Durant agrees to terms with Cowboys

[TheSport78]

Dallas and former Lions LB Justin Durant agreed to a 2-year contract that will be signed once Cowboys create more cap space, per team source

Per Adam Schefter

 

[NeonDeion21]

Deal will become official once cap room is cleared.

 

[silver]

Per Adam Schefter: "Dallas and former Lions LB Justin Durant agreed to a 2-year contract that will be signed once Cowboys create more cap space, per team source.

 

[Gaede]

Cool. So I suppose he's penciled in as starter?

BTW, that is the first I've heard of someone signing a contract once the team has more cap space.

 

[TheRomoSexual]

Fantastic. We now have decent depth at LB.

 

[Avery]

I'm okay with this. Probably the most exciting news of FA after Spencer.

Yep, that's us. Sucks to have no cap space.

 

[supercowboy8]

He hasnt signed yet only agreed to terms. We can do that with other players, line Eric Winston and we will have money freed up on June 1st

 

[pancakeman]

So he won't have to work at Chik-fil-a after all! http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/03/justin_durant_not_among_detroi.html

 

[NeonDeion21]

Good move. Love having competition at the SAM spot. Sims, Durant and Albright are all quality depth players and all improvements over Connor and Poppinga last year.

 

[CowboyStar88]

seems like a funny guy

 

[Nation]

Love the move

 

[Bowdown27]

Nice pickup

 

[horns fan]

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/03/espns_scouts_inc_justin_durant.html

There's also are other Detroit Lions who received some high praise, including a couple that didn't make but received a high enough grade from ESPN.


Linebacker Justin Durant and cornerback Chris Houston (Avril's was an "84"), good enough to put Durant and Houston with Avril in the top 50 players available.


On Durant, Scouts Inc wrote:
"Durant had the most productive season of his career in 2012. He is a powerfully built linebacker with excellent athleticism. He is an instinctive defender who reacts quickly as plays unfold. He runs well and shows good range to overlap zones in the passing game and is effective in combination man schemes. He is a solid tackler in the open field and understands angles to leverage the ball. Durant brings consistency and leadership to the Lions."

_________

I also found ESPN's free agent tracker pretty nice (even without having espn insider info):

eg. Brandon Moore listed as top guard:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/freeagency/?year=2013&position=73

 

[MRV52]

I think this is a good pick. Durant ranked 35th among linebackers last year in Combined Tackles and 17th overall in Total tackles.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...xperience=&tabSeq=1&qualified=false&Submit=Go

 

[erod]

Good player, and he's only 27. Nice signing.

 

[Ultimategamer5567]

That's a lot of competition for the SAM linebacker spot. Sims, Albright, Durant, Wilber and Lemon. It's hard for me to not feel good about this group of guys, and I've yet to mention Lee or Carter.

 

[Doomsday101]

solid pickup

 

[Ultimategamer5567]

solid pickup

With a few talented linemen on both sides of the ball, this team could compete deep into January.

 

[Doomsday101]

With a few talented linemen on both sides of the ball, this team could compete deep into January.

Right now just thinking of September

 

[DFWJC]

So the offseason FAs so far are:

Spencer
Sims
Durant

And no real losses due to FA though we did have some cuts.

So far, it really isn't horrible.
Could be better--though I'm trying to think what FA so far would radically upgrade our team and be worth the price.
Could be worse.