Transaction: Lions to Decline Fifth-Year Option on LB Davis

A couple days ago I put up a piece on why the Lions would likely decline to exercise the Fifth-Year option on LB Jarrad Davis. In that piece, I touched on several reasons why I thought the Lions would decline the option, including his lack of playing at a 1st Rd level and the impact of the new CBA on the option parameters.

Today, Ian Rapport of NFL Network posted that the Lions will decline to pick up the option, which frankly, is not unexpected. The Lions have not made it official as of now, but paying Davis $10 million for the 2021 season based on his historic production was simply never in the cards.

The Lions can, and may explore coming to an agreement on a deal to extend past 2020, but it will be for much less than what Davis could earn on the 5th-year option, and may be well worth what he believes he can get on the open market.