Lions particularly excited about a couple undrafted free agents

The work didn’t stop for Lions general manager Martin Mayhew or president Tom Lewand when the draft ended Saturday night. The Lions instantly hit the phones to try and sign undrafted rookies to free agent deals.

With rookie mini-camp beginning in nine days, the Lions have agreed to terms with a number of rookie free agents, according to various reports.

The Lions won’t officially announce their undrafted rookie free agent signings until those players have taken a physical and signed their contracts. However, in an interview with Mike O’Hara and Ken Brown on WJR last night, Mayhew did single out Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore and Houston receiver Patrick Edwards as two players he’s particularly excited about.

“The winningest quarterback ever, 50-3,” Mayhew said of Moore. “The guy is very talented (and a) very cerebral quarterback and understands the game, son of a coach. He has a good arm and is very accurate.

“He anticipates things really well. That’s the one thing our scouts and coaches really talked about. He really knows where to go with the ball and he gets the ball there before the receiver comes out of his break. The guy is very talented and we were very fortunate to be able to get him.”

The Lions typically bring in more than three quarterbacks to training camp, but Moore looks to have a great opportunity to make the roster behind Matthew Stafford and backup Shaun Hill.

Edwards (5-9, 172) had over 4,500 receiving yards and 43 touchdowns in four years at Houston. He also scored two touchdowns returning punts.

“This guy has also been one of the productive guys in college football the last couple seasons,” Mayhew said of Edwards. “He had (1,752) yards receiving last year, 19.7 yards average per catch and he’s going to be one of our free agents that’s really another talented offensive weapon.

“He’s very fast. That Houston offense throws the ball around quit a bit. He was one of those run-and-shoot receivers. He caught like 89 balls last year, I think, so he caught a ton of balls. He’s been a three-year starter for them. He has over 4,500 yards in his career. He’s another guy who we think has a really good chance.”

Here is the unofficial list of the Lions’ undrafted rookie free agents thus far:

QB Kellen Moore, Boise State

WR Patrick Edwards, Houston

WR Troy Burrell, Wayne State

WR Jared Karstetter, Washington State

TE Alex Gottlieb, William & Mary

OG Rodney Austin, Elon

OT Quinn Barham, Penn State

OG J.C. Oram, Weber State

LB Carmen Messina, New Mexico

LB Ronnie Sneed, Kentucky

DT Michael Cosgrove, Idaho

DE Eddie McClam, Old Dominion

K Derek Dimke, Illinois

CB Alonzo Lawrence, Mississippi Golf Coast Community College

G Pat Boyle, Temple

TE Austin Wells, Northern Iowa

RB Stephon Greene, Penn State

Lions sign veteran receiver Lance Long

Lions have signed veteran receiver Lance Long to a one-year contract.

Long, 26, who grew up in Macomb and played his college football at Mississippi State, has spent most of his NFL career on various practice squads since signing the Cardinals as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2008.

Long played in seven games with the Chiefs in 2009 and had 20 catches for 178 yards.

He was most recently cut by the 49ers during their  final cuts of training camp last season.

Long (5-11, 186) will join the Lions’ offseason training program immediately.

The Lions drafted Ryan Broyles in the second round to be their fourth receiver behind Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson and Titus Young.

Long will compete with practice squad players Terrence Toliver, Marcus Harris and Nate Hughes, as well as some of the undrafted rookie free agents, for the No. 5 spot.

Early look at the jersey numbers for Lions draft picks

Can’t wait to go out and buy that new Nike Riley Reiff jersey? How about representing “The Hammer” Ronnell Lewis at Ford Field next year?

Well, here’s an early look the jersey numbers for all eight of the Lions’ draft picks.

Riley Reiff #71

Ryan Broyles #84

Bill Bentley #28

Ronnell Lewis #97

Tahir Whitehead #59

Chris Greenwood #33

Jonte Green #36

Travis Lewis #50

GQ Magazine spends five minutes with Megatron

Shortly after Calvin Johnson was named this year’s cover man for Madden 2013, GQ Magazine sat down for a five-minute Q&A with Megatron.

In addition to answering questions about his fashion, his TV time with Cam Newton and the big reveal, Johnson talked about how he plays Madden.

GQ: You’ve said that in the game, your character is like a cheat code.
Calvin Johnson: That’s what everybody calls me, “cheat code,” because they just throw the ball up to me.

GQ: And when you play, do you just throw it to yourself all the time?
Calvin Johnson: I try to play with other teams, because I feel like it’s cheating.

Read the full Q&A on GQ.com!