Detroit Lions Enjoying a Quiet, Smart Offseason

Don't look now, but it's March, and the Detroit Lions haven't yet done anything worthy of putting your own head through a wall in frustration.

Now, I don't want to be that guy who pins unrealistically high expectations on a team based on almost no information, and I won't. After all, the draft will do more to determine this team's future than any offseason moves, and even with a good draft, an 8-8 record is still a pipe dream for the Lions.

Regardless, the Detroit Lions, with Matt Millen protégé Martin Mayhew (of all people) now calling the shots, are showing indications that they get it.

Mayhew was left with an organization broken to shambles by his own boss, a football team in name only. Yet he is the only person in a position of power in the last decade who seems to understand the term "rebuilding."

Trading Roy Williams to Dallas was the signal that the Lions were finally ready to accept the "rebuilding" tag after years of spouting off the "one more year, one more player" mantra through losing seasons.

In the past, while the Lions floundered through the regular season, management would wait until skilled players lost all value and eventually release them. Kevin Jones, Joey Harrington, Charlie Batch, and Germane Crowell (remember them?) are examples, with all but Harrington being released.

Harrington was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a fifth-round pick, which was used along with a third-round pick in a trade-up deal with the New Orleans Saints in the 2007 draft to select Ikaika Alama-Francis in the second round.

Alama-Francis has 35 tackles and one sack in two seasons.

Incidentally, the third-round pick in that deal was Saints cornerback Usama Young, who has, in the same two seasons, compiled 75 tackles and two interceptions, one which came against the Lions last season.

Williams would likely have followed this path, riding out his contract and signing with another team, leaving the Lions with nothing to show for his tenure there.

Instead, the Lions have a trio of spare draft picks.

Jon Kitna was due a $1 million roster bonus and a pink slip by the Lions.

Now, the Dallas Cowboys are on the hook for both his money and his turnover-prone play, and the Lions got a starting cornerback out of the deal.

In addition to a couple of Cowboy fleecings, Mayhew's discretion in free agency is proof that long-term success is a real, perhaps even obtainable, goal.

Rather than shell out huge money for big names in or approaching their 30s, the Lions have quietly signed a number of potential difference-makers, without surging towards the salary cap or taking major risks.

Maurice Morris is an underrated running back who will do far more in tandem with Kevin Smith than Rudi Johnson was able to.

Bryant Johnson is a solid No. 2 receiver who alleviates a major need in the Lions' offense without having to take a chance on a draft pick.

Eric King is a question mark. A cornerback who saw limited play under Jim Schwartz with the Tennessee Titans, he could find himself either a starter or a special teamer with the Lions, though it's most likely he'll end up at the nickel position.

The Lions signed him to a small, two-year contract, making him a low-risk, moderate-reward signing on a team that has trotted the likes of Travis Fisher, Brian Kelly, and Keith Smith out to start in recent years.

King may not make a big impact on the team, but he is only entering his fourth season, and Schwartz might know something.

Daunte Culpepper is a source of some contention among the Lion faithful, and his level of play is certainly diminished from his heyday in Minnesota, but the decision to keep him is now very important with Kitna traded and Dan Orlovsky being allowed to walk to Houston.

In a week's time, the Lions have gone from five quarterbacks with no clear starter to three quarterbacks and a clear starter for next season, at least. This stability alleviates some of the pressure on the organization to bring in a quarterback on the first day of this year's draft.

This isn't to say they won't draft Matt Stafford, but at least now they are not compelled to.

Signings aside, the most important moves the Lions have made this offseason are the ones they didn't make.

I was as guilty as anyone in entering the Lions into the Albert Haynesworth sweepstakes, but $100 million later, it's fairly obvious that crippling the salary cap with a single player is not the answer for a rebuilding team.

He wasn't the answer for the Lions either, because now, finally, the Lions are rebuilding.