What if we went out and pried Cliff Avril away from the Lions? He's a free agent, and last year he turned down a 3yr/$30M deal, but his stock dropped a little w/ "only" 9.5 sacks, and the Lions don't intend to franchise him. He's speedy (4.51/40 at the combine) and he played OLB in college and wasn't horrible in coverage as far as I can tell.

Thoughts?

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I doubt, he is going to take less this year than he turned down last. And don't know if 10mil/yr would fit in our cap. But he would be an interesting addition. I would think about MLB. I like the idea of greater size in the middle and he has the speed.

It would take Avril coming down in salary. Along with parting way with Hawk, saving a few million in cap, probably parting with Bishop, saving another million or so. And getting Brad Jones and DJ smith both back cheap.

We could field a pretty flexible LBer group. Perry,Avril,Jones,Matthews. All 4 would have experience rushing the edge, and Clay, Avril and Jones and even Perry have more speed than AJ or Bishop. And with Worthy, Raji and Neal as the down line. Would think it would be a very stout 7 against the run, and skies the limit against on pass rush.

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