DT Thornton couldn't stomach Lions' offer?
Back from vacation officially tomorrow, but figured I'd post this one tonight ...
Turns out the Lions did make an offer for one of the top free agent defensive tackles still on the market. John Thornton, a starter the last six seasons in Cincinnati, told Sirius NFL Radio on Sunday that he had a deal in place with the Lions before getting cold feet. And now he's talking about retiring instead.
"I haven't really called it a career yet but I'm probably announcing that soon sometime," he told co-hosts Howard David and Ross Tucker. "I mean, I've played 10 years and I haven't signed yet, so ... Part of that is my choice and the other part is that I just haven't gotten the contract I was looking for.
"I played 10 years and I just finished out my last contract. Guys rarely finish out their second deal. It's just how it ended up working out. And even last year I kind of, I had some thoughts of (retiring). I didn't know if that would happen. I've had opportunities to sign elsewhere and I just didn't feel comfortable with the contract. That was just one of the parts of it. You've either got to be comfortable with it or you're not. I think if I played my last down I'd be ok with that."
It's not clear what the Lions offered, but they did come calling with an obvious need and a familiarity with Thornton, who spent his first four NFL seasons in Tennessee -- the last three (2001-03) with Jim Schwartz as his defensive coordinator.
Asked if he was still in shape and ready to play, Thornton replied. "Yeah, I'm in shape. I would probably have to gain weight. That was the situation with Detroit. Coach Schwartz, who coached me in Tennessee, I went up there and we kind of agreed to a deal and a few days later I sort of backed out of it for various reasons. I would have had to gain about 20 pounds actually. He wanted me to be pretty big in the middle so I would just have to start eating a lot. I'm in pretty good shape. I wouldn't be able to come back right now and play 60 plays but I don't think anybody can right now. Getting in football shape is another thing but I don't think that would be a problem. I'm actually pretty light right now."
Asked if he'd pass on a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum, Thornton said, "You know what? I probably wouldn't do that right now just for the security of it. You travel and do that, that's just difficult for me at this point. Like I said, I haven't announced anything like that but at this point - and I even had some conversations with the Bengals and they offered something - it just wasn't a situation where I was ready to sign. You never know what'll happen in the next few weeks but I don't think anything has happened yet."
The Lions still aren't sure what they've got at defensive tackle. Grady Jackson was a bystander through OTAs and both minicamps and still faces a possible four-game suspension this season. Chuck Darby is more of an insurance policy than a starter. Sammie Lee Hill's pegged as a project as a rookie, Andre Fluellen and Ikaika Alama-Francis, who worked at DT in the last minicamp, have got plenty to prove (so does Landon Cohen, obviously), and beyond that you've got not much more than an undrafted free agent in John Gill.
Veteran free agent Kevin Carter, a defensive end who'd move inside on passing downs, remains a possibility. He visited the Lions a couple months ago and if there's a big move left to be made, that still seems like the one. But we'll see.
