Warren Report: With the Haloti Ngata trade, the Detroit Lions continue to chase their tail
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
From Russ Thomas, to Chuck Schmidt, to Matt Millen and now Martin Mayhew. The Detroit Lions lack of leadership and foresight in the front office is keeping their 57-year championship drought intact.
Chapter 58 (as in 58 years) began last July, when Mayhew cut off contract talks with Ndamukong Suh, whom I consider the greatest defensive lineman and one of the top seven players in the history of the franchise.
That chapter continued Tuesday afternoon, when Mayhew sent a 4th and 5th round choice to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for 31-year old, five-time All-Pro defensive tackle, Haloti Ngata, and Baltimore’s 7th round choice.
It was a panic move by a Martin Mayhew, a General Manager who was squarely on the hot seat after the committing the biggest personnel blunder since Chuck Schmidt and Bobby Ross screwed the pooch and forced Barry Sanders to retire in frustration in 1999.
In Baltimore, Ngata was at contract loggerheads with Ravens’ General Manager - and Super Bowl champion executive - Ozzie Newsome. The Ravens wanted Ngata to rework the final year of his deal, to create cap space for another Super Bowl push (a 15-year habit in Baltimore). When Ngata balked, Newsome got on the phone and found a sucker in Martin Mayhew.
It was likely that the Ravens would have cut Ngata had they not traded him. He carried a $16 million salary cap number (base salary plus bonus) for Baltimore heading into 2015. Baltimore could not afford him, needing Ngata’s Pro Bowl teammate, Terrell Suggs, “to restructure his contract earlier in the day just to get under the $143.28 million salary cap.”
Could Mayhew have waited and tried to sign Ngata after his release? Maybe. Should he have done that? Considering the Lions’ have plenty of holes on their roster to fill and just $17.2 Million dollars in cap space before the trade - not in my opinion.
Now with Ngata’s $8.5 Million salary for 2015 added to the Lions’ books, Mayhew and Lions capologist and President, Tom Lewand, have a just $8.7 Million left in cap space to fill the rest of the holes in the roster and pay their upcoming draft picks.
With this trade, the Lions continue to chase their tail with one bad decision after another, all while dragging the anvil heavy contracts of Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford by their financial neck.
That’s not to say that Ngata is a bad player. He is not. Nata is beloved in Baltimore for good reason. He was their 12th overall choice in the 2006 draft and became a starter as a rookie, anchoring their defense and leading in their lockeroom for nine years. He was playing at a Pro Bowl level last year before being suspended the final four games of the regular season for testing positive for Addrall.
With Suh headed to Miami and the Lions’ fanbase up in arms, Mayhew thought he needed to make a splash (he didn’t) to take the heat off his suddenly hot desk chair. Newsome was happy to help, at the cost of two mid-round draft picks.
You see, Ozzie Newsome loves middle round picks. More importantly, he makes them count. The Lions under Mayhew on the other hand, have missed on plenty of picks, middle and otherwise.
From 2009 to 2011, during Martin Mayhew’s first three drafts as GM, Detroit made 21 draft choices. Just 4 of those 21 picks remained on the Lions’ roster at the end of last season:
2009: Matthew Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew, DeAndre Levy.
2010: None
2011: Nick Fairley (who may, like Suh, soon be wearing another uniform)
Conversely, the Green Bay Packers, who the Lions have been chasing in vain for two decades, still had 11 of their 25 draft choices from 2009 to 2011 on their roster at the end of last season. Those names included:
2009: B.J. Raji, Clay Matthews, T.J. Lang, Brad Jones (released last month)
2010: Bryan Bulaga, Mike Neal, Morgan Burnett, Andrew Quarless, James Starks
2011: Randall Cobb, Davon House
The Packers and Ravens have made their drafts count. As a result, they find themselves in the Super Bowl hunt year after year. The Lions, of course, have made a habit of doing the opposite. And now Martin Mayhew will enter the draft on April 30 with two fewer draft picks and a roster with holes not only at defensive tackle, but at fullback, both guard spots and at cornerback. In addition, the Lions, in my opinion, could stand upgrades at right tackle and running back.
The Lions simply could have used those fourth and fifth round picks. But a reeling Lions’ front office gave them away less than 48 hours after news of Suh’s exit hit the papers.
Haloti Ngata is not Ndamukong Suh, but he is still very good. If the drug suspension was an abberation, then he should be able to come in and provide not only solid play, but also bring a level of leadership that has been lacking in the Lions’ lockeroom.
To justify the trade, Ngata must produce strongly on the field and pass every test off it. If he does, it will then be up to Mayhew and Lewand to get Ngata under contract beyond 2015. Likewise, Mayhew and Lions’ “Senior Personal Executive,” Brian Xanders, need to make the most of Detroit’s first three draft picks (#23, #54 and #88) this year, as well as any compensatory picks the NFL awards them after the free agency signing period ends later this month.
If Mayhew, Xanders and company can make this upcoming draft as good as Detroit’s 2013 class (Ziggy Ansah, Darius Slay, Larry Warford, Devin Taylor, Sam Martin, Theo Riddick) and not like the 2010 (Suh, Javid Best, Amari Spivey) and 2011 disasters (Fairley, Titus Young, Mikel Lesoure) - the earlier two drafts coming before Xanders’ arrival in January 2013 - then they will make armchair GMs like myself eat crow.
If they do not, Martin Mayhew make force William Clay Ford Jr. and his Mother, Martha Ford, to end their self imposed silence.
