Redding: A Detroit Perspective
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After each major acquisition this off-season, I’ve posted entries featuring commentary from other bloggers. For Colin Cole, DJ from Lombardi Ave offered his opinion, and after we signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Bryan Burke from Bengals Gab submitted his perspective.
Now that we’ve acquired Cory Redding from the Detroit Lions, I’ve reached out to Lions blogger Sean Yuille for his perspective on the defensive lineman. Although a lot of us have heard more about Redding by now, he still remains somewhat anonymous in the Pacific Northwest.
Sean Yuille blogs for Pride of Detroit, an unofficial Detroit Lions blog, and was kind enough to offer his perspective on Cory Redding:
"Cory Redding began his career as a defensive end and moved inside to tackle. He was already a starter at DE, but Rod Marinelli felt like he could become a defensive playmaker at DT. Marinelli was right, as Redding played great in 2006 as a DT. In fact, he played so well that the Lions slapped the franchise tag on him to keep him in Detroit when Redding became a free agent. Redding eventually agreed to a long-term deal that gave him $49 million over 7 years. In the two seasons since signing his deal, Redding hasn’t been a disappointment, but he hasn’t stuck out as an impact player either. His numbers slightly decreased in the two seasons since his new deal, and he finished last season on the injured reserve. His injuries weren’t all that serious to my knowledge, as he was placed on the IR in Week 13 or something like that.I think a change of scenery will be a great thing for Cory Redding. From the sounds of it, he is going to play some defensive end as well as tackle for the Seahawks, which is what he would have done in Detroit. I don’t know if Redding can get his production back to his career-best 2006 season, but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he did. Redding has the potential to be a big-time player in any defense, and usually Lions that leave for new teams always excel. I think Redding will do just that in Seattle."