18 UFAs - this is a ranking of 17 Lions Free Agents. They have some disagreements with my assessments (they also left S CJ Moore off.)
Brown, Chark & Elliott can all command 8 figure, multi-year deals in the open market & likely are unrealistic. Jackson & Williams are in a pretty deep UFA RB class atm & might resign at reasonable levels. Skip, Buggs, Commish, Board, Woods, Harris, Hughes, Moore s/b resigned IMO.
We’ll need a plan to replace but Sudfeld, Bryant, Anzalone, Oruwariye & Badgley should be let go. Unless we can resign at minimal levels, those are all areas we should aim to upgrade through FA/Draft IMO.
I think Brown is the only guy of the top group I am interested in at that price. If we can't get a long term solution at RG then Brown is quality enough to start but he can also replace Jonah or Ragnow if hurt (and lets be real, Ragnow is looking at possible surgery on both feet so no guarantees he is ready). Physically, Chark is a gifted player but he also playing a role for the Lions that doesn't need significant money thrown at it IMO. I thought Elliott was fine this year but Detroit has Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker coming back. Detroit needs more investment at S but it should be in the draft.
For the RBs, I think Jamaal is actually a priority. Now we can't overspend on him because I actually don't think he has much juice but his leadership and spirit is infectious. I hate to see him get out of the building. Jackson was very good in his small role but also feels like that should be replaced with a rookie RB who has more longterm upside.
Bugtgs and Commish are pretty high priorities for me. If you can pair them with Hutch, McNeil, healthy 2nd year Paschal and add another uber athlete high in the draft. I would be very happy with the DL rotation.
Amari, Badgley, Sudfeld, Bryant can all walk. I didn't see anything impressive from them this year. Sadly I am ready to say nearly the same from Okudah. Not sure if he got hurt again or if it was that illness he picked up but any gains he made in the first 8 weeks totally evaporated.
Mike Hughes is kind of a whatever. He played decent when he had to get in but obviously CB is the biggest need Detroit has so it's fine if he just gets replaced by FAs and rookies.
The two guys I disagree with you on are Board and Anzalone. Obviously Board is strictly a special teamer but he impressed me in that role. I thought Anzalone was one of our most improved players. I don't know what his market is but if he can stay as the starter and leader next year with the understanding he will transition to a back-up role as the Lions develop a younger player then I really would like him back.
