Why not take advantage of that and use him to spark the offense this upcoming season.

As much as I wanted to believe the Lions wouldn’t trade Williams, it was hard to be sure with Matt Millen at the helm, but I have to give him credit. I think he did pretty well this year in the draft and not moving Roy Williams was absolutely the right choice.

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.