Now that the Lions have added running back Reggie Bush, what should they do with Mikel Leshoure and Joique Bell?
How about trade one of them?
How can the Lions trade someone that they don’t want, you ask? That’s easy. Pretend you still want them.
That’s precisely what the Lions could be doing, with Exhibit A being an item on the team’s official website in which the Lions claim that Leshoure and Bell will still have significant duties in the offense.
“People like to say running back by committee and things like that, but each guy will have a role,” coach Jim Schwartz recently said. “There will be plenty of touches on the offense for everybody.”
That’s fine, but Bush surely didn’t choose the Lions because he wants to go back to being a bit player in a revolving-door backfield. He reportedly was promised the starting job by the Lions, and the decision to pay him $4 million per year suggests that he won’t be a part-time tailback.
But if the Lions hope to get value for Leshoure or Bell, the Lions have to make the other 31 teams think they plan to keep them.
So, basically, the Lions have “no intent” to trade Leshoure or Bell. And all that that implies.