If so, can we sign any NCAA player? that declares? by ??? date?

Didn't Miami sign Long early or something?

Rules? anyone?

10 question marks?

Despite clinching the #1 pick, I don't think you can actually do anything until the season is over and the draft order is set. Especially since the college kids are still playing and the declaring deadline has not passed. Can't imagine you can do anything until that deadline.

You can't do anything until the declaring deadline has past, I believe. You can sign your pick early as the #1, but not this early.

So we can't fuck up these picks we have yet?

Yeah, we still can. We can pick the wrong people to run the organization. They'll make the wrong picks.

We already have 2 out of 3 wrong people -- let's see who else is going to make epically bad picks.

Now we need Philly to beat Dallas so we spend that much more money on a bust.

So do we just make this the official 2009 Draft thread?


Jim Dunn - Bleacher Report

So can a left tackle make that much of a difference? Let’s take look at recent top 10 left tackle picks.

Joe Thomas was drafted No. 3 by the Cleveland Browns in 2007. The Browns had their own issues in 2006 with sacks with a total of 53. Since Thomas was made the starting left tackle, Browns quarterbacks have been sacked a total of 32 times for both the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

The results were evident in 2007, as the Browns went 10-6 and narrowly missed the playoffs. Injuries at the QB spot plagued them this year but sacks are only at 18 as compared to 49 for Detroit.

Jake Long was taken last year by the Miami Dolphins, a team that went 1-15 in 2007, a team that allowed multitude of quarterbacks to get sacked for a total of 42 times. In fact, the Dolphins' situation in 2007 is not all that different than this year’s Lions.

The Dolphins had four different quarterbacks in 2007 and this year, the Lions have trotted out five.

Dolphins installed Long at left tackle, sacks have dropped to 24 and Miami has a 9-5 record and currently in first place in the AFC East. Granted, Chad Pennington is a bit better than Cleo Lemon and John Beck but you still have to give props to the offensive line for reducing sacks by almost half.

That's just a part of the story, it discusses the decision between drafting a LT or a QB.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/94856-detroit-lions-2009-draft-left-tackle-or-quarterback

Jim Dunn - Bleacher Report

First off, when I become General Manager of the Detroit Lions, my first order of business is to release the following players:

Right tackle - George Foster
Quarterback - Jon Kitna
Quarterback - Dante Culpepper
Cornerback - Leigh Bodden
Cornerback - Travis Fisher
Right guard - Manny Ramirez

Second order of business:

Current left tackle Jeff Backus moves to left guard
Current left guard Ed Mulitalo moves to second string right guard behind Scott Peterman.

Draft wish list:

Currently, Lions have 2 1st round draft picks. Since I believe the 2008 season will finish no better than 1-15, I’m going to assume the first pick in the draft.

First Round

First choice: Left tackle Michael Oher from Ole Miss. 6-5, 318lbs and is often compared to two of the best left tackles in recent history: Orlando Pace and Walter Jones.

Taking Oher will pay off immediately and moving Backus to left guard, having Gosder Cherilus at right tackle, Scott Peterman on right guard and center Dominic Raiola, this becomes a very potent offensive line that can pass protect and open holes for the emerging Kevin Smith.

Second Choice: Eugene Monroe from Virginia. 6-6, 315 lbs. Can do the same moves as you do with Oher. But I think Oher is going to be one of the best left tackles to ever play the game.

With the second 1st round pick, from Dallas and the Roy Williams trade. Looking ahead at the Cowboy’s schedule, I predict they will finish 10-6. Based on 2007 records, teams with 10-6 records picked 23 to 25. And seeing how much help is needed in the secondary, I would look in that area.

First Choice: Victor Harris, Virginia Tech. 6’0, 195 lbs. Is best suited for the cover-two and with a 4.49 time in the 40, he can cover some ground. Also has experience returning kicks.

Second Choice: DJ Moore, Vanderbilt, 5’10”, 183 lbs. Had six picks as a junior and is a very good kick returner. Lions could take care of two areas here as the return game has been lacking since the days of Eddie Drummond.

Second Round

Lions get the 64th pick of the draft and they have to stay with defense. Ernie Sims needs some serious help inside to allow him to utilize his abilities.

First Choice: Dannell Ellerbe, Georgia. A 6’1” tackling machine, he and Sims could become the 1-2 punch the Lions have been desperately seeking at linebacker.

Second Choice: Scott McKillop, Pittsburgh. I don’t know what they put in the water in Pittsburgh, but they do produce very good linebackers. McKillop is no exception getting 151 tackles last year.

Third round

Lions get two picks here from the Roy Williams trade. Still going to keep it on the defensive side of the ball. With the first third round pick, looking to shore up the secondary even more.

First Choice: Courtney Greene, Rutgers. Can play both strong safety and free safety. 6’1” and 209 lbs. and a 4.47 40 time, is strong and fast enough to stay with a lot of receivers.

Second Choice: Curtis Taylor, LSU: Free safety at 6’3” and 210 lbs., he can manhandle most receivers. He had 49 tackles, two picks and a sack last year.

With the second third round pick, the defensive line can be shored up.

First Choice: Connor Barwin, Cincinnati. 6’4”, 257 lbs., and is athletic and quick. Registered seven sacks, 9.5 tackles for losses and more important, three blocked kicks. A steal at this pick.

Second Choice: Matt Shaugnessy, Wisconsin. 6”6”, 251 lbs. Shaugnessy is a pure pass rusher with three sacks and six tackles for losses. Plus, he has that high-character that coaches love to have.

Fourth Round

At the top of this article, I stated that I would release Kitna and Culpepper, which is going to leave us very vulnerable at the quarterback spot.

Stanton & Orlovsky will battle it out for the starter job and we either keep Drew Henson as third string or put him on the practice squad. Either way, the Lions have to take a quarterback and if they wait any longer than the fourth round, the talent level drops of pretty steep.

First Choice: Nathan Brown, Central Arkansas 6’1”, 212 lbs. Might be a little short but he does put up great numbers and was recently called the best QB ever to play in the state of Arkansas.

Granted, the level of competition can be brought into question, but he has the tools. In 2008, he tossed for 3,084 yards, 26 TD’s and 10 INT’s. Not bad TD to INT ratio.

Second Choice: Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan. 6’3”, 226lbs. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for Central Michigan. See, there was this girl…well, let’s leave that for another time.

As for LeFevour, he seems to be an all-around QB. Threw for 3,652 yards, 27 TD’s and only 13 INT’s. Completed 65.4% of his passes and ran for 1,122 yards and 19 scores.

I’m going to stop here since anything the Lions do after the fourth round is an even bigger turkey shoot that the first four rounds.

However, this is precisely the kind of draft the Lions need to do to become competitive quickly.

I’ll put up with young players since many times, speed will hide mistakes. And with each game they play, they get more confident and experienced. And yes, one might think that it’s a gamble to draft so heavy on one side of the ball. But looking at the dismal defense we’ve had to put up with the last 2-3 years, how could the Lions do any worse?

I’m sure that many people are going to disagree. There aren’t a lot of sexy picks.

The Lions don’t need those, they need to build a foundation. Besides, with Calvin Johnson developing into one of the best receivers in football and the emergence of running back Kevin Smith, the Lions aren’t in too bad of shape. Yes, they will have a young QB, but both Orlovsky and Stanton have gotten their feet wet and the Lions can manage until the 2010 draft.

With an improved offensive line by taking Oher and moving Backus as well as an improving Kevin Smith, the pressure is off the QB to win games.


I don't know about the players he picked (this was written a month or so ago and a lot of things have changed since then, with more players looking like they're coming into the draft and whatnot, but I like the general idea of where he is going with this draft. Build up the O-Line with the first pick then focus on the other side of the ball.

^^^I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. I think you go defense, defesne, defense, THEN Oline. Now, I know that in a perfect world, the Lions would have 49 draft picks in the first two rounds, so they might get a couple of them right.
But I think that most of the offensive problems can be solved through free agency, and to be honest, no QB's coming out this year really excite me except for Bradford (if he does). So I say you lock up a defene that can win games.

I guess just take the best O-lineman or D-lineman that you can. If there was a top flight d-end on the board that was the best overall pick, then I'd say take him for sure, but that player doesn't look to be there. The top LT looks to be better than the top DE, so you take one with the first pick and the other with their second pick. The one thing I'd change on his draft would be to take a D-lineman before a LB, but I guess it comes down to the best player available with that pick and whether he's a DE, DT or LB. Thank god Avril showed a few flashes at the end of the season, maybe he can be a decent pick afterall (not getting my hopes up)

I would likely go LT with the first pick, DT or MLB with the second pick, DT or MLB with the third pick (the flipside of the second pick), a OG and CB in the third round.... If we could somehow get Vilma, that would be incredible and allow us to take an OG earlier, probably our two worst positions are at guard. I'm not getting my hopes up, though. I suppose the same could be said about Haynesworth/DT.

If we took a tackle, we could move Backus to guard. That would help out a lot at the guard spot. Plus, it would give any younger guy drafted later (3rd, 4th round) time to develop.

Can I ask everyone why they think we will realistically draft a LT and move Backus to guard? We've all been saying this for the last 2 or 3 years at least and it hasn't happened yet and we even drafted a LT last year and simply moved his ass to RT to accomodate Backus. I still can't see us paying Backus, Cherilus and Smith/Oher. I don't know if we go big splash with Sam Bradford or Matthew Stafford, but I am leery on us being smart enough to pick up a LT.

Because you can't cut Backus (a decent OL) and have his dead money). You simply move him to OG until his contract runs out and replace him with a younger player at that point. It may not have been realistic 2-3 years ago, but he probably only has 1-2 years left on his deal now.

Cherilus was not a LT we moved to RT. Every draft eval, draft board, draft guru said he was a RT and would never be a LT in the NFL. That's the reason I was not big on taking him in the draft. I wanted the Lions to grab the LT that got taken after him, although I'm not sure what that guy's doing in the NFL or even what his name was for that matter. I wanted to finally get a LT and move Backus to the RT spot last year.

Edit: It was Jeff Otah, who went to the Panthers, that I wanted the Lions to take.