And here it is, Tuesday afternoon...

and just as I suspected, Tulloch has resigned for five years. No details on the money yet, but I'm guessing that it is a little less than what he was "demanding". Use some of the little bit of the cap money left to make an upgrade somewhere, and have an ass-kickin draft.

to find examples of teams that draft down where the Lions will draft who can have an "ass kickin" draft. The Lions may find one impact player for this year and if really lucky a starter and someone who can do more than just play STs this year. Most teams in this position don't have the huge holes the Lions have where they need multiple starters and use this type of draft to take the BPA and let them develop. If the Lions have that kind of draft they will still need a starter at CB, S, OLB and OG and may even need to replace Backus and KVB.

This year's draft hopefully will fill at least a couple of those players for 2013 but won't help for this year.

Read, the boards and you'll see every team has needs. Lions greatest need is a fair game called by the officials!

My point is that teams like the Saints (pre penalty), Pack, NYG, etc. have much fewer needs for starters than the Lions and as such can sit back and watch FA. The Lions need FA as one of three areas in which they can substantially better their team. If the Lions were just looking for depth and a starter or two then I wouldn't be criticizing Mayhew for sitting and watching.

I just believe that I have a different view on the talent level on this team than Mayhew and Schwartz. They seem to believe that between Berry and Lacey the Lions have some improvement over Wright. I don't see it. They seem to beleive that Atogwe would be an upgrade over Speivey. Don't see it at all. They think that somehow the LB group has improved w/o making a single change. They think that because the same five OL will start again that the interior running game will improve. I don't see it.

Other teams do have holes...many teams have far more holes than the Lions. The best teams though have fewer holes and are in better shape to let FA come and go w/o jumping in. To make that next step to SB contender...the Lions need more talent. Mayhew still has two legs of that stool to lean on...let's hope that he can find three or more starters through trades or the draft to upgrade positions badly needing improvement.