Things are finally looking up for the Detroit Lions. They are appearing in Monday Night Football for the first time in a decade against the Chicago Bears on October 10th.
Wide receiver Calvin Johnson is appearing regularly in national advertising spots. For the first time in numerous years, the faithful will gather at the Hard Rock Café and not witness a selection in the single digits of the first round. Most importantly, head coach Jim Schwartz is putting a quality product on the field.
Oh yeah, by the way there is a work stoppage. Sorry to rain on that parade.
The club appears to be set at the skill positions at this juncture. With such high selections recently, they have taken care of that need with selections that have already paid dividends for them.
The organization possesses the thirteenth selection of the first round and the forty-fourth overall pick in the second round. With so much uncertainty in the air about salary structures, it would behoove the brass to simply choose the best players available at that time.
Injuries are a precarious concern throughout the league on a daily basis, so the only reason that a team could be overstocked at a certain position is because of the salary cap structure. For those of you in the quarterback camp, Ryan Mallett out of Arkansas or Jake Locker make the most sense to me. The latter is the better selection because he’s absent of character issues and has superior athleticism. Fans may not recall, but Locker could have been the first selection a year ago.
This is why Andrew Luck is absolutely insane to head back to Stanford to continue his academic endeavors. He has nowhere to go but down in the pecking order. I have heard numerous commentators pat him on the back for “doing the right thing”, but I have a hard time believing that they would leave the money on the table if they were in the same scenario.
Cornerback Patrick Peterson from LSU seems like the sickest athlete on the board. He has helped his stock immensely through his performance at the combine. With the game changing so much in the last handful of years, pass coverage is sometimes overlooked in team’s needs.
It’s a pass happy league. Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady have been putting up video game type stats regularly. Corners matter more than ever in stopping these guys. The fact that the Lions play in Ford Field, in always pass-friendly conditions would make taking a top flight corner even easier. Peterson probably won’t be there at thirteen, but maybe a consideration for some movement by management.
Defensive end Da’Quan Bowers from Clemson is a possibility at the Lions current position. He had a shot at being a much higher pick, but some questions about his physical health may move him down far enough for Detroit.
Sports movies like to pull on the viewer’s heart strings with tales of athletes’ motivation and their will to win taking them over the top. I will take talent any day of the week and take my chances with it. Bowers has no issues in the ability department.
–Patrick Herbert
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