Detroit Lions: Top Five Free Agent Wide Receivers they should Consider

The Lions should consider taking a flier on Martavis Bryant, using the term ‘flier’ loosely here.  Bryant has had his fair share of personal issues.  He’s been suspended numerous times throughout his young career. I fact, he’s been suspended a whopping three times in four years for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy.

Bryant was playing with the Oakland Raiders while his one-year ban was under review by the league.  In December, he was suspended indefinitely for violating the terms of his conditional reinstatement from a previous ban. Bryant has filed for reinstatement.  There is no guarantee he will be reinstated; hence taking a ‘flier.’ If the 27-year old did in fact ‘throw it all away’ it would be a complete shame with all that potential tossed to the wayside.

Bryant has a world of talent, but his troubled past leaves us to wonder if he’ll play football again.  He’s trying to prove to the league that he’s cleaned up his life as he originally planned on filing for reinstatement in May but decided to wait until he could take time to prove that he indeed has cleaned up his act.

I don’t expect the Detroit Lions to take a chance on a player with character issues but the large-framed, speedster could come at a very cheap ‘show me’ price.  Bryant once talked himself out of Pittsburgh because he wanted more targets. He was also suspended during his tenor with the Steelers where he missed an entire season. Since then the production has been downhill.

The former fourth-round talent recorded 765 yards on 50 grabs in just 11 games in 2015.  If he’s in fact cleaned up his life, the Detroit Lions could be getting a talented player for likely in the $1 million range for a season.

Bryant recorded 19 catches for 266 yards last season before the suspension.  I don’t see the risk worth the reward, and I don’t think head coach Matt Patricia is in the market to bring in a depth player with a questionable past.