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Forget about the old guys
John, if you accept the premise that the Lions will take a minimum of two more drafts before they have enough talent to be competitive, then doesn't it follow that the older players on the roster are basically irrelevant to the future of this team?
For example, I've seen many a comment to the effect that Peterson and Foote have played well, and will stabilize the defense. Both have been featured in positive articles here.
Sure they will help this defense -- for the rest of this year. Perhaps next year. But their contracts make them untradeable -- except for people with equally bad contracts. And they're too old to be around and playing at a high level at the earliest date when it's conceivable that the Lions could have a competitive roster. So what is their relevance to this team?
Yes, they'll help them be more competitive now. But who cares? Only those who feel better if the team wins 5 games instead of 4 this year and next. Why should fans who want to see a play-off quality team care about the players who have such a short future in this town? Shouldn't we be far more concerned with the development of, say, even the modestly talented Follett and Hill than the play of the far better Peterson and Foote?
You can't field a team of only 25-year-olds, for one thing. And somebody's got to lead by example, show younger players how to play at this level, etc. In Foote and Peterson, you've got two pretty good role models -- and it's not like they are ancient. Foote wants to stay after this season, so he'll be back if he can play well the rest of the way. (He didn't play all that well the last two weeks, I didn't think.) Hill's playing a ton as a starter (45 snaps or so a game, which is more than anybody on that line), so nobody's stunting his growth. Follett's not going to be anything more than a special teams player in this league, but to their credit, they promoted him to the active roster four games in. And they've continually churned the roster to get young guys in here for a look. (Hobbs, Figurs, McCauley, J. Williams, Simpson, Hunter, McBride, et al.)
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