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by mattUTD20 » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:03 pm Foote Wants To Play For The Lions
Posted by Mike Florio on April 28, 2009, 2:54 p.m. EDT
Perhaps far bigger than the news that former Steelers linebacker Larry Foote wants to play for the Detroit Lions is that anyone wants to play for the Detroit Lions.
But, indeed, Foote wants to continue his career in the state he calls “home,” with the team everyone calls “really, really sucky.”
“Detroit is always No. 1,” Foote told the Detroit News. “I mean, my agent is talking to them about me coming home, and we’ll go from there. But no question about it, that’s my first choice.”
Foote also revealed that he had been pushing the team to cut him, and that at one point he thought he’d be traded.
“I’ve been forcing [this] the whole offseason,” Foote said. “I’ve been asking for it all offseason, asking for a trade, and I guess they finally did something. I wish they’d have done it a little earlier. Technically, I’m a free man now, but a lot of the money [in free agency] has been spent. . . .
“I don’t know what the Steelers were doing in the whole process. They kept saying they were trying to get a trade. I know they were in talks with the Lions. But I don’t know how it’s gonna work. My agent [Ken Kremer] said the Lions tried to get me, but I still don’t know how bad they want me.”
On one hand, it’s arguably a tad douchey for the Steelers to squat on Foote through the first two months of free agency and then cut him three days after picking a total of, um, zero linebackers in the draft. On the other hand, Foote’s agent could have avoided the situation by simply shifting $1 million of Foote’s $2.885 million base salary into a roster bonus due on the first day of the 2009 league year.
If the Lions aren’t interested in bringing to the franchise a guy who got two Super Bowl rings without buying either of them on eBay, then maybe the Cardinals will be inclined to consider Foote, given his connection to former Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Steelers Will Keep Foote For The Next Week
Posted by Mike Florio on April 28, 2009, 3:07 p.m. EDT
In his Tuesday comments to the Detroit News, linebacker Larry Foote said that the Steelers tried to trade him before deciding to cut him.
It appears that those efforts might be ongoing.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirms our report (thanks, Ed — you are a true gentleman, despite that French-sounding surname), but Bouchette writes that the Steelers will keep him on the roster through the coming weekend, during which a mandatory minicamp will be held.
Our guess is that the Steelers are still hoping to get a phone call from a team that might want to trade for Foote, and that with so many minicamps coming up this weekend, the Steelers might be thinking that a market for Foote could emerge quickly if a linebacker on another team suffers a serious injury during the coming surge of non-contact (eyeroll) helmets-and-underwear practices.
It’s also safe to assume that the Steelers dangled Foote during draft weekend, and that they likewise found no takers.
They might find a taker for Foote as quickly as the Fins did last summer for defensive end Jason Taylor, when a blown Achilles’ tendon in D.C. instantly became the second-round draft pick with which the Fins finagled Pat White.
Foote has stated he wants to come home and play for the Lions. As a Curry hopeful, the sting of seeing Stafford on his back Sundays won't be quite as bad if Foote is flanked by Peterson and Sims in Lions blue. I dare say the Lions would have a respectable linebackers corp and with Delmas over the top could have a decent run D. They'll be hurting on the line but Grady Jackson should help on first and second down. Is Detroit going to turn a corner on D or am I just overly optimistic?
