Negotiations still on hold between Detroit Lions and DE Cliff Avril – NFL News
Detroit Lions and defensive end, Cliff Avril are still locked in contract negotiations with little to no progress being made in recent weeks.
Avril is yet to sign his franchise tender the Lions placed on him and is currently holding out of the team’s minicamp.
Both parties have till July 15th to work out a new long term deal failing which Avril will have to sign his tender and earn $ 10.6 million for the year and become a free agent at the end of the 2012-13 season.
With negotiations going nowhere Detroit Lions president, Tom Lewand had said on Friday that it is up to Avril to make things happen.
Speaking to the Detroit Free Press he said.
“We obviously have the tender out on Cliff and he’s welcome to sign that anytime he wants. We’ve continued discussions on whether we can convert that into something on a longer-term basis but, really, in many ways, in terms of the tender, the ball’s in his
court.”
Avrill though did not take long to respond to that statement and on Saturday said that the ball is not in his but in Tom Lewand’s court.
"It's up to Tom. It's up to Tom, and see where we can go with that."
The defensive end also held out the hope that things will get clearer near the team’s training camp and he hopes to participate in it after signing a new deal.
"Things will work themselves out. I don't stress out about it. It's a business and you can't get mad about it. So we'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I'm there for the start of (training) camp."
Avril has become a big part of the Lions defensive roster since joining the franchise in the 2008 drafts.
Last year he made 36 tackles and 11.0 sacks while also making an interception to become one of the Lions best performers in defence.
The fans will hope that Avril agrees to a new deal soon and remain with the franchise for the long term.
Detroit ended the regular season 10-6 last year ending their long running playoff drought and they need all of their players on board if they wish to make another run to the post season this year.
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