The Detroit Lions are still weighing what to do with Kenny Golladay in the coming days, and as they ponder what to do, the predictions keep rolling in about what will happen.
A consensus hasn’t yet been revealed by the team, but that hasn’t stopped folks from giving their opinions about what should happen with regards to the franchise tag. A new prediction has rolled in on that front from ESPN analyst Michael Rothstein.
In a piece predicting what could happen with franchise tags on the site, Rothstein admitted that the decision to tag Golladay remains up in the air given the team could have a variety of options at wideout both with and without their best player.
“Golladay, 27, appeared to be a candidate for a long-term deal under the previous regime, but that never materialized. Now that the Lions are in a rebuild under a new head coach/general manager combo in Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes, the franchise must decide whether to sign Golladay to a long-term extension, tag him, tag him with the potential intent to trade him or let him walk. Detroit, which needs wide receivers desperately, could do any of those things considering its multiyear plan to return to competitiveness.”
In the end, though, Rothstein admitted he thinks the Lions use the tag on Golladay, which would guarantee he is in the mix for the team for the short-term in the very least. In recent weeks, plenty have written that they believe Golladay should be brought back for the team.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but predictions continue to roll in with Golladay’s situation not yet settled.
What Happens With Kenny Golladay After Franchise Tag Could Bear Watching
As Rothstein and others have alluded to, the Lions could tag Golladay and still move on from him this offseason with a trade. In that scenario, the Lions would have to hope they could find some acceptable replacements on the open market considering the fact that they would be losing major production with Golladay flying the coop. The asset the Lions could get would be intriguing for their rebuild, though. Detroit could also keep Golladay and trade him during the season, an outcome that wouldn’t be a huge surprise either given the team might have another up and down season in 2021 given a variety of factors.
Lions Have Big Decision With Kenny Golladay
With 3,068 yards and 21 touchdowns thus far in his career coming into the 2021 season on the field after being a third-round pick in 2017, Golladay looks like an obvious top dog in Detroit for the foreseeable future no matter who is playing quarterback and a clear home grown talent. He proved that to be the case in 2020 itself with 338 yards and 2 scores in spite of missing most of the season with nagging injuries.
Even in spite of all of that, the Lions have plenty of things going on multiple fronts. Dan Campbell, Brad Holmes, Ray Agnew and John Dorsey are now in control of the direction of the team for the future. Obviously, this means that Golladay’s future is firmly up in the air considering it will be hard to say what a new staff will think of handing out a big deal to a wideout, no matter how important Golladay might be to the team. Holmes said the Lions want to retool and not rebuild, so keeping a guy like Golladay around could play into that, especially given the depth the Lions are slated to lose at wideout.
Golladay has maintained he wants to stay and seems to have good thoughts about Dan Campbell and the Lions. It remains to be seen if that will matter in the end, but folks continue to feel as if the Lions will get the tag done with Golladay.
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Lions Contract Decision With Kenny Golladay Projected by ESPN