Lions general manager Bob Quinn said at the combine this week that one of his main objectives this offseason will be to improve the team’s roster depth, though he’s somewhat wary of relying on the free agent market to fill those holes, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press details.
“The thing about free agency is you don’t really know who’s going to be available,” Quinn said. “I have a list of players like everyone else does, but these guys are getting signed every hour right now. There’s a couple guys I saw on NFL Network half an hour ago that just redid their contracts. So we’re prepared for all scenarios. We have the guys that we want to target at each level, different positions, across the board.”
Here’s more from out of the NFL’s North divisions:
- Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer expects Chad Greenway to return to the club in 2016, telling Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune (Twitter link) that the club thinks the veteran linebacker can still play. Greenway, a free agent, has said he’d like to re-sign with Minnesota for one more season before retiring.
- Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin told reporters – including Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com (Twitter link) – that he’s hoping to retain free agent safeties Reggie Nelson and George Iloka this spring. The team is being “proactive” when it comes to trying to keep those safeties – and free agent wide receivers Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu – off the open market, according to Tobin, who added that the Bengals will “spend resources” to keep their guys (Twitter link).
- Tobin also said on Thursday that the Bengals love Adam Jones‘ passion and will try to re-sign the cornerback before he becomes an unrestricted free agent (Twitter link via Hobson).
- Earlier today, we rounded up a few Browns rumors, passed along the latest on the Packers, and learned that running back Trent Richardson is expected to sign with the Ravens.
Zach Links contributed to this post.