John Niyo

Trade for linebacker Julian Peterson pays off for Lions

Allen Park -- It was billed as "a land of opportunity" to prospective free agents last winter, which, of course, sounds a lot more enticing than the "Island of Misfit Toys."

It's not as if they were all spotted elephants and square-wheeled trains before Jim Schwartz & Co. got here.

But in remaking the Lions' roster, there were far more holes than there were suitable pegs -- round, square, whatever. Particularly on a defense that allowed a whopping 517 points in 2008, second-most in NFL history.

Free agency offered some quick fixes -- and those don't often work, as Lions fans know all too well. But Detroit wasn't exactly at the top of many wish lists, coming off a 0-16 season and another long, cold winter, with more in store.

So when Seattle put Julian Peterson on the trading block in early March, the Lions' front office seized an opportunity. General manager Martin Mayhew traded away Cory Redding, an over-priced, under-performing burden at defensive tackle who wanted out, to the Seahawks for a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker.

"It was funny: We were kicking it around, and there was a time that I didn't think it was gonna work out," said defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, still cringing at the thought. "I just made my point to Jim and Martin, and they followed up on it. I remember when I got the word he was coming, I called him on my cell phone out in the parking lot."

Cunningham was understandably elated. As for Peterson, well, how would you feel?

The chance to return to Michigan, where he has ties from his college days at Michigan State, offered some appeal. But the notion that he refused to take a pay cut that would've allowed him to stay in Seattle only makes him laugh.

"I didn't even get a discussion about that," he said. "All I did was get shipped."

Sunday, he'll get a chance to make the Seahawks pay, though he insists it's less about revenge than it is about rebounding from a deflating loss at home to St. Louis last week. And it's not as if they rode him out of town on a rail back in Seattle.

"People around here love Julian Peterson," said Seattle coach Jim Mora Jr., who was his Peterson's first defensive coordinator when San Francisco drafted Peterson in the first round in 1999. "Love him. Love him to death. He's a player that I've had a lot of respect for since I came into the league. So that was a difficult one on a personal level."

Professionally, though, the Seahawks had little choice, with too much money socked into one position. And let's be clear here: Peterson's price tag on the back half of his contract is a steep one. He's making $6.5 million this year, and he's due $7.5 million, $8 million and $8.5 million the next three. So we'll see how long he sticks around.

But for now, he's a welcome gift.

"I think for our football team's sake, there's a guy that everybody knows," Cunningham said. "And the team respects him, I know that."

Other teams do, too, which is a refreshing change. Pro Bowl defensive players haven't been commonplace in the Lions' dressing room the last 10-15 years. There was Chris Spielman, and then there was Robert Porcher and Luther Elliss. The only two since -- Dre Bly and Shaun Rogers -- were traded away for minimal returns.

Peterson, then, was an offer the Lions couldn't refuse, a "multidimensional" linebacker with a track record of tracking down quarterbacks. He had 24 ½ sacks his last three seasons in Seattle, and with 3 ½ this season -- all in the last three games -- he's the Lions' team leader in 2009.

That's not saying much, obviously. But that's the point, isn't it?

"He started really slow, but I think a lot of it had to do with coming in here, trying to learn the system, and I think he was really frustrated," said Cunningham, who was just as frustrated, if not more so, after Peterson played poorly in the season opener at New Orleans. "We held off rushing him in the offseason, because we didn't want anything to happen to him. But once we got into the Thursday routine of (Peterson practicing) with the defensive line, everything changed and picked up. And he's the player that I thought we were gonna get."

john.niyo@detnews.com