(UPDATED) Report: Lions Trade Redding to Seattle for Peterson

[skinsfan_nn]

Not another Millen show Part II...

SAME OLD LIONS?
Posted by Mike Florio on March 14, 2009, 7:35 p.m.

With multiple reports that the Seattle Seahawks were going to cut linebacker Julian Peterson after he refused a pay cut, the Detroit Lions opted not to wait for the inevitable release of Peterson.

Instead, they packed up a starting defensive lineman and a fifth-round pick in order to inherit the back end of the puffed up contract paid three years ago to Peterson, who’ll be 31 in July.

The move has renewed criticism of the Lions in league circles.

“If you went 0-16 would you trade a pick and a good young player for a 31 year old?” one league source asked us.

(Actually, if we went 0-16, we’d cash in whatever remaining chips we could scrape together and find a new line of business to screw up over an extended period of time.)

We’ve largely forgotten about the Lions because there are no games for them to lose in March, but league insiders still point to the franchise as a shining beacon of pro football ineptitude.

The arrival of former Jags V.P. of player personnel James Harris has done little to improve the front office’s image in league circles.

“[G.M. Martin] Mayhew is bad enough in trying to evaluate talent,” one source opined. “Instead of one guy not knowing what he’s doing now you have two guys doing the same routine.”

In fact, one league insider has been referring to Mayhew and Harris as the “Millen Twins.”

But there’s possibly good news on the horizon. Some league insiders expect that new coach Jim Schwartz will try to make a power play, if he can win at least five or six games in the wake of last year’s humiliating season.