I tried to keep it within the realm of possibility, but this is definitely best case for me. Similar layout to my last mock but with the whole embodied offseason. This is everything I would want to do, not what I think will happen. I think through this we could finally field a reasonably competitive team.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2828/notablecuts.jpg
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9787/freeagency.jpg
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/5470/donaldpenn.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8503/richardmarshall.jpg
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9024/malcomfloyd.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3532/jeriousnorwood.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7530/othernotablesu.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7572/round1s.jpg
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9126/round2a.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3782/round3w.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3783/round4e.jpg
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1773/round5a.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/7641/round5b.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5628/round6.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7633/round7.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1659/depthchart1.jpg

Good work, sir. I like it.

well, today certainly changed quite a bit. correct me if im wrong, but i believe the lions went from #4 to #2, and now have a very likely shot at house of spears suh.

when millen was in charge, i argued it was better to keep calvin johnson than trade down for picks, since he was so dumb he would fuck anything up that wasnt a cant miss. mayhew's first class suggests he may be different. with the discussion last week of suh being worth calvin johnson and the lions first pick (i thought this was ridiculous), i would definitly be interested in trading down.

i saw suh play some and was really good. but my concern is that he's good at a lot of things, but maybe not great enough at one thing to warrant that high of a pick. and the track record of drafting DT that high is dreadful. to me, even if your wrong and suh does pan out, as long as you get value in return its not a huge loss, since we need to fill up our roster.

also, is larry foote coming back? i thought he was just using the lions for one year?

also, is larry foote coming back? i thought he was just using the lions for one year?

Well, the idea was that he would use them to show that he can still be a stud starter and then get a new contract elsewhere. Did that really happen? I could see him sticking around.

He was also about coming home. He wanted to prove he was a 3-down player, which I don't think he did (he got beat on coverage quite a bit). Then, the idea was that he'd sign a higher money long term contract here and finish his career.

I would love to have him back for a reasonable price, but he's not worth overpaying, especially when we drafted Levy to be our MLB of the future (not sure if that's still the plan).

I hope he sticks around, though. Solid vet. I don't know what he'll want to do, I'm confident the Lions FO won't overpay for him to stay the way they wouldn't overpay much for anyone last offseason.

Nice Draft. The good thing about today's games is the Lions improved their draft position, so you may be able to substitue Suh for McCoy. Could STL go Suh or Berry with their first pick to avoid having to pay a QB with the first pick?

I love the Brandon Graham pick, I think he is a steal in the 2nd round.

Whether or not we are able to pick Suh, at least we know we're going to have the option of McCoy and Berry (and possibly Suh).

I just don't know about STL drafting another d-linemen after getting burnt by a few of them recently. (this frightens me for the Lions too)

I love the Brandon Graham pick, I think he is a steal in the 2nd round.

Yeah, I agree. His motor never stops.

Yeah, I agree. His motor never stops.

Can he make a car for me?

I want the Ravens to draft Graham, got damnit.

That's very pretty Ray.

Don't get the hopes up... history shows the Lions wil fuck it up and beat da Bears.

I still remember that field goal against the Saints a few years back.

Who did that cost them, anyways?

Zach Miner?

freaking awesome work Doctor


and I want Suh bad.......for the simple fact that I could yell "YES SUH!" after each sack

I wonder if it would be possible to get Iupati in Rd 2. He'd solidify the left guard spot, help with the run, and solve a dire need.

I think Raiola/Peterman/Cherilus are fine on the right side. None are world-beaters but Goz is improving and Raiola is an above-average Center.

I think Backus will be a salary dump. I would much rather see the Lions fill the LT spot via free agency. There are several UFA's who could fill the void and are young enough to warrant a long-term deal. Jahri Evans and Marcus McNeill are the two biggest names, however it's possible both will get slapped with the franchise tag in the offseason.

As for the draft, I'd like to see...

Rd 1 - Defensive Tackle (Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy)

Rd 2 - Offensive Guard (Mike Iupati) OR Corner (Brandon Ghee/Ras-I Dowling)

Rd 3 - Strong Safety (Darrell Stuckey or TJ Ward)

They should address defensvie end and linebacker via free agency. They might cut Julian Peterson (I don't think it would be a smart move) and if they do, they should explore moving Levy to SLB and make a run at Kirk Morrison who is a UFA. Or Option 2, cut Dewayne White, move Peterson to DE (he leads the team w/ 4.5 sacks this yr) and then move Levy to SLB and sign a FA MLB like Morrison.

At corner, I don't think Buchanon will be back (much like Bodden a year ago) and it doesn't make sense to invest into an elder like Will James. It's imperative they draft a CB who can start right away and also sign an FA or acquire one via trade. Cortland Finnegan, whos not having a great year, could be available and would make sense. Dunta Robinson would also be ideal, but he's going to command top dollar.

And finally, they need a Strong Safety to complement Delmas. What I dont understand is why the hell Mayhew didn't put a claim in on Bernard Pollard after he was cut by KC after preseason. The Texans ended up signing him and he's had a great season. The guy was coming off a Pro-Bowl calier season, and was only 24 when he was cut!!! But instead we've gone through a laundry list of different SS's (Henry, Marvin White, Ko Simpson, Marquand Manuel, Jahi Word Daniels, Kalvin Pearson, Jack Williams) and haven't even come close to filling the spot.

long offseason ahead...I just hope Mayhew has a plan

Other random thoughts...

We also need a backup QB (Shaun Hill?), Runningback Especially if K. Smith starts the yr on PUP (LenDale? Leon Washington? Norwood? Fargas? Harrison?), and a #2 WR (Braylon?).

I think they'll also cut Grady Jackson. And they probably won't try to re-sign Larry Foote or Anthony Henry. Northcutt could be cut also.

What pisses me off are these players we wasted high draft picks on, that are never going to be groomed to be starters. Jordon Dizon, Andre Fluellen, Drew Stanton, Derrick Williams...

You could also throw Ikaika and Gerald Alexander in that group even though neither are here anymore.

I think they struck gold with Delmas, Levy and Sammie Lee Hill. And I hope they re-sign Jason Hunter who has shown some flashes of competence and is only 26. I also think Aaron Brown can be groomed into a servicable all-purpose H-Back (poor mans Reggie Bush).

Will Heller proved to be a nice, cheap FA signing and can spell Pettigrew next yr. Mo Morris has proved to be a nice depth guy. Manny Ramirez would be better as a reserve where he can be more versitale rather than starting.

Worthless guys who have no real future/upside include Landon Cohen, Kevin Hobbs, Drew Stanton, Jerome Felton, and Turk McBride

Ok, done venting. I still have hope...

im pretty skeptical of our ability to sign a quality left tackle. usually teams dont let the good ones get away. i also think its the most important position to address this offseason, so i dont think suh is realistic, unless we have a diamond in the rough we think we can get in the second round.

a more plausible plan to me is signing shaun rogers back (he was talking detroit during the season), and then either taking okung at #2 or more idealy trading down some slots and picking up addition 2nd and 3rd rounders. hopefully, st louis goes qb and suh explodes in the combine. i think this is fairly realistic, since theyll be in the same position we were last year with stafford.

but it looks like we done good with stafford. we should have took oher rather than pettigrew, but oh well. we cant let next year's line look anything like this year's. the lions, im sure, know this. that whole backus backing was bull. believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear, as they say.

How does Shaun Rogers magically become a free agent, b?

And Wil, if you think we're going to have any pull with FA's to fill spots like MLB or CB, get real. We will be lucky to get any top names on the market.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/02/browns_tackle_shaun_rogers_rep.html

its from feb, but i've read more recent stuff discussing him leaving cleveland. but it may have been cleared up, the last i heard i think it was the preseason still.

How does Shaun Rogers magically become a free agent, b?

And Wil, if you think we're going to have any pull with FA's to fill spots like MLB or CB, get real. We will be lucky to get any top names on the market.


We will have to overpay, obviously. But we're kidding ourselves if we think we can only build our team via the draft.

You have to strike gold on some FA signings to be competitive and looking back, we may have done worse on FA's than drafting, even in the Millen era.

Just off the top of my head, some bust Millen/Mayhew FA' signings...


Bill Schroeder
Az-Zahir Hakim
Corey Harris
Todd Lyght
Tai Streets
Jeff Garcia
Josh McCown
Brock Marion
Edwin Mulitalo
Ross Verba
Rex Tucker
Rick DeMulling
T.J. Duckett
Jamar Fletcher
R.W. McQuarters
Shawn Bryson
Olandis Gary
Michael Gaines
Fernando Bryant
Idrees Bashir
Wali Rainer
Earl Holmes
Bryant Johnson
Larry Foote
Corey Bradford
Grady Jackson
Phillip Buchanon
Kalvin Pearson
Eric King
Daniel Loper
Jon Jansen
Dan Wilkinson
Marcus Pollard
Tatum Bell (acq. via trade)
George Foster (acq. via trade)
Leigh Bodden (acq. via trade)
Dwight Smith





and only a few Decent FA signings by Mayhew/Millen...

Dre' Bly
Stephen Peterman
Dewayne White
Moran Norris (albeit he was only here for like 8 weeks)
Jon Kitna (best QB of the Millen era)
Mo Morris
Mike Furrey (one yr wonder)
Shaun McDonald (one yr wonder)
Mikhael Ricks
Jason Hunter (i like him)

I'm not sure I agree with all of those. Earl Holmes was a good signing (but he never should have been counted on as much as he was). Duckett was a fine signing (was a 3rd RB for cheap). I haven't seen any Lions games this year besides Turkey Day, has Foote been bad? McCown was a 3rd string QB, what do you expect there?

The biggest problem is guys that were signed for depth had to be counted on because so many draft picks were busts.

Yeah, and Bodden was a bust because he was used wrong.

Jon Jansen was just a vet backup for a season, that's not bad.
Fernando Bryant was injury-plagued but I suppose that still qualifies as a bust. He wasn't terrible when he actually was on the field.
Wasn't Az Hakim supposed to be a #3 receiver and got forced into the #1-#2 role, or did Millen actually think he could be a top receiver?
I thought Dan Wilkinson was a great pairing with Rogers in the middle of the d-line. I wouldn't call him a bust.
I'd put Northcut on that list. Guy's a quality #4 receiver but he shouldn't be the #3. If we got a quality #2 and bumped Johnson and Northcut down a spot in the depth chart, we'd be much better off.

I'd have to agree with WTFchris on the issue of depth guys, though. Quite a few of those players were brought in for depth then were pushed to the starting role. That doesn't quite qualify them as a bust. That would be like calling Vick a bust in Philly if McNabb went down. They didn't sign him to be the starter, so it shouldn't be the full criteria.

Also, why don't you think Buchanon will be back, Wil? I don't think he's a stud CB by any means but he's probably better than anything else we'd get. I say hold onto him for another year.

I don't think moving Peterson to DE would be a great move. Having him play some DE would be fine, but making him the starting DE is a bit of a stretch. He had 4.5 sacks but they weren't all from that position. Most were from LB where he wasn't fighting through OTs to get to the QB.

How would Sammie Hill fit as a 3-4 DT or DE? I haven't really thought about it much, but I was pretty intrigued by the idea of a 3-4 last offseason and Peterson would be solid as an OLB in a 3-4.

Wasn't Az Hakim supposed to be a #3 receiver and got forced into the #1-#2 role, or did Millen actually think he could be a top receiver?

Az and Bill were signed to be the top 2 guys here. Something they never were until Millen thought they were. We had Germaine Crowell but he had two injury plagued seasons before that. No way we counted on him as a top 2 WR. We drafted Scotty Anderson as a depth guy. Otherwise Millen was counting on breakout years from Az and Bill and got less than 600 yards a piece. I also remember a huge amount of drops.

Aside from CJ, he was truly terrible at finding WRs, despite a lot of resources spent there.

Az and Bill were signed to be the top 2 guys here. Something they never were until Millen thought they were. We had Germaine Crowell but he had two injury plagued seasons before that. No way we counted on him as a top 2 WR. We drafted Scotty Anderson as a depth guy. Otherwise Millen was counting on breakout years from Az and Bill and got less than 600 yards a piece. I also remember a huge amount of drops.

Aside from CJ, he was truly terrible at finding WRs, despite a lot of resources spent there.
Oh god, Scotty Anderson. I guess I was just HOPING that we hadn't counted on either of those guys to be a #1 receiver. That's just terrible.

Wait, you mean to tell me that Mike Williams didn't work out?

I'm one of the few that don't hold the Charles Rogers thing entirely against Millen. He was looking like a stud before he broke his collarbone twice and apparently lost all motivation to have an NFL career...

I agree, but did Charles Rogers show any warning signs before? Any red flags like drinking problems, possible suspensions, failed drug tests? This stuff should have came out in his interview.

Buchanon won't be back because he was paid like a #1 corner and didn't even get an INT. Personally, I don't want to cut him, I think he'd be a solid #2 or depth guy, but he's not going to take a paycut and there are cheaper options who can give you the type of production he gave us this past year.

He's this year's "Leigh Bodden"...

He had drug problems in college, IIRC. Should have taken Andre.

I also bet they'll hang on to Buchanon another year unless they can get someone else lined up. Bodden was due twice as much as Buchanon is this year.

If Buchanon would've gotten just one INT (even Bodden managed to snag one last yr), I'd feel better about his chances.

Instead he was outplayed by Will James and Kevin Hobbs who combined made less than half of Buchanon's salary.

Also, on a side note, we would've just signed Bernard Pollard off waivers back in August (we had first dibs) our SS problem would've been solved right now.

Mayhew blew that one and instead settled for Marcus McCauley...

Agreed, I was calling for us to get Pollard. For shame.

WalterFootball has us getting Suh in the 1st and then Jahvid Best in Rd 2 (passing up Taylor Mays) and then has us getting Trevard Lindley (CB; Kentucky) in Rd 3 while passing up Brandon Graham....

Interesting.

Getting Suh/Mays/Graham would be a hell of a draft, IMO.

Worst comes to worst, you move Mays to linebacker and have a 6'4 225 pound freak playing OLB.

^^Agreed, that would be great. Really solidifying that defense... then take a guy like Brandon Carter in the 4th and Freddie Barnes in the 5th.... We should be able to pick up some kind of corner in free agency, there are a lot available this year

Team Defense Rank (yards given up):
1) Jets
2) Packers
3) Ravens
4) Bengals
5) Steelers
6) Vikings
7) Broncos
8) Panthers
9) Cowboys
10) Redskins

Only the Steelers, Broncos, Panthers and Redskins missed the playoffs and 3 of those 4 were 8-8 or better.

Defense still wins.

Defense wins, but Mayhew is still keeping open the possibility of drafting a defensive player. Screw smokescreens, fuck us Lion's fans.

To be fair, 10 of the top 13 scoring offenses also made the playoffs.

I think good football wins.

Close. The Giants (8th), Texans (10th), Steelers (12th), and Falcons (13th) did not.

The Jets, Cowboys, Ravens, Colts, Vikings, Chargers, Cards all give up less than 20.3 pts a game (7 of the top 14 defenses). Saints have a middle of the road defense, don't be surprised when they get beat in a shootout.

I think you need both to win. But teams have made runs with crappy offenses and dominant D (Tampa, Baltimore, Chicago to name a few). What team has won it all with a dominant O and a bad defense? The Colts in 2006 is the closest I can come up with (22.6 pts a game allowed).

My point is there is no way we can win without putting together a top 15 defense, even if Stafford and CJ light it up.

Stafford and CJ won't light it up without a left offensive tackle.

a LT won't stop the Lions from giving up 30 points a game either. I don't care if you have the best OL in football, you aren't going to win many games giving up 30 a night.

Tahoe won't win championships with his mindset.

a LT won't stop the Lions from giving up 30 points a game either. I don't care if you have the best OL in football, you aren't going to win many games giving up 30 a night.

Offensive lines keep your defense off the field.

Culpepper wins championships.

We would have won it all if he had started for us this year.

Offensive lines keep your defense off the field.
Offensive lines don't see the field if your D allows the other team to ball control you.

Again, name me a team with a good offense and bad D that won it all.

So lets draft a new QB and not protect him?

No, lets build a good defense and surround Stafford with a solid but not spectacular OL.

The Lions were 24th in sacks allowed this year. Some of those certainly fall on a rookie QB not knowing when to throw it away. Was this a good OL? No. But it wasn't like David Carr had in Houston. They rushed for 400 yards more than Indi, BTW.

cliche time...we are only as strong as our weakest link...and we have a weak link or 2 on our Oline.

Again, name me a team with a good offense and bad D that won it all.

06 Colts stepped it up on defense in the playoffs. Try again, Tahoe.

And where did I say anything, anyfrickinthing, ANYTHING about winning it all?

I'm saying protect our number 1 draft picks and add to them with a Left OT.

I know we need a defense to win. I've been beating that drum on scout for 10 years.

You really need them both. Just look through the teams here:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/super-bowl/

There aren't many examples of winning without being top 10 on both sides of the ball.

^ Egg Zach Lee

I'm just saying since we have invested high picks in our QB, WR and RB, help them foos out a lil bit.

cliche time...we are only as strong as our weakest link...and we have a weak link or 2 on our Oline.
So let's go with 2 weak links on the o-line. 2/5

We have 3 weak links on the d-line. 3/4

We have 3 weak links in the secondary. 3/4

I wasn't too impressed with our LBs, but we can probably call them safe for now (by comparison).

The thing is, if you upgrade that d-line, it helps upgrade the secondary. I know upgrading the o-line upgrades the QB/RB, but our d-line got zero pressure. Our secondary was abysmal. We can grab a guard in the 2nd/3rd round to upgrade one of the bad spots on the line. 1st rounder on the DL, 2nd or 3rd not used on the OL goes to a DB/DL.

Worst comes to worst, you move Mays to linebacker and have a 6'4 225 pound freak playing OLB.


I didn't know that was the gripe about him. So he's basically like a Darnell Bing, then?

So let's go with 2 weak links on the o-line. 2/5

We have 3 weak links on the d-line. 3/4

We have 3 weak links in the secondary. 3/4

I wasn't too impressed with our LBs, but we can probably call them safe for now (by comparison).

The thing is, if you upgrade that d-line, it helps upgrade the secondary. I know upgrading the o-line upgrades the QB/RB, but our d-line got zero pressure. Our secondary was abysmal. We can grab a guard in the 2nd/3rd round to upgrade one of the bad spots on the line. 1st rounder on the DL, 2nd or 3rd not used on the OL goes to a DB/DL.
I agree for the most part but I think we still need to go with the "protect your investment" thing. QB is still the most important position, period, and we have pretty much everything invested in Stafford. If he doesn't succeed, we're set back another 5 years, almost no matter what else we do. We obviously have massive holes on defense but outside of a once a decade talent such as Suh potentially might be, I think we need to do whatever we can to help Stafford succeed. It will be interesting to see how things shake out after the combines.

No matter what, this isn't going to be a one or two year fix. We can improve in that time span but it's going to take 4-5 before we could possibly be real contenders (stop laughing). Since that's the case, I think it's important to spend another year reinforcing what we've already started to build. We potentially have 3 pro bowlers in Stafford, CJ and Pettigrew, let's build on that and then move on to the total package.

I didn't know that was the gripe about him. So he's basically like a Darnell Bing, then?


I don't have a gripe with him, but some feel he lacks elite speed. Bing was mediocre, Mays has been a stud playmaker at USC for a long time.

So let's go with 2 weak links on the o-line. 2/5

We have 3 weak links on the d-line. 3/4

We have 3 weak links in the secondary. 3/4

I wasn't too impressed with our LBs, but we can probably call them safe for now (by comparison).

The thing is, if you upgrade that d-line, it helps upgrade the secondary. I know upgrading the o-line upgrades the QB/RB, but our d-line got zero pressure. Our secondary was abysmal. We can grab a guard in the 2nd/3rd round to upgrade one of the bad spots on the line. 1st rounder on the DL, 2nd or 3rd not used on the OL goes to a DB/DL.

Because there is more weak links on this half of the team doesn't mean you go there, imo.

The bolded part...It all depends on who's there obviously. I'm just sayin/still sayin Left OT is the first priority.

Because tD lineman after round one goes down exponentiallhere is more weak links on this half of the team doesn't mean you go there, imo.

The bolded part...It all depends on who's there obviously. I'm just sayin/still sayin Left OT is the first priority.
I can agree with both sides here...
Been harpin' on a LT for 12 st8 years now... however the odds of landing a dominent D lineman after round one goes down exponentially (yes there are several excptions)... whereas you can snag a solid LT in the 2nd round.

At least finally most folks agree these are the two primary needs... but we coulda told em that for the past decade or so.... fuck the best player available.... nobody touches the ball with the QB counting stars.

The problem is, at this point, that there is no elite LT talent available this year. We'll see if that "changes" after the combine...

dr. ray, one thing i've noticed is that every year its said "there are no dominant left tackles". last year i was against going lt at #1 because there were 4 or 5 lts that had been mentioned as a possibity. so why take a guy at 1 when someone similar might be there at 20? (turns out this was right, since oher has been the best and was available. oh well).

however, okung has been the consensus top lt as far as i've seen. to me, thats a good sign. he's shorter than i'd like, but there are good lt's with his size. i think if suh isnt there you pretty much have to go with him (pending combine).

and tahoe is 100% right. forget what gives us the most wins in 2011. the lions future is all about stafford. he got beat to crap last year. knee, shoulder. how many surgeries? the lions are so far away from championship that thinking along those lines is definitly putting the cart before the horse. lets just get stafford right, since he looks to be the real deal, then worry about the finer details.

Well, they blew many chances to take a LT that I did want. I wanted Brown instead of Mike Williams. I wanted Oher instead of Pettigrew. We wouldn't have these questions of using the #1 (last year) or #2 (this year) pick on a OT if they had grabbed one when they had a chance.

Let's look at the AFC left tackles

LT
Baltimore
Jared Gaither 5th round 2007 supplemental draft
Cincinnatti
Andrew Whitworth 2nd round 55 overall 2006 draft
Cleveland
Joe Thomas 1st round 3rd overall 2007 draft
Pittsburgh
Max Starks 3rd round 2004 draft
Houston
Duane Brown 1st round 26th overall 2008 draft
Indianapolis
Charlie Johnson 6th round 2006 draft
Jacksonville
Eugene Monroe 1st round 8th overall 2009 draft
Tennessee
Michael Roos 2nd round 41st overall 2005 draft
Buffalo
Jonathan Scott 5th round (Detroit Lions)
Miami
Jake Long 1st overall 2008 draft
New England
Matt Light 2nd round 44th overall 2001 draft
New York Jets
D'Brickashaw Ferguson 1st round 4th overall 2006 draft
Denver
Ryan Clady 1st round, 12th overall 2008 draft
Kansas City
Branden Albert 1st round 15th overall 2008 draft
Oakland
Mario Henderson 3rd round 91st overall
San Diego
Marcus McNeil 2nd round 50th overall

So out of 16 teams, there are 7 with 1st round left tackles. Out of the 4 playoff teams remaining...

San Diego has Marcus McNeil, a top 50 pick.

Indianapolis has Charlie Johnson, a late round pick, who outperformed Tony Ugoh, a 1st round pick

The Jets have D'Brickashaw Ferguson, a top 4 pick

Baltimore has Jared Gaither, a 5th round pick, but could also slide Michael Oher over, a 1st round pick.

There are also a lot of 2nd and 3rd round picks in the rest of the teams.

well, 5 of the top 7 pro bowl tackles were early 1st rnd picks.

the position clearly needs to be upgraded. if we can get a good guy late in the draft great. but can they? i suppose we dont need a world beater, avg would be fine. but i hate the idea of putting a band aid on this and hoping for the best.

Not to piss in everyone's punch, but Schwarz said in his end-of-year presser that he loves Jeff and LT is one of 6-7 positions that he will not look to improve this offseason. He hoped Jeff would be selected to the probowl.

Jeff is a very good and decent sack of shit.

rofl. In all honesty, Cherilus, LG, and Raiola were worse than Backus this year.

Not to piss in everyone's punch, but Schwarz said in his end-of-year presser that he loves Jeff and LT is one of 6-7 positions that he will not look to improve this offseason. He hoped Jeff would be selected to the probowl.

im not going to get mad at that until he's actually brought back as a starter. i refuse to believe that the guys in charge are that stupid.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100127/SPORTS01/1270329/1049/sports01/Idaho-guard-Iupati-catches-Lions-attention

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20100127&Category=SPORTS01&ArtNo=1270329&Ref=AR&Profile=1049&MaxW=600&MaxW=800&q=50

McShay has McCoy #1 now:


St. Louis Rams

Record: 1-15

http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nfl/sml/trans/stl.gif
Gerald McCoy (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/player?draftyear=2010&id=25395)*, DT, Oklahoma
The Rams have a poor track record when it comes to drafting defensive linemen early, and now they have a tough choice to make between the stronger, more instinctive Ndamukong Suh and the quicker, more disruptive McCoy. Coach Steve Spagnuolo is looking for defensive linemen who can penetrate, which is why we think McCoy could be the top overall pick.


Detroit Lions

Record: 2-14

http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogos/nfl/sml/trans/det.gif
Ndamukong Suh (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/player?draftyear=2010&id=25542), DT, Nebraska

The Lions will gladly take Suh here. He won't provide the pass-rush production of McCoy, but he is a force versus the run and he consistently disrupts passing windows thanks to his excellent instincts and long arms.

Yeah, I'd still be thrilled with this mock. Donald Penn is probably impossible, but the rest of the FA's could happen (probably won't).

McCoy being talked about at #1 is great because either way we'd end up with a #1 worthy DT and less money than the Rams will have to pay.