Lions to show interest in DeAngelo Williams?

[The Link]

if they offered calvin johnson straight up we'd be dumb as hell not to accept

Not just no, but hell no. Johnson is over-rated. Deangelo, however, is not.

[unicar15]

if they offered calvin johnson straight up we'd be dumb as hell not to accept

I agree. I love Deangelo and think he is one of the best players in the game today but Jonathan Stewart and a 2nd or 3rd round pick could carry the run game. OL is more important than anyone you have in the backfield so as long as we keep the continuity on the line we will be a good running team. Calvin Johnson has probably 12 good years left in his career. Deangelo has at most 6years left and probably 4 years left to be the best. The life of a receiver is much longer than the life of a RB.

I will say this...unless the front office feels there is no way we can re-sign Deangelo, I wouldn't take anything less than the Lions first round pick for him. If they feel like they will have a Julius Peppers type situation next year where a deal won't get done, then take the second rounder. However, I dont think that will be the case, if we want Deangelo then he'll sign with us for a price that is affordable.

[Baschski]

A second round pick for a top-five RB? I'd kill myself if we agreed to that garbage.

[PantherDude]

Hell no!! I don't care what rounds we can get. I just feel better keeping Double Trouble. Why get rid of one half of the best RB in the NFL? I rather give them Sutton & Goodson if it make them stay away from DeWill or Stew. We can keep both.

[GoreMetalJunkie]

Not gonna happen in a eleventy billion years.

well then...we're just going to have to wait and see then.

[GoreMetalJunkie]

straight up for Calvin Johnson?..hell yeah.

[Snake]

WTF? There is no way we trade Dwill. Def not for a 2nd round pick.

[Henne Given Sunday]

f**k no. anything less than a 1st round pick and your guys owner is f**king retarded.

[panthers55]

We've got arguably the single best one-two punch at RB in the league, and a very effective weapon in that. And yet a significant portion of the fanbase (if you consider this board representative) really seems to want to cut the power of that weapon in half.

And please don't give me that we have enough depth to keep it going even with the loss of one of the top guys. There is no way anyone can reasonably suggest that any of the other combos (Williams-Goodson, Williams-Sutton, Stewart-Goodson, Stewart-Sutton) is anywhere even close to the quality of Williams-Stewart as a rushing tandem.

There are other teams that have put all their eggs in a single basket with "workhorse" backs, and it's been rough. These days, even when healthy, neither Adrian Peterson nor LaDainian Tomlinson is what they once were, and the decline has been quick (almost sudden). One of the prime reasons for that is their being used as the "workhorse" for their team rather than as part of a 'two-headed monster' like the Panthers and some other teams prefer.

Knowing that it tends to shorten the shelf-life of good runners, I can't understand why on earth people want us to switch to that model.

As far as using a high pick on a RB, no matter how high you go you're still trading a proven commodity for an unproven one.

Exactly. Williams says he is happy here and likes sharing the duty with Stewart. In our run happy offense we need two starting quality runners. Plus we drafted him as the 27th pick in the first round in 2006. Why in the world would we develop into a pro-bowler and then trade him for a 34th pick? His value has risen not fallen. Now if they want to give us their 1st round pick in this draft then maybe we consider although I wouldn't consider it unless they gave their first and second pick. Afterall with their track record, getting a probowler, should be worth at least a first rounder given how many they have wasted over the years.

[SmootsDaddy89]

He wont be here after this upcoming season anyway.

[jasonluckydog]

The Lions can suck it.

[panthers55]

He wont be here after this upcoming season anyway.

Unless we decide we don't want him I doubt that is true. We have typically paid players well over the years and he seems to be an integral part of the offense. The only way I see him gone is if Fox is gone and we go from a running offense to a more passing one. And even in that case he was our third leading receiver behind Smith and Moose.

[jasonluckydog]

I could murder someone for that trade......my stuffed bunny will get his head chopped off.

[SmootsDaddy89]

Unless we decide we don't want him I doubt that is true. We have typically paid players well over the years and he seems to be an integral part of the offense. The only way I see him gone is if Fox is gone and we go from a running offense to a more passing one. And even in that case he was our third leading receiver behind Smith and Moose.

The problem is Williams will be 28 then. And if he isn't already playing second fiddle to Stewart at this point, he will be by then. So financially it would be dumb as hell to throw a bunch of money at a player simply because the fanbase is attached to him when he's only getting roughly 40% or the carries. We'd be better off rolling with Stewart and Goodson. And anyone who thinks Williams is going to sign a relatively cheap contract because he just gosh golly goodness loves the Panthers so much is being naive. He deserves to get paid, and he will be. If we're smart, it won't be by us.