Lions opt not to tag Golladay, Okwara just days before NFL free agency

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New Detroit Lions’ general manager Brad Holmes put a big stamp on the team through subtraction on Tuesday.

Holmes opted not to place the franchise tag on wide receiver Kenny Golladay or defensive end Romeo Okwara by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline. That means both players will hit the free-agent market next week.

“Well, we want to make the best decision for the Lions,” Holmes said last week. “The great thing is that we have a process in place that we believe in, that we’ve been firm in. When you really start the planning stages of the process, that process can go all the way up to when you have to make the decision.”

Limited by hamstring and hip problems in 2020, the 6-foot-4, 214-pound Golladay was limited to just five games and 20 receptions for 338 yards and two touchdowns. However, Holmes knows it does not diminish the value of the 27-year-old former third-round pick, who topped the NFL with 11 touchdown receptions in 2019 while finishing with 65 catches for 1,190 yards.

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“Obviously, I don’t think there’s any debate that Kenny has shown the ability to be a No. 1 receiver in this league,” Holmes said. “With that skillset that everybody knows that he has, we all know that he has, and being where we’re at from a roster standpoint, there’s also been no debate that Kenny has been at the forefront of our minds in terms of making sure that we make the best possible decision for not only the Lions, but for Kenny.”

Golladay thought he was close to signing a long-term deal with the club last summer, but that was when Bob Quinn was running the team.

Under Holmes, the Lions have dealt quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams, which cannot be announced until next week, and along with Golladay will allow receivers Marvin Jones Jr. and Danny Amendola to hit free agency as well.

The Lions officially announced the signing of receiver Tyrell Williams on Tuesday. He was let go by the Las Vegas Raiders midway through a four-year deal for $44.3 million after missing all of the 2020 season with a torn labrum in his shoulder. After that, the only experience the club has is Geronimo Allison, who opted out of last season, and Quintez Cephus, who is heading into his second season. Detroit owns the seventh pick in the first round of next month’s NFL Draft that features a deep group of receivers. As well, the club could get a future compensatory draft pick should Golladay signs elsewhere.

The Lions claimed the 6-foot-4, 263-pound Okwara off waivers from the New York Giants in 2018. He had signed with New York in 2016 as an undrafted free agent and signed a two-year extension with Detroit prior to the 2019 season.

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The 25-year-old Okwara is coming off a career-high 10 sacks in 2020 where he started nine times in 16 games and finished with 44 tackles, 18 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles.

However, the NFL salary cap is expected to drop next season as a result of the fallout from COVID-19. A franchise tag on Golladay would cost the Lions nearly $16 million for a one-year deal and possibly $19 million for Okwara, which are prices the Lions eventually concluded would not going to fit for the rebuilding club.

“Obviously there’s some uncertainty in terms of what that will be,” Holmes said of the cap. “From our planning standpoint, we’ve actually been weighing every single scenario from the most optimistic scenario, what it would be, to the worst-case scenario. So, it goes back to the process and the planning stages in terms of how it works.”

jpparker@postmedia.com

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