| 05 July 2010
I've lost track of the number of safeties the Lions have shown varying amounts of interest this past off season. Some they ended up signing. Currently there's 7 safeties on the roster not named Louis Delmas.
Listed not by talent, but in alphabetical order: C.C. Brown, Daniel Bullocks, Johnathan Hefney, Marquand Manuel, Randy Phillips, Ko Simpson and Marvin White.
Combine those 7 together, and you might have a serviceable partner for Delmas, a Pro Bowler in the making. So the Lions continue with their never-ending search through the bowels of the NFL for a safety, which leads us to the following news.
Reports are surfacing the latest name thrown in the Lions' safety hopper is the Chiefs' very unhappy restricted free agent, free safety Jarrad Page.
Apparently Page knows how to use his head...
The good about Page? The former 2006 7th round pick has been a starter in Chiefs' defensive backfield for the past 3 seasons. The bad about Page? He's a starter on one of the NFL's worst defenses.
As the Chiefs went safety crazy in the 2010 draft, picking the can't miss (according to the Kipers of the world) Eric Berry in the 1st round, and Kendrick Lewis in the 5th (What is it with bad teams having a safety fetish?), they are in no hurry to do anything with their AWOL safety. In fact, the Kansas City Star reported Page was unlikely to win a job in 2010.
Jarrad Page has been missing, but with the Chiefs drafting a pair of safeties, his chances of making the roster by now are remote at best.
But it's worth noting Page put up solid numbers in his first 3 seasons (10 INT, 179 tackles), before being derailed in 2009 by a calf injury. The injury ultimately ended his season after game 7 by his being placed on IR.
Since the season ended, Page hasn't wanted anything to do with the Chiefs. Most recently, he refused to participate in the Chiefs' OTA's, and formally requested a trade about 3 weeks ago.
Page is available for the taking, and I doubt it will take much more than a low 3rd day draft pick in trade to get him. The Lions could wait for the inevitable, that being Chiefs finally cutting him, but that opens up Page's availability to the rest of the NFL.Which is why a trade is the probable scenario if the Lions move forward.
I'm getting the feeling the Lions feel if they figuratively keep throwing crap against the wall by adding safeties to the roster, one of them will literally stick.
Hey, what's one more safety on the training camp roster? Add 2 more and the Lions will have a 2 deep basketball team...too bad we're talking football.
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