Twitter Had News Of Ngata Trade Before Caldwell, Same Time As Bill Ford Jr.
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - After learning Ndamukong Suh would be leaving in free agency, the Detroit Lions wasted little time in landing a replacement. As fast as the team moved, however, Twitter moved even more quickly, spreading news of the trade even before team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew informed head coach Jim Caldwell.
Lewand described the oddity last Tuesday during the team's town hall meeting with season ticket holders at Ford Field.
"We hadn't even told Jim yet, and we're on the phone to [vice chairman Bill Ford Jr.], letting him know that the trade was finalized," Lewand said. "And it pops up on Twitter as we're telling the owner we had just finalized it. We hadn't even told the head coach yet, so Twitter was finding out before."
Lewand also recounted a thrilled reaction when he interrupted a staff meeting in the building to deliver the news.
"I stuck my head in and said, 'Hey, we got Haloti Ngata,' and the looks on the faces of these guys was like it was Christmas morning," Lewand said, "and Santa Claus had just come down the chimney."
The Lions might have been able to secure Ngata's services without giving up a pair of draft picks if they had waited for the Ravens, who could not afford Ngata's cap hit, to release him. Lewand made it clear that the team considered that option but ultimately wanted Ngata enough to make sure it got him.
"There's no assurance that he gets let go, there's no assurance that he's out there on the market, there's no assurance that he doesn't get a deal done with Baltimore, who very much wanted to keep him," Lewand said. "We pretty quickly found out that there was demand for his services, which factored into the trade discussions that we had with Baltimore on that day that free agency started.
"There was just not an opportunity in free agency, we didn't think, to add a player of Haloti Ngata's caliber," Lewand added. "Just like a guy like Suh doesn't come available on the market very often, neither does Haloti Ngata."
