Earlier this month, the Falcons shipped cornerback Chris Houston, a failed second-round pick in 2007, to the Lions.
The Falcons announced that, in exchange, they’d receive Detroit’s sixth-round pick in the 2010 draft, along with a swap of fifth-round selections.
A league source tells us, however, that the ultimate price was even lower than that.
Per the source, the Lions ultimately gave up a sixth-round pick this year and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2011. The swap of fifth-round selections has been scuttled.
So what happened? According to a separate source, the Lions contacted the Falcons and said that Houston could not pass the physical imposed by Lions’ doctors. We’re told that the Lions also said that perhaps Houston could pass the physical if the terms of the deal were adjusted.
And so the terms of the deal were adjusted, and Houston passed the physical.
Though the Falcons could have scrapped the trade and kept Chris Houston, they opted to process, and they probably will be reluctant to do a deal with Detroit the next time an opportunity to do so arises.
yawn
next.
Oh those poor lions, well @ least they are trying. I didn’t think that they cared!
Whos your source as this sounds like complete BS. I doubt the Lions did this and im pretty sure there is rules against faking the physicals.
Chris Houston has a permanent crick in his neck. It always turns around too late in coverage if at all.
Getting anything for Chris Houston is amazing in and of itself. He should in perfectly in Detroit.
Falcons get plucked again………
John how can you call bs? From the time the trade was “reported” till the time it was finalized was a long time! The Lion’s fans figured something was wrong or the trade was cancelled because it took so long to become official. From my understanding the physicals are doctors hired by the team to protect their investement and I don’t think there are any regulations on them! If they found something they didn’t like, they have every right to change the trade if they have additional doubt in the player after the physical. Oh I forgot, TRADES ARE NON NEGOTIONABLE! (oh wait, thats EXACTLY what they are!)
I doubt they faked the physical, he probably had some red flags come up when taking the physical and they could have failed him and recinded the trade. Instead they called the Falcons back and told them they had problems passing him but would do so if the price went down, the Falcons agree so they ignored the red flag.
With the beating these guys take on the field I am sure a lot of them have some lingering problems that could cause them to fail a physical if the teams wanted to go that route. Generally those issues are football related so the teams pass them because they aren’t major problems.
This sounds completely fabricated.
C’mon this is total BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and even if it were true why would the Falcons allow them selves to be “squeezed” by the Detroit Lions when they could’ve simply kept the player and used him for special teams or find another trade partner?????
what does the quality of draft picks have to do with passing a physical???
Love your site.. I’m on daily..
the Lions are trying and it was a hell of a deal for them.. He hopefully should perform well with new surroundings and with the other Lions offseason improvements and the draft coming up.. The Lions WON’T be pushovers much longer. If Pacman is clean and they grab him.. the backfield holes (for the last ten years) will be finally filled,
Regarding ATL… they let the deal go through otherwise they would have not done the deal… Mayhew has done a great job so far in improving the team. I’m sure ATL will do another deal w/ DET.. it’s called negoiation (sp) Clearly the Lions win here getting a young CB with potential for VERY LOW TENDER!
Unless he did fail the physical for something minor or healing, in which case the Lions were within their rights to overlook something for some compensation.
Or perhaps the Falcons knew all about the issue and were simply hoping that the Lion’s doctors were as incompetent as their front office has been the last 10 years or so and therefore, wouldn’t see it. Alas, they did; so the adjustment was made.
SOOO, that Falcons won’t want to deal with the Lions again? Who put the gun to the Falcon’s head?
He’s not going to pass the physical…unless we do this deal.
Yeah right.
Geez, this site is really getting desperate with some of this sh&t!
Maybe it appears they were squeezed because the Lions got to see how bad Houston is in person.
Regardless, Houston was due to be dropped after signing whomever the Falcons drafted at CB in 2010, as he was useless in coverage and couldn’t even find the right spot in a zone (predicted by Nawrocki’s coverage at ProFootballWeekly, but apparently McKay was too stuck on drafting Razorback failures to notice).
So while I’m disappointed if this turns out to be true, I really don’t care, as getting ANYTHING for Houston in exchange for getting him off the roster is worth it to me.
Lions got a real GM now.
Martin Mayhew knows what the hell he’s doing.
i have a physical next month, florio can you give me the detroit lions hq phone number so they can call my doctor and tell him to ignore all the unhealthy lifestyle choices i make.
I think Det will be able to coach Houston and teach him to turn his head in coverage…
I think ATL defense is horrible and they have no Defensive Line.
I think Houston had a better year then Daunta, right? At least thats what the Stats say.
Lastly I think Florio escaped from Santa’s workshop because he got tired of making Toys.
I am sure any player can fail a Physical…Anything could be found, and they would fail them.
At least they are trying, you have to feel bad for the Franchise and it’s fans.
Just Mayhew doing his thing again….just like he did with Roy Williams when he fleeced the Cowboys.
Cant wait to see what he does with the #2 pick.
Florio? Where is the shot at the Lions? Anything posted by you about the Lions w/ out a cheap shot is not complete.
Houston was just in the wrong system. Man to man, bump in run coverage is what he’s good at. Not some pansy zone defense the Falcons play. He’ll excel.
Lions 2010 record: 6-10
“Reluctant to do a deal with Detroit” in the future? Yeah, right. He had lingering problems and ATL didn’t want him. They got something for him vice cutting him outright.
Teams don’t do deals unless the gain something. If, in the future, a deal comes up where they can gain something else, they wont hesitate.
They aren’t lawyers, Florio.
Hahaha, if this is true, good for Detriot.
mitchblue has not a clue!!!
**** READ THIS ****
There’s one HUGE flaw with this story, Florio: why would the Falcons accept? If there was nothing wrong with Houston – if he was in completely fine health – why would the Falcons not contest this “failed physical” AND give a better deal to Detroit? Wouldn’t happen. Doesn’t make sense.
The Falcons could have released such a story to make it look like they didn’t fail to disclose Houston’s medical concerns when agreeing to a trade, but I doubt, 100%, that Mayhew/the Lions lied about his physical AND the Falcons knew it… and didn’t care.
Dirty Bird from Orlando: let me guess… you’re excited about the Dunta signing? Are you not aware that, statistically, Houston outperformed Robinson in 2009? I bet the Lions would rather trade a 6th than pay an overpaid injury risk as much as the Falcons paid. Enjoy.
This would be great if you could do this retroactively and recoup your draft picks. All the garbage Detroit could recover:
Charles Rogers-couldn’t pass the 40yrd dash because his lungs were clogged with bong resin
Mike Williams only got through the tackling dummy drill because he smelled a cheeseburger on the other side
Joey Harrington couldnt throw a pass more than 11 yards down the field.
Boss Bailey was basically a cripple
I dont have more time to continue. You get the idea