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ALLEN PARK – The Detroit Lions must have seen something they really liked at Halapoulivaati Vaitai as they made the career save their highest-paid free agent last offseason.
But through 10 games it didn’t work.
Vaitai only played 51% of Detroit’s offensive shots due to performance and injury issues, including just 54 total shots in the right tackle, the position he was given $ 45 million to play. On Sunday, he was benched at halftime in the 20-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
It’s unclear whether the bench was due to injury – he’s struggled with foot issues all year – or performance issues. Coach Matt Patricia offered little clarity when asked about it on Tuesday, simply noting that Vaitai is a tough guy who tries to play some things.
“’Big V’ fights every day, and I think he goes through some things that have restricted him a bit,” Patricia said. “He’s a badass. He goes out and really tries to do whatever he can to help the team. At this point, I’ll probably leave it there, as far as he’s concerned. But he’s tough and he fights the best he can.
Vaitai was the centerpiece of the Lions’ free agent transport, signing a five-year, $ 45 million contract to replace the disappointing Rick Wagner at the right tackle. He also played all the shots during training camp, before sustaining a foot injury a few days before the opener against Chicago.
He missed that game against the Bears and then the next one in Green Bay. He returned in time for the week three game in Arizona, but made his debut with the Lions on the right guard instead of the right tackle. He allowed two sacks in the win.
Vaitai missed more time due to dehydration issues (in Jacksonville), was curled up in other games, and didn’t dress at all for the two-week win over Washington due to more foot issues .
He made a limited return to training last week and has been listed as questionable for the Carolina game. He ended up taking the start and played throughout the first half before being replaced by Oday Aboushi for the start of the third quarter. He no longer played.
Vaitai struggles with the foot issues, but also stayed with the other offensive linemen on the sideline, still had his helmet on and the Lions have never announced an injury for him, which is necessary when the players are expelled from a match due to injury. This suggests that he was a performance-based bench, although it is possible that his performance was also negatively affected by the injury.
Either way, the Lions didn’t spend $ 45 million to have Vaitai play just 51 percent of their offensive shots. And given that the vast majority of those snaps came in the custody, where Detroit didn’t want to pay a premium to bring Graham Glasgow back, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a disappointing season for Detroit’s top free agent. .
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