The clock is ticking, but Lions defensive end Cliff Avril said there are other noises too.
With just over a week before the deadline to sign a long-term contract, the Lions’ franchise player takes solace in the fact there are still negotiations.
“It’s going,” Avril said of negotiations with team president Tom Lewand. “The line of communication is still open, so I guess that’s a positive.”
Asked how long the negotiations could drag on, Avril told Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free-Press he wasn’t sure.
“You never know,” he said. “This is my first go-around, so I don’t know necessarily how Tom and those guys work. I don’t know what their game plan is.
“I’m just waiting on the call saying I can come back to work.”
The 26-year-old Avril, coming off an 11-sack season, has yet to sign his franchise tender of $10.6 million.
And while the possibility exists that another team could still make a run at him, Avril sounds like a man who’s waiting for something to happen with Detroit in the next week.