Wayne Fontes wanted Warren Moon on the Lions, GM said no
That Bye Bye Barry documentary was phenomenal. You really got to learn a lot about Detroit Lions' legend Barry Sanders on a personal level and it really opens your eyes to why he decided to walk away from the game of football in 1998. One of the coolest parts of the documentary actually took place […]
That Bye Bye Barry documentary was phenomenal. You really got to learn a lot about Detroit Lions' legend Barry Sanders on a personal level and it really opens your eyes to why he decided to walk away from the game of football in 1998.
One of the coolest parts of the documentary actually took place this year. Many Lions legends were in the house for the Lions home opener against the Seahawks a day after the team unveiled the Sanders statue. Former Lions' head coach Wayne Fontes was among those legends and he was filmed talking with Sanders on the sideline about the quarterbacks the Lions had a shot at during his tenure.
One of them was Joe Montana. That information leaked out on Monday afternoon ahead of the films release. There was another quarterback that Fontes talked about though and that was Hall of Famer Warren Moon.
Fontes said to Sanders that he approached then Lions GM Chuck Schmidt and said "let's get Warren Moon" and Schmidt told Fontes that Moon was too old.
This was probably after the 1993 season when Moon led the Oilers to a 12-4 record before the Oilers were dismissed in the divisional round by Joe Montana and the Chiefs.Moon would be traded to the Vikings in the offseason after that.
While it is true that Moon was already 38-years-old at that time, he went on to start for the Vikings for two seasons and was a Pro Bowler in both of them. He went back to the Pro Bowl one more time in 1997 with the Seahawks. Moon played in the NFL until he was 44-years-old. He might be on a roster right now for all we know.
Moon was no Joe Montana, but he was a lot better than the alternative at the time. Chuck Schmidt might not have been the best evaluator when it came to quarterbacks.
The Lions win was a lot more improbable than initially thought
I'm getting older. That's something that you just have to deal with in life I suppose. I turned 38 last week. I know, it's not that old. That's not the point. The point is that I realized that I've been watching football for most of that 38 years and I've witnessed a lot. But I […]
