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Buried in the bottom of a puff piece about rookie running back Kevin Smith and his “armor” for football season is a mention that five veteran members of the Detroit Lions didn’t show up on Thursday for a voluntary Organized Team Activity practice session.
Missing were receiver Roy Williams, linebacker Ernie Sims, running back Tatum Bell, running back Artose Pinner, and offensive tackle George Foster.
Coach Rod Marinelli only said that attendance was “good” and that he knew everyone’s whereabouts.
The most notable name on the list is Williams, who is entering the final year of his contract and who has been linked to trade rumors for much of the offseason. With the Cowboys possibly inclined to trade their own Roy Williams after June 1, could a Roy Williams for Roy Williams swap be in the offing?
Regardless, at a time when more and more teams are seeing nearly every player present for nearly every voluntary offseason practice, the absence of five recognizable names from Thursday’s session is cause for at least a mild eyebrow raising.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I’m not sure about the others, but Ernie Sims is still recovering from off-season surgery (shoulder, I think), and was held out of a mandatory minicamp recently. I don’t know what the deal with Bell, Foster and Pinner is, as they signed as free agents in the offseason.
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May 30th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Roy williams and a first round pick (or another D-back,but one who can cover a passplay)from Dallas maybe…No way is Dallas’s Williams worth a one for one swap with the Lions’s Williams tho…
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May 30th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Time to do the Lito shuffle!!!
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May 30th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Lito!!!!
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May 30th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Patrick:
The flaw in your trade proposal is that the Cowgirls don’t have a DB that can cover.
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:03 am
The Lions will have another bad season like they have had for as far as I can remember. The team has a losing attitude as a whole, and this season wont be any different.
In regards to Roy Williams they should trade him for whatever they can get, because this year is a wash and next year he becomes a free agent in which they will get NOTHING in return. They should let him go to the highest bidder and if they get more than a 3rd rounder they should do the deal as fast as they can so that team doesn’t have enough time to reconsider.
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:23 am
With the Lions, they’ll play the same during the season whether they show up for practice or not: Like crap.
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Until the front office is purged and ownership changes, NOTHING in this organization will ever change.
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am
@dick_curl
Whether the Lions have another bad season or not to say the team has a losing attitude is not doing you due diligence. Look at the roster turnover. Note that the malcontents have been moved out and swept out the door. Credit the present coaching staff for making those changes and at least making an attempt to change the losing attitude of the players. To me it seems that Lion fan needs to change it’s constant whining and losing attitude….
As for Roy….if they were going to trade him it would have been at the draft. And how would the Lions not get anything in return for Roy? Again not doing your due diligence….Roy can have the franchise tag applied. Thus if a team really wants Roy…the Lions will be compensated. Lions won’t lose on this one because Roy will either get a long term deal out of it or get draft picks as compensation if some team decides to make the move.
@ Florio-
All Due respect…love your insight…but not sure why this is so news worthy…keep in mind the word voluntary is key. Now I am not saying it is not important that players are in attendance…but these are players that have lives. It is the offseason. And whether or not these players had a reason to not be at the session on Thursday does not mean they won’t be there at all at some point. But this is where too much is made about nothing. We are not privy to all the info and the coaches aren’t going to say anything because these matters are private….but we being a the info whores we are ..try to take every little caviat and spin it into something that may not be there….I just think if the player misses work it is between that player and management …..no reason for the fans or the media to “have” to know these things……just food for thought…..
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May 30th, 2008 at 11:30 am
@Curl
I am not sure what you are talking about, but Detroit can Franchise Roy. I am also not quite sure what it means that “this season is a wash.” WTF? Why even play?
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May 30th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Even the Lions aren’t that stupid. Why would you trade one of the best young receivers in the game for an overrated bum? Roy Williams can’t cover and has to continually use the horse collar tackle because he is always out of position. The Cowboys Williams is washed up, at the end of the line, and living on his past reputation. How did he ever make five Pro Bowls? Then again with Mat Millen, resident village idiot, anything is possible.
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May 30th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
that would be one of the dumbest trades in nfl history. remember that the lions run a tampa 2 scheme. roy doesnt have the range and cover ability to be a tampa 2 safety. in that scheme hes basically a linebacker. but this is millen were talking about and anything is possible with that guy
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