WitP: Ikaika, Pisa (w/UPDATE)

Tom Kowalski of MLive.com writes that it may be a do-or-die year for Ikaika Alama-Francis.

In scouting Alama-Francis, the Lions were right about his quickness and athleticism but, so far, they've been wrong on projecting those talents to the NFL level. Alama-Francis is a hard-working player who has the passion to get better, but he just doesn't get much done on the field. In a defense designed to get pass rush from the four linemen, he has one sack in 19 career games (two starts).

The new coaching regime will attempt to do what the old staff did last year -- move Alama-Francis into the middle on passing downs to try to generate a pass rush from that position. Because of his potential, the Lions don't want to give up on Alama-Francis too early, but the Lions will clearly push him in training camp. They've already brought in free agent veteran Eric Hicks -- who formerly played for defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham -- and they're still pursuing free agent Kevin Carter, who is a favorite of head coach Jim Schwartz.

Brad Biggs of The Chicago Sun-Times speculated that the Bears were deciding on whether to offer contracts to Pisa Tinoisamoa and/or Rod Hood. Just this morning however, Hood signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns. Bears better hurry up and offer Pisa!

UPDATE: According to Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune, Pisa is visiting with the Patriots today.