lol, Mortensen was going to get into it with Berman.

Too bad he didn't go over and pummel the fuck out of Boomer. Cocksucker.

Washington's just piling up the weapons. Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, and now Malcom Kelly.

^^Well, it worked for the Lions.

I don't understand why anyone would want Chad Henne.. just doesn't have the tools to my eyes.

I'm thinking Miami snags him up.

thenalsopickupmariomanninghamandmikehart.

Packers select Brian Brohm. You want to explain this one to Aaron Rodgers?

Also, Ray Rice to the Ravens. Cool pick I guess.

I'm thinking Miami snags him up.

Right again.

Maybe Tahoe is on to something.

Thus far, I think our draft has been alright. At least they are needs. As far as how Cherilus & Dizon will turn out on the field, well, that remains to be seen.

I gotta say, the Mendenhall/Parker tandem in Pittsburgh is looking mighty good.

I'm also digging the McGahee/Rice combo, as a Ravens fan.

Cherilus/Dizon ftw!

lolyearite

I'm telling you, Miami is going to end up with Manningham and Hart as well. :p

jk, but if so, at least Appalachian State isn't on the schedule.

LOL, an Appalachian State player gets drafted after I say that.

Dan Connor is still on the board?

Screw Dizon, I'd rather have had DC.

Hey, we have a chance here coming up in a few picks. I'd love to take Connor too.

The smaller time period between picks is cool, but 3:00 sucks and only 2 rounds on the first day sucks as well.

From Sportsline.com



SCHRAGER ON THE SCENE: In a shocking development, Matt Millen takes a position other than wide receiver in the first round. The Lions take Gosder Cherilus, a 6-6, 305 pound lineman from B.C. Several Lions fans in the house, including one guy in a Joey Harrington jersey who is going wild. Huge Cherilus fan, apparently. The guy next to him has a Mike Williams jersey on. They try to slap five and kind of mess up the timing. No surprise there.

So as of now...our defense looks like this...

DE- Dewayne White
DT- Cory Redding/Shaun Cody
DT- Chuck Darby/Langston Moore
DE- Ikaika Alama-Francis/Corey Smith
SLB- Ernie Sims/Alex Lewis
MLB- Paris Lenon/Buster Davis
WLB- Jordon Dizon/Gilbert Gardner
CB- Leigh Bodden/Stanley Wilson/Travis Fisher
CB- Brian Kelly/Keith Smith
FS- Gerald Alexander/Daniel Bullocks
SS- Dwight Smith/Kalvin Pearson


ugh...Paris

I think a LB tandem of Sims/Connor/Dizon is "passable"...

How about it Matt?

Draft Chat is up. Holla.

Anyone still paying attention to this?

We need a TE still. I'm not sure if there are any still on the board worth taking in the 5th. I wouldn't mind seeing us grab Kellen Davis from MSU, I suppose, but he's got character issues and we've been trying to avoid things like that under Marinelli.

kinda sorta...I'm hungover so I can't really concentrate.

I saw some of the QBs that are still left on the board. We should draft another qb to add to the other crop of qbs that don't play.

btw...what'd we do trade 111?

We could grab Woodson or Booty if we want to bolster our bench of QBs that will never see the field, Tahoe.

Also, I have NO idea what we did to get rid of that 4th rounder.

We took the WR at 136? or so...Mel said...theres tons of good wrs on the board.

Then we traded out of 144. Saints must have someone they're targeting.

Jerome Felton FB from Furman.

This has to be one of the first times in a long time that we drafted a FB, isn't it?

When did we get the extra 5th rounder?

I don't know much about Kenneth Moore, but apparently he's got experience as a return man. I'm ok with that from a 5th round pick.

I guess he's a possession guy.

My favorite pick in this draft is the FB. We flat out suck in the red zone. He can punch it in. And working to that smashmouth football at the goal line type of thing is the type of thing that I like type of thing.

And we drafted a bunch of Defensive guys. Like that too.

We're NUMBER 1! We're gong to the Super Bowl baby. No, seriously, it seems like we got away from the big names and skill positions and started to build a team the way it should be. Not saying it will work, but it looks right on paper.

The Steelers did very well, I'm pleased.

Mendenhall and Sweed went much lower than they should have.

Thanks, Jerry Jones.

Mouth Hart the Colt.

We picked up Caleb Campbell, S from Army in the 7th. He actually looked decent from the reels.

Caleb Campbell selected by the Lions.

This is the guy they've been diong the story on about the Army

Sorry Ray, I wrote that then the wife was talking to me and hit 'post' and you had alreay done your post when I was talking to my wife after I wrote that know what I mean.

LMAO, Tony Reali. This guy does other shit besides PTI and ATH?

My thoughts on our draft, I think we did alright. No sexy picks, but instead we filled some needs. I kind of wish we would've taken another guard or tackle instead of just one...but I'm not going to kill Millen on that...

I'd give us about a B.

Recent history with this team tells me that sexy drafts don't work out too well for us, so based on that I'm actually pretty happy. Mendenhall would have been the sexy pick. The last time I was upset about a draft we picked Ernie Sims instead of Leinart. That has worked out so far, I think. Leinart is surrounded by sick talent and can't get the job done while Sims is a very solid linebacker. Bullocks is solid as well, compared to some other 2nd rounders. Calhoun, who knows? But obviously the sexy drafts of Rogers, Mike Williams, Roy and KJ, and CJ have had limited results. Roy is a stud, CJ might be, but none of the others are Lions anymore.

I'd go with a C+ or a B-. Our first two picks were both considered reaches and we traded out of a spot where we had a stude O-lineman that was projected to go before we go to him. For the third round, the RB we drafted is listed with character and durability issues, the DT is considered too small and has durability issues, and the DE is considered a tweener that will have a hard time holding up if he stays at DE in the NFL. Both 5th round picks have durability issues. Our DT from the 7th round is also listed as "vastly undersized" and the safety has durability issues as well.

That's just judging them from what I've read though, so I'm going to reserve true judgements until I see them on the field. If it wasn't for all the durability issues that I've read, I'd say this was a pretty good draft for us. I was happy we grabbed a receiver with some return skills late in the draft. Something we'll need.

And yes, the Army guy was the one that they were running the stories about. If he hadn't been drafted or signed to a contract, he'd have to report for duty. I'm glad to see he got drafted and will have a chance. Apparently his skill set fits the zone scheme perfectly, so hopefully he'll be able to make the team as a backup and play some special teams. He's supposed to be a developmental prospect with a lot of upside.

The entire draft was "meh" overall.

Agreed.

Kevin Smith will be a star for the Lions, who traded up to get the running back with the first pick of the third round Sunday. Essentially, the Lions spent all of Saturday night and early Sunday trying to figure out a way to get the player they considered the best on the board after the first two rounds. This was time well spent.



The Central Florida product is a strong runner who will be a difference-maker in the NFL. Detroit desperately needs a strong running back, and Smith has a chance to be a consistent 1,000-yard rusher. This was a significant pickup by Detroit.

Next Barry.

Almost broke Barry's single season NCAA rushing record. Missed it by 80 yards or something along those lines.

Washington really stood out to me in this draft.

I'm also glad that Adrian Arrington was drafted (NO).

let me put it this way, it's not a draft that the papers or radio shows should tee off on Millen about...

last thing I want to listen to at work tomorrow is 4 hours of Valenti talking about how bad the Lions draft was...

Hey SDB, I never got to ask how you feel about Flacco. Excited?

Well, I haven't seen him play, like I said. 6'6" and a strong arm sounds good, but I can't really make any judgements.

I tend to focus more on a player's flaws than their strengths though. I don't really know about any of his weaknesses.

Kiper was extremly high on him, thats for sure.

Still, I don't think it's possible for him to have a worse career than Boller.

Yeah, I agree.

Harbaugh and Cameron both like him, so I'm sure I'll get on the bandwagon eventually.

Honestly, I don't expect "us" to win too many games in 08 (8-8 at best, IMO), but I'll take it if it means that that they will end up being a good team, with a stable QB situation for once, in the coming seasons.

BTW, I'm not so sure that Tennessee did enough to help VY improve as a QB. But the guy might just not get it anyway, so we'll just have to see.

And GB gets the biggest WTF moment award IMO. But if they feel that the addition of Brohm will end up helping Rodgers strive to be a better QB then so be it...

The UCF rb gets a bunch of good ink but watching him run straight up doesn't impress me.

It wouldn't have felt like a Lions draft if we didn't draft a wide receiver.

Good work, Millen.

It wouldn't have felt like a Lions draft if we didn't draft a wide receiver.

Good work, Millen.



Well I guess that Kenneth Moore kid we took (WR out of Wake Forest) is supposed to be a KR/PR...

Since we got rid of Troy Walters, we did need one of those...

That's exactly what I was saying I liked about the pick. I wasn't down for us taking a WR at any point unless a guy really slipped a lot, but if he's a return man I'm ok with it.

Detroit Lions: GRADE: C+
Gosder Cherilus is a right tackle who is an effective run-blocker, which is why the Lions drafted him in the first round. But third-round pick Kevin Smith is the key player in the Lions' draft class. Smith proved at Central Florida he could carry the load, and in my opinion, he'll be the Lions' starting running back in Week 1. Jordon Dizon is undersized for a middle linebacker, but he has a chance to be productive in Detroit's scheme, because he has the ability to cover the deep middle. Fullback Jerome Felton is more effective as a runner than a blocker, but he's a good value pick in the fifth round. Army safety Caleb Campbell went in the seventh round and is big at 229 pounds. Campbell could be an OLB if he puts on 10 to 15 pounds. Cliff Avril could be a decent pass-rusher, although he had only six sacks in 2007. DT Andre Fluellen flashed big-time ability early in his career at Florida State but never lived up to it.

When the Lions selected Army safety Caleb Campbell in the seventh round Sunday, the crowd at Radio City Music City Hall erupted into a "U-S-A" chant. Campbell is attempting to become the first football player to take advantage of a recently implemented rule by the U.S. Military Academy that allows athletes to play professional sports immediately upon graduation.

In a somewhat awkward moment, Campbell used my seat during an impromptu interview session. The Perryton, Texas native (near San Antonio)said he was hesitant to show up because he didn't know if he'd be drafted, but his agent convinced him to make an appearance. He wore his military uniform, which consisted of dark gray pants and a white short-sleeve shirt displaying his rank. And just after he fielded a phone call from Lions GM Matt Millen, Campbell appeared on the ESPN set with Trey Wingo and company. As he made his way into the auditorium, Wingo, Ron Jaworski and Chris Mortensen applauded.

"This is unbelievable," said the 6-foot-2, 229-pound Campbell, who was wearing a Lions cap. "It gives me goose bumps."

I asked Campbell whether he'd received any backlash from former cadets regarding his unique situation.

"I've heard some of that," said Campbell, who was recently featured on ESPN's "E-60." "It's tough for me because as an officer, I trained to take a platoon into battle. It was initially sort of a tough thing, but who's to say I can't still have a career as an officer?"

We had a nice discussion going until some reporter demanded to know who Campbell was supporting in the upcoming presidential election. He wisely responded, "No comment."

Campbell said he hopes to "show a lot of people who are skeptical about the academy's policy that this can really be good."

What kind of player will he be?

Well, Campbell could add some weight to his frame and play outside linebacker or he could lose a little weight and play strong safety. He's a punishing hitter who does a nice job against the run. The Lions will have to find a way to keep him from getting exposed in coverage.

On his off day, which is normally Tuesday in the NFL, he'll be required to speak to local high schools about opportunities in the Army. Say what you will, but I think it's a great move by the powers that be at West Point. Campbell could end up having a major impact on the recruitment of soldiers.

And if high school athletes realize they have a shot at playing professional football, more of them will consider playing for Army. On a second day that held very little drama, Campbell provided a nice storyline.

For all the criticism that Millen has taken, he should be praised for this pick.

Lions draft was universally panned.

What a sad, sad organization, and I thought Russ Thomas was the anti-christ when I was growing up.

Everyone seems to be giving it a C+ to a B. If it still looks that way 3-4 years from now, I'll be ok with it. Its still an improvement for Millen.

Well we have been chasing sexy picks for years and it has gotten us no where. lets see what this does.