The NFL trade deadline is just a couple of days away, 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to be exact, which means it’s high time for several teams to put some of their assets on the trading block.
For the Detroit Lions, one player they are dangling in front of other teams is 24-year-old tight end Eric Ebron, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has reported.
Although Ian Rapoport of NFL Media has reported that teams are calling the Lions about Ebron (which suggests that Lions aren’t actively shopping him; see Ward, T.J.), a league source with knowledge of the situation says that the Lions are actively shopping Ebron and that they will “almost surely” trade him.
The Lions spent a first-round pick in 2014 to select Ebron 10th overall, but he’s been mostly a disappointment in his first four seasons in the NFL.
Ebron only had a touchdown in 13 games in his rookie season, then improved the following year with five touchdowns in 14 games. Since then, however, Ebron has gone downhill with only two touchdowns in 20 games.
The Lions’ patience understandably has thinned out, and it’s not helping Ebron’s image that 31-year-old Lions tight end Darren Fells is outplaying him. In fact, Fells saw more snaps in each of the past three weeks prior to Detroit’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Detroit picked up its club option last May to keep Ebron under payroll until 2019, though that is guaranteed for injury only per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
The club option is guaranteed for injury only. Detroit or any team trading for Ebron could get out of the hefty pay raise if the tight end can pass a physical before the next league year opens.
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