| Sources Say Lions Likely To Use Franchise Tag On DE Cliff Avril | | | The Detroit Lions don’t want to lose defensive end Cliff Avril and are prepared to use the franchise tag to keep him off the open market. While two people familiar with the negotiations stopped short of saying Avril definitely will be tagged, both said that’s the likely outcome if the two sides don’t agree on a long-term deal before March 5, the deadline for applying the tag. “This is new to me,” Avril said today. “My agent hasn’t called me and told me anything. I mean, we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. If they franchise me, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be playing under that, because that just gives them more time to negotiate or whatnot. So we’ll see how it goes.” Source: Detroit Free Press
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