Expect Detroit Lions to pass on long-term contract for Ziggy Ansah

INDIANAPOLIS — While some NFL teams use the franchise tag as a placeholder for a long-term deal, the Lions' situation with defensive end Ziggy Ansah is much more complicated.

Ansah has dealt with a bunch of injuries in recent seasons that have depressed his production, and a few months shy of his 29th birthday, he's already on the backside of his career.

That doesn't mean the Lions won't try and sign Ansah to a multi-year extension. They have until July 16 to do so after placing the franchise tag on Ansah on Tuesday.

But given the chance to say he wanted to do that Wednesday, general manager Bob Quinn said nothing of the sort.

"We talked to Ziggy yesterday morning before he came down here, Coach (Matt Patricia) and I, had a good conversation with Ziggy about what the future entails," Quinn said. "All of those conversations between me and the player is going to be private. We’re not going to get into talking about it with you guys. But we did talk to him, told him what our plan was and he understands where we’re coming from. We understand where he’s coming from and we’re looking forward to having him on the team."

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Ansah led the Lions with 12 sacks last season, but he also disappeared for long stretches as he dealt with knee and back injuries, the latter of which kept him out of two November games.

He had a three-sack game in Week 2 against the New York Giants, two three-sack games to end the season against the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers, and in between had just three sacks (one of which could have easily been credited to Akeem Spence).

Sacks aren't the only measure of production from a defensive end, and Ansah did impact games in other ways.

He played well as a edge-setting run defender, especially after Haloti Ngata's season-ending injury, and Quinn pointed out that Ansah's play helped Anthony Zettel and others have productive years.

"The thing about Ziggy that I think really needs to be kind of put out there, when you really watch the tape, like, the offensive lines slide to him all the time," Quinn said. "So you go back and watch this guy, there’s two guys trying to block him I’d say more than half the plays. So we talk about production, all right, there’s production on paper, this stat line, his sacks, his hurries, all that stuff, that’s great. But when I watch tape and the coaches watch tape, is he doing his job? Is he occupying two blockers and Anthony Zettel’s making a play? Or Kerry Hyder? Or A’Shawn (Robinson), or whoever?

"So I think that’s part of the stuff that when you really dive into and watch it, I thought he had a productive year."

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Ansah will make about $17.5 million on the franchise tag this season, which will put him among the highest-paid defensive ends in the NFL.

If the Lions don't sign Ansah to an extension this summer — a deal similar to what Jason Pierre-Paul got from the New York Giants last spring would pay Ansah $62 million over four years with $40 million guaranteed — they would have the option of franchising him again next season at a cost of $21 million.

Patricia called Ansah "an outstanding player" Tuesday and promised he was "going to try to do everything we can to put him in great positions to be productive."

But as the Lions weigh whether to keep Ansah beyond 2018, and at what cost, the injury questions — Ansah also underwent a significant shoulder surgery after his rookie season and was limited to two sacks by ankle injuries in 2016 — can't be ignored.

"He’s had some injuries, no question," Quinn said. "But when you look over his career, he hasn’t missed all that many games (seven in five seasons).

"One thing about Ziggy is he’s extremely tough. When he can practice, he practices, when he can play, he can play. And I have a great deal of respect for his work. All the behind-the-scenes things that you guys don’t see, in terms of him trying to get his body right, whether it was his ankles in 2016, to this year with the knee and a couple other things that popped up, he works extremely hard behind the scenes to get ready for Sundays. I have a great deal of respect for that."

And also, a great understanding of how risky that makes it to pay Ansah for future years.

More: Dave Birkett's 2018 NFL mock draft (1.0)

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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