Lions Talking With Levy About Contract Extension
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK - The Detroit Lions have started to talk with linebacker DeAndre Levy about a contract extension, general manager Martin Mayhew said Friday in his pre-draft press conference.
"We've had some dialogue with him," Mayhew said. "I think it's ongoing at this point."
Last year Levy recorded 151 tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception. He is regarded as one of the best in the game at his position. Unless the Lions sign him to an extension, Levy will become a free agent after the 2015 season.
At the NFL owners meetings last month, the Lions had not begun discussions with Levy. It was too early at that point, team president Tom Lewand said, to determine whether or not, if need be, the team would negotiate with Levy during the season, something the Lions decided not to do with star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who eventually departed in free agency.
"I do think that you can have guidelines when it comes to negotiating; I'm not sure that when it comes to negotiating that policies or guidelines are ever absolute," Lewand said at the meetings. "We've done deals during the season; we've had deals where we don't talk during the season.
"We'll see where it goes, but every circumstance is a little bit different," Lewand continued, "and we'll see where those conversations, once they start, take us."
The Lions have made it clear they want to keep Levy, who is not only a great player but also a jewel of the team's draft process. Detroit selected Levy in the third round in 2009, and now he is regarded as a Pro Bowl-caliber player.
"It was one of those things where our scouts in that area at that time really liked him, wasn't really highly rated by some other people I guess, or wasn't on a lot of people's radar, so to speak," Mayhew said Friday. "Our coaches took a look at him, and they also liked what they saw in him. I think there was just a great sort of synergy right there and came together where everybody's seeing the exact same thing. We saw the speed, the athleticism that he had, and thought he'd be a quality player for us.
"And he's come in and really, the first couple years, he was a little nicked up and wasn't playing at this level he's playing at now," Mayhew added, "but two years into it he really took off."
