Lions Make It Official With Foote

The Detroit Lions officially signed former Pittsburgh Steelers starting linebacker Larry Foote to a one-year contract today, the team announced. A Detroit native, Foote has apparently embraced the idea of going to a team that went 0-16 last year after winning the Super Bowl last season with the Steelers. “It’s my home,” Foote told the team’s official Web site. “So, that was always going to be in the back of my mind, what it would be like playing at home. With the way things were going in Pittsburgh, I saw the Lions get a new coaching staff and thought, ‘What a great opportunity to come home.’” However, Foote isn’t guaranteed a starting job at middle linebacker, according to Nicholas J. Cotsonika of the Detroit Free Press. “The point we made with him is the same point we made with every player on the team,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said today during a radio interview with WRIF. “When he does sign on that line, he’s not signing as the starting middle linebacker. He’s signing to compete for the starting job. We’re going to play the best player, whether it’s quarterback, whether it’s middle linebacker, and what he’s done in the past, what he did at Michigan, what he did at the Pittsburgh Steelers, really means nothing to us now. “It’s who produces right now. We wanted to be very clear with him yesterday that he was on the same page, and he is. He’s a competitor. He likes to play. He likes to practice. He likes to prepare. It was important that he was on the same page that we were in terms of the starting job.” Foote played in Pittsburgh for seven seasons, leading the Steelers with a career-high 123 tackles in 2005 as Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl at the Lions’ Ford Field. Now, Foote, who was due a $2.885 million base salary this year under his old Steelers contract, gets the fresh start he was looking for after being replaced in Pittsburgh by Lawrence Timmons. As per club policy, financial terms weren’t disclosed.