The Detroit Lions hadn't made a move involving a free agent from another team throughout Tuesday and most of Wednesday. Late on Wednesday night, however, the Lions got the ball rolling by agreeing to a two-year deal with linebacker Justin Durant, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The first report of Durant agreeing to a deal with the Lions actually came from Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. He broke the news after reporting that the Bears were out of the mix for Durant.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press quickly got in contact with Durant's agent, who said no deal was done just yet. Shortly after, however, Durant started tweeting about heading to Detroit, making it obvious that a deal was either close or already done. Schefter then confirmed the news.
This move isn't a surprise considering Durant was mentioned as the Lions' top linebacker target earlier this month, but the timing of it did catch me off guard. All day long the focus was on the Lions and Stephen Tulloch, but by the end of the day Durant was the one that agreed to a deal. It's not clear if this means Tulloch is no longer an option or not, but it would be quite the set of deals if Detroit could land both players.
Durant is entering his fifth season in the NFL in 2011. His first four seasons were spent with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year he played in 10 games and had 55 tackles and two pass defenses.