Draft an OT, dump Gos, and move the guy to LT after a year or two. That's what I would do.

Lions | May meet with Eric Winston
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:04:56 -0700

The Detroit Lions are scheduled to meet with free-agent OT Eric Winston (Texans) Monday, March 19, if he does not sign with the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend.

Read more: http://www.kffl.com/hotw/NFL?page=2#ixzz1pQcC7wr1

Chiefs | Eric Winston signed
Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:47:36 -0700

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed free-agent OT Eric Winston (Texans). Terms of the deal are not available.

Read more: http://www.kffl.com/hotw/NFL?page=0#ixzz1pQcoEWze

Winston gets $22 million over four years

Posted by Mike Florio on March 17, 2012, 9:42 PM EDT

Getty Images
The Chiefs have a new right tackle. And their new right tackle has a new contract.

And we have a league source who knows what the contract is worth. And here’s the part where we tell you what it’s worth.

Four years, $22 million.

The specific details will come later, and we’ll break it all down then. For the Chiefs, it’s a relatively inexpensive investment in a quality player who can help shore up a position of need.

The Texans cut Winston on Tuesday. He drew interest from several teams.

March 17, 2012 at 10:02 pm

Jeff Backus, Shaun Hill re-sign with Lions
By Chris McCosky
The Detroit News



Jeff Backus, middle, reportedly signed a two-year deal worth $10 million. (Daniel Mears/Detroit News)


Allen Park — The Lions have locked up two of their top three remaining free agents, signing backup quarterback Shaun Hill and starting left tackle Jeff Backus to two-year deals.

Backus' deal is worth $10 million, according to ESPN. The financial terms on Hill's deal were not immediately known.

The signing of Hill was most likely hastened by quarterback Drew Stanton's decision on Friday to sign with the Jets. Hill was by far the best backup quarterback remaining on the free-agent market.

Hill had met with the St. Louis Rams on Thursday and Friday. It is unknown what, if any, offer the Rams made, but the Lions moved quickly to keep him here.

He started 10 games in 2010 and threw for 2,686 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Backus, who will be 35 and entering his 12th season with the Lions, had said after the season that he wanted to continue his career, and continue it with the Lions. There was some concern, though, when the first three days of free agency went by without a deal and the Lions reached out to free agent tackles Marcus McNeill and Eric Winston.

McNeill visited Friday and left without a contract and Winston, who was supposed to visit on Monday, signed with the Chiefs on Saturday.

That leaves starting middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch unsigned among the free agents general manager Martin Mayhew singled out as priorities.

Cornerback Eric Wright signed with Tampa Bay, defensive end Cliff Avril was franchise tagged, and Hill and Backus have signed.

It has been a slow market for linebackers and most of the teams that had big money to spend have spent it. Tulloch was seeking an average of at least $6 million per season and thus far, nobody seems willing to bite at that price.

If Backus was resigned for two years, one would have to imagine the chance of signing Marcus McNeill is about nil. I do really like the Hill signing. He's a damn good backup to have.

$10 Mil for Backus for 2 years does not sound like a good deal to me! Not for a 35 year old coming off surgery who was never any better than an average LT in the first place. That's to much cap space in 2012.

I don't know how this fits under the cap but I'd offer Tulloch 4yrs @ $5mil each with a $5mil signing bonus.

Add in some incentives and/or performance bonuses (same thing?).

I don't want to lose Tulloch because it would just create another position that needs to be filled.

We can also go get Wimbley and put Levy on the pine for now. JMO.

Also what's up with this CB that Allenslions is talking about? Jason Lacey(I think).

Laron Landry? Do we take him or Atowge(sp?)?

For the money he got, we should have kept after Winston. Mike Tolbert is still out there. What's he looking for? To be a featured back? At this time I would think that he would be just that on our roster.

Do these things, if we can afford it and the draft ought to be a sweet time.

Just sign Tulloch! I don't want to take a step backwards from last year.

Ok, what's wrong with my plan? Leter' fly...lol

Two things: As much as people on this board hate him, Backus has still been a starting-quality LT for a long time. That guarantees him a certain level of compensation. Second, look at Winston's contract to play RT--he's getting more per year on average at a less important position.

... As for Backus's contract. A left tackle for $5 million isn't a bad signing. Winston is a zone blocking RT and he's getting a little more than $5 a year. LT is the money spot, not RT, and especially not ZBS RTs.

There is a lot of Backus hate from Lions fans. He isn't near as bad as people seem to think.

There have been what 4 different coaching staffs in the time Backus has been here? Every one of them has not only kept him around, but praised him. I think OL is one of the hardest positions for fans to tell who is playing well and isn't. We don't know the protection calls. We see Allen tearing him apart and assume it is all his fault(obviously his false starts were), but maybe the RB or TE were supposed to chip him? We need to trust the lions management.

There simply isn't an easy upgrade at LT this year. The Lions just signed an average, but durable LT on a below average(price wise) deal. I call it a win.