CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 19: Rick Wagner #71 of the Detroit Lions in action during a game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on November 19, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The Lions beat the Bears 27-24. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Releasing a starter from the previous season will always raise some eyebrows, did Bob Quinn fix or compound the problem at right tackle for 2020?

To make a bad decision is human, to double-down and continue with that bad decision is a dumb human.

The Detroit Lions released right tackle Ricky Wagner because it wasn’t worth the money to roster him. With an $11.9 million dollar cap hit in 2020, which would have been the fourth-highest in the NFL according to SpoTrac.com … coupled with poor play to the effect of getting the second-lowest overall grade of 59.0 from Pro Football Focus for all Detroit Lions offensive lineman, ahead of only Oday Aboushi. Fwiw.

The Detroit Lions announced today that they have released T Rick Wagner. pic.twitter.com/pGihTqQAkC — Detroit Lions (@Lions) March 13, 2020

I have no problem with general manager Bob Quinn cutting his losses and moving on from one of his first big signings as an NFL general manager. While Wagner’s cap hit was 11.9M, he also has a dead-cap figure of 5.8M … but that’s 6.1M more than you had before and 6.1M is very useful.

So the question becomes was Wagner useful?

He comes with a bit of injury risk and in the four games Wagner missed last season there wasn’t much of a drop off from him to Tyrell Crosby. The second-year tackle out of Oregon showed a lot of power in the run game in the final three games to close out the season. And played well all across the line in mop-up duty throughout the season.

Though contrary to popular belief, I don’t think the Lions are planning on going into the season with Crosby as their starting right tackle. While Tyrell showed he can be a plus in the run blocking last season, he was still a liability in pass protection. That’s a risk I don’t think the Lions are testing with Matthew Stafford coming off two straight seasons with back injuries.

Tyrell had played some right gaurd with the Lions where he would have an easier time pass blocking. With the expected loss of Graham Glasgow to free agency, that’s another possibility.

Either way, expect a free agent signing or mid-early round resource used on a pass-blocking tackle by Bob Quinn heading into his ‘win-now’ 2020 season.