Fab Four in Detroit?

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, April 25, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Detroit Lions
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!
As is their usual wont, the Detroit Lions have made few large maneuvers on the free agent market aside from the two-headed monster of Jon Kitna and Josh McCown. Don't be deceived by the lack of headlines and name players associated with the Motor City, though. Coach Rod "Almighty" Marinelli has indeed been busy, tinkering with and beefing up his roster.

Predictably, the shifting has primarily been more pronounced on the defensive side; after all, Marinelli comes from the defensive side of the ball and offensive coordinator Mike Martz already has his hands full with the QB position alone.

The move that has astute Detroit watchers agog is the re-signing of little-known linebacker Nate Wayne. The eight-year veteran had seen tours of duty (and had piled up 524 tackles) with Denver, Green Bay and Philadelphia before his acquisition by and subsequent release from the Jacksonville Jaguars last season. The Lions picked him up, dusted him off, and in five games Wayne bagged fourteen tackles.

Wayne hasn't been listed as a regular starter since 2003, but could very well see his name at the top of the depth charts this year. Marinelli likes the potential rebirth of the 31-year-old with the silver-and-blue due to the big guy's knowledge of the Cover 2 defense. Specifically the modified Tampa 2, the modus operandi of Marinelli and company this season.

And here's a news item large in poundage if not in sports page font size: defensive tackles Damian Gregory and Cleveland Pinkney were signed last week. Both of them have played for Marinelli before and both tip the scales at just over 300 pounds. The Detroit coaching staff is doubtlessly hoping that their head man's experience with the pair will allow him to extract their full potential, as both have shown little more than question marks essentially since draft day.

Gregory is a five-year veteran but has seen action in exactly seven games. Six of these came under then-defensive line coach Marinelli at Tampa Bay in 2004 and were capped by a knee injury that took him out of action for that season and the next. The story of Pinkney is similar, sans injury. After seeing decent playing time in five games with the Buccaneers in 2003, the DT was moved to Atlanta in 2004, where he saw almost no play after October. Likewise, Pinkney saw no action in 2005, having been released by the Seattle Seahawks before opening day.

Far less of an unknown quantity is safety Vernon Fox. Fox served as the Detroit Lions' special teams captain in 2005 and racked up twenty tackles; he also does double duty as a backup safety, the position he was groomed for with the San Diego Chargers in 2003 and 2004. Fox was also recipient of the Yale Lary Special Teams MVP award last season.

Just how this quartet of free agent signings will make its presence felt in 2006 remains to be seen, but those with strong belief in Marinelli have got to be pleased. At least until those draft-day jitters set in. Among the fans, I mean.
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report