The Lions are working the phones ahead of the trade deadline, but patience may be required -maybe for just a few more days
Campbell says Detroit’s front office has been working on potential deals nonstop, and there’s reason to believe the Lions are looking at legitimate impact players. The problem may simply be getting another team ready to sell.
There is no doubt that Detroit Lions fans really want their team to make some sort of trade before this year’s deadline. I can tell you from my personal experience that I received messages and posts from fans on every social media site you can think of at a pretty crazy rate.
If you’re asking me right now, I think the Lions absolutely make a trade or two this year. I think the reality is that you might have to wait until trade deadline day itself. The overwhelming majority of trades happen on that day every single year. In the last 20 years combined, 58 trade deadline trades have happened on deadline day. The next closest number to that is 18, and that is the day before the trade deadline. So you get the idea, right? Patience is the name of the game.
The Lions have been working the phones
At this point, I think the thing that might make Lions fans feel better, besides good old-fashioned wins, is to know that the Lions are at least at work trying to find a trade and not sitting on their hands, as some may believe.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell addressed that on Friday, as well as one concern I hadn’t even thought about.
“Brad (Holmes) looks at everything. I mean, he’s nonstop. He and (assistant GM) Ray (Agnew) and those guys, (VP of roster operations) Rob Loman. I mean, the whole crew has. It’s been a daily, ongoing — this has never stopped. And so, yeah, this thing is continuing to go,” Campbell said.
So right there should let you know that the Lions are manning the phones every day, and they’re seeing what they can work out and what they can get. If it makes you feel any better, there are some things I’ve heard about players they’re looking at as well. I can tell you they’re making phone calls for sure. And not for guys who would be practice squad players. I’m talking genuine starters and Pro Bowlers.
The problem the Lions can run into is that some of these teams just aren’t ready to trade right now, as we’ve heard multiple reports that teams like the Chargers and Bucs want to stand pat because they believe they can work their way back into things and they don’t want to rebuild right now. So it could take another week or so before we see anything.
Then there’s Germany
Detroit Free Press beat writer Dave Birkett brought up a good point about the Lions’ upcoming trip to Germany. The trade deadline comes just five days before Detroit plays the Patriots in Munich.
The Lions don’t play in Germany until Sunday, Nov. 15, and the trade deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. ET. That means any deadline deal will already be done before Detroit leaves for Germany.
In the end, though, Germany isn’t going to affect anything if the Lions want to make a trade. The deadline comes first. But it could push them to try to get a deal done next week as opposed to deadline week, since the deadline hits on Tuesday and then the Lions are getting on a plane on Thursday to fly out. It’s a pretty quick turnaround to onboard a new player if they do that week.
We’ll see what happens, but the one thing to remember more than anything is that it takes two to tango. If the other teams don’t want to do a deal, it won’t matter what the Lions attempted to do.
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