The Waiting Game Begins Again
Here we go again. The Detroit Lions grabbed their edge rusher in Derrick Moore with the 44th pick, and now we get to sit around and watch other teams set the market for second-round rookie deals. Sound familiar?
If you lived through the Tate Ratledge contract saga, you know exactly where this is headed. The Lions didn’t get their second-round guard signed until July 17th. That was just three days before they started training camp on the 20th. That wasn’t a Ratledge problem, that was a league-wide second-round mess.
The Market Movers Strike Early
The Raiders already made their move, signing Treadyn Stukes to a fully guaranteed deal on May 1st. Stukes went 38th overall. The Jets followed up by signing D’Angelo Ponds at pick 50, though his deal isn’t fully guaranteed. It’s close enough to make agents for picks 39-49 start making phone calls.
Here’s the thing that should worry Lions fans: Moore sits right in the middle at pick 44. He might land right on the cutoff line for fully guaranteed money.
The Pattern Is Pretty Clear
The fully guaranteed deals went to picks 33-40 last year. This year, that range is expected to creep up a bit. Maybe to 45. Maybe further.
Moore’s position makes this interesting. He’s not safely in the guaranteed zone like Stukes, but he’s not clearly out of it like Ponds appears to be. That middle ground is exactly where contract negotiations turn into summer-long standoffs.
The good news is the Raiders sort of set the market early this time around. Last year, it was the first two picks of the second round and then the 36th pick that held everything up. Now we’re waiting to see what happens after pick 39.
Brad Holmes Has Been Here Before
The front office handled the Ratledge situation just fine, even if it took until July to get it done. They didn’t panic, they didn’t overpay, and they got their guy signed before it mattered.
Moore’s situation feels similar. He’s talented enough that you want him in camp on time, but not so crucial that missing a few practices would derail anything. Still, after watching this play out once already, you’d hope for a quicker resolution this time around.
Think Moore gets his deal done before the calendar flips to July, or are we in for another summer of contract chicken? Drop your prediction below.
Honestly I’m not even worried about this. Holmes and Campbell have shown they know what they’re doing, and if Ratledge got signed before camp started last year then we’ll be fine with Moore too. These guys aren’t the clowns who used to run this team into the ground.
Here’s my thing though, just because they handled Ratledge okay doesn’t mean we’re gonna breeze through this again. The market’s always shifting and Moore’s right in that weird middle spot where things can get messy fast. I hope I’m wrong but I’ve learned not to hold my breath with contract stuff.
You know what’s wild is that we used to have these dragged out nightmares every single offseason where nothing made sense and front office guys looked completely lost. This time it actually feels organized, like they got a plan. That’s night and day different from what I watched for years.
I think Moore gets it done by late June honestly. Brad Holmes seems like the type who doesn’t let these things linger once the market sets. Plus with how this team is trending, nobody wants to be that guy holding out of camp and missing bonding time.