Richard Sherman has dominated headlines over the past few days, and just yesterday, the former Seahawks star cut short what might have been a lengthy free agency tour by signing a three-year pact with the 49ers.

Earlier today, we learned that the Patriots did not reach out to Sherman before he agreed to sign with San Francisco, though New England was a team that Sherman indicated he would be interested in joining. The Lions were the only team other than the 49ers that Sherman had scheduled a visit with, and per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Detroit’s interest in the Stanford product was significant.

Citing a league source, Florio says the Lions were “strongly motivated” to pursue Sherman, and some believe that Sherman should have at least visited the Motor City if for no other reason than to leverage the 49ers into a better contract (as Florio pointed out in a separate piece, Sherman’s self-negotiated contract with the 49ers does not look especially player-friendly).

However, the 49ers may have told Sherman that if he left San Francisco without signing, then they would have pulled their offer entirely. As such, it seems that Sherman elected to take a sure thing rather than risk losing a contract that, in theory, could pay him $13M per year. Of course, his joining the 49ers also includes the opportunity to torment his old team two times a year, and Florio suggests that could have played a role in his decision. Read More Here