Detroit Lions add a tight end, sign Luke Willson in free agency

The Detroit Lions have made move to replace Eric Ebron’s roster spot by agreeing to a deal with free agent tight end Luke Willson, formerly of the Seahawks.

The Detroit Lions created a big hole at tight end for themselves when Eric Ebron was released last week. Rather than pay Ebron $8.25 million on his fifth-year option, the Lions opted to drop him before that money became guaranteed at the start of the new league year.

Add in the loss of Darren Fells in free agency and the Lions faced the need to replace their top two tight ends from last season. We can now check one of the two off the needs list.

After meeting with a handful of veteran tight end options, the Lions have reportedly agreed to a deal with Luke Willson, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks.

Adam Caplan adds some details to the deal, reporting that it is for $2.5 million with additional money available in incentives.

Willson helps restore athleticism to the Lions’ tight end depth chart following Ebron’s exit. He wasn’t used as heavily in the passing game as Ebron was in his four years in Detroit. Willson caught between 15 and 22 passes in each of his five seasons in Seattle and was never targeted more than 40 times in a season. He has he profile for that to grow in the Lions’ offense however, and he should be expected to bring more of a blocking element than the Lions got from Ebron.

Is he a downgrade from Ebron? Maybe, especially when limiting the analysis to what each can do at the top end of their particular set of skills, but that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison because of the money. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Bob Quinn just didn’t see the value in holding on to Ebron for one more year at over $8 million.

Instead, he chose the money over the player and then went out about replacing the player as best he could. With the player replaced, he still has over $5.5 million in cap space at his disposal. It may not be the same value judgement everyone would have made, but it appears the course of action Quinn thought best.

Next: Predicting what the Lions will do in the 2018 NFL Draft

Willson was originally a fifth round draft pick by the Seahawks in the 2013 NFL Draft. A Detroit-are native from LaSalle, ON, he played collegiately at Rice.