The Lions have signed 26-year old cornerback Eric King to a 2-year deal.  King played in 10 games for the Titans last season and he made 15 tackles and defensed 3 passes.  He has now played in 52 games in his NFL career and he has made 63 tackles and defensed 7 passes.  King has done most of the damage in his NFL career to date on special teams but he will get a chance to compete for increased playing time on defense with the Lions who definately need help in the secondary.

The Lions have signed 27-year old WR Bryant Johnson to a 3-year, $9 million dollar contract.  Johnson played in all 16 games for the 49ers last season and he caught 45 passes for 546 yards (12.1 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He has now played in 93 games in his NFL career in which he has caught 255 passes for 3,221 yards (12.6 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Johnson has great speed but he has never developed into anything more than a #3 WR to this point in his career.  Still, this wasn’t too bad of a move for the Lions who need all the help they can get.

The Lions have acquired 32-year old cornerback Anthony Henry from the Cowboys in return for 36-year old QB Jon Kitna.  This was a good move for the Lions who were probably going to cut Kitna anyway soon.  Henry played in all 16 games for the Cowboys last season and he made 50 tackles, defensed 5 passes, had 2 sacks, forced 1 fumble and he also had 1 interception.  Henry has now played in 118 games in his 8-year NFL career in which he has made 462 tackles, has defensed 103 passes, has 2 sacks, forced 5 fumbles and he has intercepted 29 passes (3 of which he has returned for TDs).  Henry will immediately upgrade the Lions’ secondary regardless of whether he plays cornerback or safety in 2009.

Jon Kitna had his ups and downs in Detroit but he won’t be missed too much.  He played in 36 games in his three years with the Lions completing 795 of 1,277 passes (62.3%) for 9,034 yards with 44 TD passes and 47 interceptions.  He also carried the ball 65 times for 253 yards (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  This was a good trade for the Lions as they really needed to shore up the secondary.

The Lions have signed 29-year old running back Maurice Morris to a 3-year contract worth over $6 million bucks.  Morris played in 13 games for the Seahawks last season and he carried the ball 132 times for 574 yards (4.3 ypc).  He also caught 19 passes for 136 yards (7.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Morris has now played in 101 games in his NFL career in which he has carried the ball 604 times for 2,612 yards (4.3 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also has caught 74 passes for 553 yards (7.5 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Morris will likely share time at running back with second year man Kevin Smith.

Morris also has a lot of experience on special teams.  He only returned 1 kickoff for 21 yards last season.  But, Morris has returned 129 kickoffs in his NFL career for 2,843 yards (22.0 avg) with 1 TD return.  This was a good signing for the Lions.