Lions players might have been surprised by the news that team president Tom Lewand and General Manager Martin Mayhew were fired yesterday. But the ones who have been around the league know that now no one is safe in Detroit.
Via Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press, some players found out when asked by reporters, and kicker Matt Prater heard from his mother-in-law. But the signal being sent from above was clear.
“It could be big,” veteran safety Glover Quin said. “Obviously, you have some players who probably don’t want to come back. They probably say, ‘I don’t want to be part of a rebuilding. I want to go somewhere else.’ You may have some players who are like, ‘Hey, man, I’ve got a new start, a new G.M., new this, new that, and so I’m playing for my job.’ Everybody plays for different reasons.
“Hopefully every goes out there and obviously we’re still trying to win football games. We’re trying to win and hopefully we can salvage something about our season. But yeah, obviously when new people come in, they obviously feel like the people who were here weren’t getting the job done, so they try to bring in their own guys. Everybody, at least for me, I feel like everybody’s on the chopping block. Everybody’s job is on the line.”
That’s the way they should feel. Lewand and Mayhew had plenty of time to yield results, but players come and go more quickly, and many of the same players who are 1-7 now were on the 11-5 team that went to the playoffs a year ago. So while it might not be their fault, that might not matter.
Head coach Jim Caldwell was given a chance to hang around for the next eight games, but there’s always the chance a new G.M. wants to find his own guy.
And if that happens, few players should consider themselves safe.