Cliff Avril is one of the few remaining unsigned franchise players after rejecting a 3 year, 30 million dollar deal from the Lions before the July 16th deadline. According to the Detroit News, the Lions don’t expect him to sign any time soon. The report says that Avril is expected to miss “at least a couple of weeks.” Still, Avril almost definitely won’t miss any regular season games, if only because he has 10.6 million reasons not to (meaning dollars owed guaranteed).

I don’t even understand what he’s gaining by skipping at least a couple weeks. He’ll avoid injury, but he also risks losing playing time and getting out of shape, two things that could hurt his production and cost him dollars on a long term deal next offseason when he’ll be a free agent again. He also can be fined 30 thousand per day and he can’t be signed to a long term deal until next offseason anyway.

The Lions have adequate defensive end depth with Kyle Vanden Bosch, Willie Young, Lawrence Jackson, and 4^th round rookie Ronnell Lewis. It’s looking more and more likely that this will be Avril’s last year in Detroit. I think there’s even an outside shot that they trade him before the season. More likely, he signs elsewhere next offseason, either on his own or through a sign and trade after the Lions franchise him again.

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