Four moves the Detroit Lions could make to improve but will not.

There are opportunities for the Detroit Lions to fix some of their problems before the season starts, but they’re not going to do it.

The Detroit Lions are not a bad roster. They are not a perfect roster either though. There are many ways that an NFL team can look at improving. There are no shortage of options open to an NFL general manager

They can look at free agents that would fill gaps in their team. This gives their team a known quantity. The player does not often give them more than they’ve seen previously, but he also typically doesn’t give them less.

The Lions could also wait another year, and improve through the draft. They have a lot of day three picks, and long-term, this has been shown to be the most successful means of improvement for general managers who draft well. We are still a year or two away from being able to make any conclusive judgments on whether Bob Quinn is good at drafting.

The final option for an enterprising GM in the NFL is to make a trade. Every team in the league is about to cut 47 players from their roster. Many of these players are holdovers from old management or coaching groups that simply do not fit with the organization anymore. The Lions picked up one of those yesterday in Eli Harold.

Not all trades come from that impetus though. Sometimes it is simply time for a player and team to separate and move on. There are a few situations around the league that could result in the Lions finding a bargain.

The Raiders have undergone an upheaval organizationally. The Patriots are adjusting on the fly, as they are prone to doing. And the Ravens have one too many players at a position the Lions need help at.