Rod Wood Can't Leave Detroit Lions Soon Enough

The Detroit Lions are currently facing a public relations nightmare.

When it was revealed the team again asked a player to return a portion of their signing bonus, the NFL world had a field day making fun of and criticizing the organization.

"Cheap"

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"Petty"

"S.O.L."

Those are just some of the phrases that have been kicked around all day to describe an organization that has regularly asked players, including high-profile and productive players, for money to be given back.

Team President Rod Wood does not seem to understand the outcry and why the organization is again a laughing stock across the league.

Asking Frank Ragnow to give money back has now forced everyone to question the organization and reminded everyone of a forgettable era in team history.

Speaking to a group of reporters at the annual league meetings, Wood did not want to elaborate further on the Ragnow decision.

"We have to do what’s right for our organization. And if I worried about optics, you know, it wouldn’t do a lot of things," said Wood, via MLive. "But I’m very comfortable with where we are. And every situation has been handled separately and differently. And I don’t have anything else to say on that.”

Wood appears to be far too transactional in his approach, not seeming to understand the importance of what players mean to the fanbase, and the level of attachment established for players who have laid it all on the line for the team.

With his retirement happening before the start of the 2026 season, it cannot happen soon enough. Since his tenure began in 2015, he never seemed all that personable.

He got off on the wrong foot with fans, when he said he was not really a football person and that not many other team's in the league would have hired him for the position.

The issue that completely derailed his tenure was the team asking Calvin Johnson to give back a portion of his signing bonus, causing a significant rift that lasted many seasons.

Others had to work diligently to smooth things over. Luckily, both Johnson and Barry Sanders are seen regularly representing the organization.

Salary cap specialist Jason Fitzgerald called the Lions petty and noted not many teams would have taken the measure to ask for money from Ragnow, a player that embodied everything the City of Detroit and the Lions are about.

"To chase after a signing bonus, when there is only 1 year left that you can chase after the bonus, and after 67% of a long term contract has been honored is petty on the part of a team. This was not a blindside situation," writes Fitzgerald. "He had been contemplating retirement and it was very clear that the team knew this since he announced his retirement on June 2nd, which was the day the Lions could place him on the retired list and split his dead money across two years."

Fitzgerald added, "He didn’t belittle the team, demand more money, or anything else. In fact he tried to come out of retirement during the year and it didn’t work out. I don’t think any other team in the NFL would have done this to be honest even though it is their right."

Hopefully the new president has the media saavy to be able to avoid public relations disasters.

More importantly, the hope is the next leader has a reasonable level of compassion for the players that are the driving force of an organization's success out on the football field.

I am asking for Wood to return his March salary back, because the team still does not a defense that is reliable.

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