2012 NFL Free Agents: The Detroit Lions' 6 Biggest Strategic Keys

In 2011, the NFL Scouting Combine was a bittersweet event.

While there was certainly excitement about the NFL Draft, there was also the depressing understanding that the only NFL exposure we were going to get after the combine was the Draft itself, followed by lots of pictures of DeMaurice Smith and Roger Goodell surrounded by a dozen lockout lawyers at a time.

But that's all in the past now. Now, the natural order is restored. The Combine is happening now, and a couple of weeks later free agency will begin. On March 13 at 4 pm, our questions will start being answered, one-by-one.

Not July or August, days before the start of a training camp none of us were sure would even happen. Free agency starts in March, and will for the better part of the next decade.

So now that I'm done beaming over how nice it is to have a normal offseason period (and not having the Draft be the highlight of the season), it's a good time to point out another major difference between this year and last year.

This year, the Detroit Lions are more concerned with keeping their own good players (because they have those now) than bringing in fresh blood to wipe out the memories of past failures.

What we've learned is that the Lions' front office can tell good football players from bad ones. That makes them worlds better than the previous front office. What they have to do now is take that to the next level and prove they can identify the players they do and don't need with price tags attached.

That's the difference between a good front office and a front office that puts a Super Bowl champion together.

That, and these things, hopefully. Because these are the strategies the Lions will likely hold to when the market opens on March 13.

Dance with Who Brought You

One thing the Lions have said repeatedly about the offseason is that they want a bunch of their guys back.

Makes sense, of course. This is the team that went 10-6 and made the playoffs, why wouldn't they want a bunch of key players back from that?

So far, the Lions have approached a handful of their own free agents about new contracts, and it's clear that the Lions are satisfied with the performances they got out of their own players last season.

They also know that players tend to get better as they get more comfortable in a particular system, playing with the same group of guys every year. So guys like Stephen Tulloch and Eric Wright, who joined the team on one-year contracts last season, are both likely to improve over last year's performance if they re-sign.

Luckily, most of the guys the Lions want to re-sign have expressed at least some form of interest in staying in Detroit in 2012 and beyond, but they are probably looking for long-term deals at this point.

Having too many good players on the team to afford them all is a good (if unusual) problem for the Lions to have, but it is a problem nonetheless. It's almost a sure thing that the Lions won't be able to re-sign all the players they want, but the fact that they actually want players back from the previous few years is a major sign of progress.

Re-Sign Cliff Avril

This kind of says the same thing as the last slide, but Avril is far and away the biggest name in the crop.

Somebody is going to pay Avril big money, the only question is who? Avril and the Lions have both said they want No. 92 to stay in Detroit, but Avril isn't stupid; he knows he's a good player at a premium position in the prime of his mid-20s, and he should be paid as such.

Now, there is some resistance to the idea of Avril re-signing with the Lions, and it's certainly possible that he benefits from the system he plays in, and is therefore not worth as much money as it seems he is.

I won't take a position on that one way or another, but I will say that, if nothing else, we know Avril is good in Detroit, and the Lions want him back, Avril wants to come back, and that combination of things is enough to make his return a major Lions priority.

Extend and Re-Work Calvin Johnson's Contract

There may be doubt about whether the Lions should make Cliff Avril incredibly wealthy.

There should be no such doubt regarding Calvin Johnson.

Of course, Johnson is already rich from his rookie contract, and as he's already slated for about $22 million in 2012, that's not likely to change regardless of his contract status.

But it is in the Lions' best interests to continue making Johnson rich over the next several years, and to get that deal done immediately.

Not only would it give the Lions one of the most talented players in football for several more years, but it would also likely save them some money in the short-run.

It's hard to imagine Johnson signing a contract that pays him more than $22 million in 2012. The Lions know they're in a tight cap space, and any contract extension they work out with Johnson will likely convert that 2012 number (and a lot more) to guaranteed money, with the provision that they only have to pay him something like $15 million in 2012.

If Johnson is guaranteed to get that money eventually anyway, it's in his best interest to take the back-loaded deal as well, presuming he wants to continue winning. If the Lions can get this done, it will give them a little more flexibility to get their other big deals done.

Be Patient

The 2011 offseason was not one that privileged the virtue of patience once free agency kicked in. It was more a blind panic to fill rosters before training camps started.

But the Lions still managed to stand pat long enough to get Stephen Tulloch and Chris Houston after the two of them failed to get the deals they wanted on the open market.

We could see much of the same this offseason, and there's a lot more time for it to play out. The Lions are doing their diligence by talking to the players they want and expressing their desire to keep them. But the vast majority of the Lions' free agents are going to venture out onto the market and see what kinds of deals they can get.

These guys will start filling out an offer sheet, they'll take those sheets back to the Lions, and the Lions will then have a much better idea of what it will take to keep guys like Shaun Hill and Tulloch. Right now, each of these guys has an ideal offer in mind, the Lions have an ideal offer in mind, and the sides are trying to find some common ground.

Of course, if they can go out and find the offers they're looking for on the open market, then they'll either take them or use them as leverage to get an even better deal elsewhere (like back in Detroit).

What the Lions are interested in is if one of these free agents goes out and doesn't find any interest in a deal markedly better than what the Lions have already offered. That's where they get players like Houston and Tulloch, who will sign deals below market value in an attempt to earn their big payday another day.

Given the same volume of free agents in the market this year (and the difficult salary cap situation many teams find themselves in), it's not out of the question that the Lions get a number of their guys back under contract at a discount just by letting out some line and reeling them back in when the time is right. They just have to wait for it.

Work the Trade Market for Square Pegs

One thing the Lions were unable to do last season is work the trade market.

But they did an awful lot of it over the two seasons prior, and there is little reason to believe it won't happen again this season.

Of course, the Lions are a much better team than they were two years ago. Some of the players the Lions got that were major positional upgrades in 2010 are merely complimentary players now (Alphonso Smith and Rob Sims come to mind).

But hey, the Lions still need complimentary players on the roster. Have you seen some of the depth the Lions have at linebacker and offensive line?

Now, a couple years ago, the Lions were trading away late-round draft picks for these "square peg" players. This year, I get the feeling there might be a little more of the Lions trading away players for picks.

It won't be 100 percent in either direction, of course, but it certainly stands to reason that the Lions, who have excelled at getting value from late-round picks, would want to stock up on those picks, especially at a time when they need to improve depth in a number of areas.

Stay Away from the Elite Tier

Cortland Finnegan is a better player than Eric Wright, there's no doubt.

But if you think it's a good idea to pursue Finnegan in free agency, I want you to ask yourself a question.

Is the Titans corner going to make more of an impact on the Lions than Wright, Cliff Avril, Stephen Tulloch, Jeff Backus and the Lions' first-round draft pick combined? Because those are the players the Lions would likely be unable to resign if they pursue Finnegan or another elite-tier free agent.

Going after the top free agents on the market is not the Lions' style. That's the style of teams like the Jets, Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Bears and other teams that don't make a habit of winning. The only teams that subscribe to the "one piece away" philosophy are the ones that have built their teams on a weak foundation in the first place.

The Lions have a strong foundation in place that seems to be getting stronger with each passing year. Why take a sledgehammer to it just as it's starting to solidify?

If you take a solid concrete foundation and knock the corner off of it to replace that part with reinforced steel, is the foundation stronger for it? How about if the steel was so expensive, you now don't have money to build anything on top of the foundation?

You don't have to be a contractor to understand that's a silly thing to do, whether you're building a house or a football team.