If I told you that you could sign a 31-year-old defensive end with 7 1/2 sacks in his last 26 games, none in his last five, would you be willing to give him a four-year deal worth $26 million?
I didn't think so.
That's exactly what the Detroit Lions did when they agreed to a deal with Tennessee Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch on a four-year contract Friday, a deal conformed by Vanden Bosch on a Nashville radio station.
Vanden Bosch is an effort player who had 12 1/2 sacks in 2005 and 12 sacks in 2007, both with Tennessee. In his other three seasons with the Titans, he combined to have 14 sacks.
Vanden Bosch turns 32 in November. Too many times we've seen pass rushers who are 30-plus years fall off the ledge. There have been 17 pass rushers aged 30 or older who have finished in the top 10 in sacks the past 10 years.
Four repeated.
Four.
And some of those had much more athletic ability than Vanden Bosch. When a guy gets by on his grit and effort, which Vanden Bosch did, it's probably tougher to sustain as you age.
I know the Lions are desperate for pass rushers and coach Jim Schwartz knows Vanden Bosch well, having coached him when he was the defensive coordinator of the Titans.
Vanden Bosch is a good locker-room guy for a young team, but if history is an indicator -- and it usually is -- they're paying for a player who won't give them what they need.
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