Schwartz on the Lions' offseason: Let the heavy lifting begin
A couple other items from yesterday's media session with head coach Jim Schwartz ...
Stephen Peterman's re-signing apparently locks up four of the five starting offensive line positions, with center Dominic Raiola and tackles Jeff Backus and Gosder Cherilus. But not so fast, the coach says.
"Just because four-fifths are on the team right now doesn't mean that four-fifths are going to be starting at the end of training camp when we go into next year," Schwartz said. "Like I said, those decisions haven't been made. It's way too premature to read too much into that. You want to have as many options open to you when you go into the season as you can."
Again, you're going to hear a lot of this, as the Lions try to keep team's guessing about their free agency and draft plans. But given the limited draft and free-agent options at guard, it's certainly possible the Lions would look to draft a guy like Andre Smith at No. 1 and start him at guard, or possibly even move Backus inside.
Peterman's signing, though, is a sign of things to come. The Lions are looking to get bigger at nearly every position, and particularly on defense. The players that already are on the roster are going to have their workouts altered, too.
"There's gonna be some changes in the offseason program," Schwartz said. "We're going to feature some more power-lifting. We're going to be doing more squats and Olympic lifting and things like that, with the idea of getting bigger, stronger (and becoming a) more physical football team.
"Guys have been very, very excited about it. I've been very pleased with their commitment to the program in the past, but (also) their enthusiasm to the new direction of it."
