Position Moves

I will go through every position and what we need, who we can get, and who to cut if anything.

Quarterback

We will need a third stringer. Bringing back Stanton would be ideal, but ideal isn't very realistic. I don't think we necessarily need someone to groom. A journeyman I think would probably be the best bang for our buck here. The younger guys are now turning into journeyman.

-Rex Grossman

Running Back/Fullback

Well this was once a lower needed area. We got the top running back in this draft class. I do think you have to wonder a little bit about Best's health, but I also think that maybe they didn't see much in the 3rd and 4th rounds to be available. I think you need to keep Maurice Morris around and let Aaron Brown go. Kevin Smith is definitely gone now, I wish the best for him. I think Jerome Felton is the guy to keep at fullback and nothing else needs to be done. This is a pretty simple position, cut Brown.

Wide Receiver

I think this is a pretty simple position as well. This was a lower area needed as well addressed in the draft. I think you have to believe Titus is the guy. He will be the number 3 receiver, but will play the 2 spot in 3 or more wide sets. You give a guy like Tim Toone a chance in camp. You have to cut Bryant Johnson. I would like them to keep Derrick Williams around. Keep in mind we have 3 great tight ends, so we don't need 5 wide recievers.

Tight Ends

Like I said we have 3 great tight ends and they are all diverse. One a pass catching tight end, blocking tight end, and an all around guy. Nothing needs to be done here.

Offensive Line

I know some of you are upset about not drafting a tackle. Get a franchise tackle and kick Backus inside or play him at right till Backus is gone. I get the theory, but we have a franchise tackle that will give us a few more years to get a guy to replace him. I think you try and resign Hillard, but that will be tough. Hopefully Jason Fox is ready. Johnny Culbreath sure is getting a lot of talk. I hate to be the wake up call, but there is a reason he was drafted so late. He will be a work in process. I hope he isn't to much of a project. He will have time. Jason Fox or Johnny might be the replacement to Backus, while the other one is the backup to the tackle position. Signing a big time guard would be huge. It won't be an easy task. Atlanta has two guards free agents. One deserves a big payday. They will do their best to keep him. The other one is 27 years old. Blalock isn't anyting special, but he is one of the best guards available. Blalock is a solid player that doesn't shine anywhere.

-Corey Hillard

-Justin Blalock

Defensive Line

I think you try and trade Corey Williams. Maybe get a starting LB or CB out of the deal. He is coming off a great season and is worth a decent amount. There's a chance we can keep all of the defensive tackles. I am fan of rotating tackles with Schwartz. Suh will play less downs, but will be more effective in the downs he does play along with his sub. Fluellen right now is the odd man out to be cut if anyone is. There is some versatility playing DT and DE that will help keep him on the team. Due to the plethora of tackles it could take out an end. I think keeping Fluellen and not resigning Turk is the way to go. Avril is a got that needs to be resigned or someone of his quality. At tackle i would like it to be Suh, Fairley, Williams (if can't trade), Hill, and Fluellen. At end I would like it to be from last year Avril, KVB, Jackson, and Young. Meaning we could sign another end.

-Vernon Gholston

I feel like I need to explain why Gholston. We are not spending a 6th round pick on him like the Jets. He is 25 and was playing in 3-4. Switching system works for a lot of players.

Linebacker

I'm going to assume Levy and Hogue are the only guys on the roster. Zack Follett will try and come back and if he can it will be with the Lions. I hope for his health before anything else and you need to not count on him, becuase his health needs to come first not because he doesn't want it. Hogue is a WIP (work in process). Levy is a versatile guy that can be moved from inside to outside if necessary. I didn't think I would every say this, but I think the team is comfortable with him calling the plays and being a leader. There's a lot of good linebackers that may or may not be available based on restricted free agency rules. The Panthers and Falcons have two good outside backers that are free agents. The biggest problem is that injury problems is a big factor with most of these free agents. We need to stop signing gap players. Manny Lawson is the guy you try and get at outside backer. He is the best available. He should be looking for a 4-3 team which raises our chances. 3-4 teams might not want to be in the mix anyways. I think he would play on the strong side. Ernie Sims is available to play the weakside.... just kidding. Justin Durant is 25 that plays the weakside. The Jaguars will probably want to resign him, but he has major injury issues. A guy like Herzlich needs to come in and tryout.

Now moving to the inside free agency situation. Tulloch is obviously the guy we want. Kick Levy to outside. Manny strong side, Tulloch middle, and Levy weakside would be ideal, not realistic. It would probably be to much money to spend anyways. I would have to imagine that linebackers would want to play with this front line though. Player like Tulloch realize that he would make this team so much better. You say you want to go to a winner and then if your a guy like Tulloch, I fill a huge hole for this team. Poluszny would also be a great fit in D town. If Tulloch is available, I think Schwartz pulls his magic and gets him. I think you bring back Ashlee Palmer and Bobby Carpenter. Your going to need one more guy if you sign two starting backers and resign four (Follett, Palmer, Campbell and Carpenter). Just one more backup/special team guys. Maybe Campbell doesn't get resigned, but someone like him get signed. Campbell should be able to contribute on special teams or at least practice squad.

-Tulloch

-Justin Durant

-Mark Herzlich

Defensive backs

If your Nnamdi, the Lions are terrible in the secondary I want a winning team. With me on the team they are no longer terrible in the secondary in fact their great. It is similar to the linebacker position. They will realize how much better they make this team and fill a huge hole. When a front line can make your job easier, it has to be quite enticing to go there. We know corner back is a huge hole for us. Right now we have nobody. If we get a chance at Tulloch, that means Houston is available to the market.

Lets start of with the easy position of safety though. CC needs not to be resigned. You can keep last years rookie Philips around. John Wendling is a special teams all star. Do you let Spievey and Coleman battle out for the safety position or do you move Spievey back to corner. This is a call for the coaching staff. I haven't seen enough of him at either position. With my small knowledge never seeing him at practice I'd keep him at safety. We lose CC and we already gained Coleman.

Now the huge hole area. We tried to get Patrick Peterson and passed on Prince. There's a huge difference between Peterson and Prince. We need two starting corners. Berry will be the only one that should stay that is not a free agent. Possibly keep Vasher and Prince Miller. I would let Prince go and ideally let Vasher too. Hill should not be resigned. Vasher can stay. Signing Nnamdi really hurts your chances at signing backers and corners. He will cost a fortune. His words will say winning matters, but money talks to him. I think the Lions need two major targets this offseason, Nnamdi and Tulloch. Manny would be just behind those two. It will be interesting to see the offers Houston gets. Will he be looked at as a #1 corner or a #2? Eric Wright would be a young guy that is looking for a new home. Pairing up Houston and Wright would be wonderful I think. I got us signing an elite backer and second tier backer. Making it really hard to sign Nnamdi. We need to sign 4 corners. Kendric Burney is a guy that can play in the tampa 2 and would be an excellent signing. He is similar to Herzlich, but was expected to go much earlier. Fabian Washington might be a guy that the Ravens are willing to part ways with. They drafted Jimmy Smith and Fabian has had injury issues.

-Houston

-Wright

-Burney

-Washington

-Maurice Leggett

This would make Houston and wright are starting corners but no real #1 guy. Burney would a rookie similar to Spievey last year. Washington would be the nickel and backup guy. With Berry right there as an insurance policy with Washington's injury issues. Leggett would be a young talent to groom.

There is a lot to do once free agency starts.

Lion's Post Draft

Nick Fairley

It was nerve racking with that first pick.  You at first want Patrick Peterson to fall to maybe where you  can trade up and get him. Then your holding your breathe with literally every pick the Prince doesn't get drafted. The Vikings pick Christian Ponder I think we all were so joyous. That's the QB we will be going up against and that was their terrible first round selection. Prince still on the board. Supposedly they were trying to trade down which made sense. The pick came in rather early and I'm sure they were trying to get rid of the pick while the Vikings were on the clock and they might of known by then that there wasn't a trade to be had. I still don't know what to think about it. I think a DT needs to be traded. Don't get me wrong Corey Williams is a good player, but he was offsides so many times. Corey Williams might not be worth a high draft pick, but he is worth a good player. Fairley is a 3 technique, so he fits the scheme, and Suh is a 1 technique. I think it has to help in free agency getting a LB. If I was LB and especially a 4-3 type LB. You know your pretty much going to start and boy your going to be filling a huge hole to put this team over the top. I know you have all heard and had the thought Suh and Fairley will have their reign for a while. Fairley needs to work his butt off and prove he is more than a one year wonder.

Titus Young

What was heard a lot was he is a DeSean Jackson like WR, but he didn't run that 4.3 (he ran a 4.4). He is not DeSean Jackson. It will be a long time till there is another DeSean Jackson. People rated him wrong in the second round including me where he got drafted. If these two were coming out of college at the same time I would have mistakenly taken Titus over Jackson. The reason is Titus has strong hands and really concentrates on the ball while he catches it. He does a good job of not running before catching it. I was afraid Jackson would be like Troy Williamson. Titus doesn't worry me there, he just has such a small frame. Titus fills a need for us at WR and fills it perfectly. Burleson is still the two receiver, but I think you will mainly see Burleson in the slot in 3 wide or more sets. Sadly guys like Akeem Ayers, Aaron Williams, and Bruce Carter were picked just a few picks front of us. Looking back I would say we were just a few picks to high. This might have been the right pick. Martez Wilson really slid down. We wouldn't have had a chance at him in round 3. With hindsight that is good to know.

Mikel Leshoure

My top RB in this class. He runs high, but apparently so did Peterson. This is great value pick and boy is he special. Best and Leshoure are great complements to each other. They are both feature back type guys that should take punishment of each other. I think you could see sets with them both in and send Best out wide. Sets in the shotgun could definitely include them both. It would be a 2 RB 3 wide shotgun set. One of our TEs is not getting on the field. What I love about this set most is you really have to respect the inside handoff, but a LB on Best is already a tough matchup. You fake the handoff inside to freeze the LB and Best is running out to the pass and he already has a few steps on  the LB. Could also send Best out wide were someone would have to slide and really respect him and then run it at that LB who is already out position. If you get man coverage, Mikel Leshoure is picking up good yards. Mikel isn't the best blocker in the world, but I think he can get there. He should eventually be able to help with blitz packages. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, this guy is a great threat. I think the best thing about this offense now is if someone goes down there is already a starter to fill in. Last year if CJ was out of a play it was tough. If he is out you run 2 WR sets with 2 TEs or 1 TE 2 RBs. If Best is hurt Mikel can fill in. I'm not saying Titus is a fill in #1 starter for CJ. What I am saying is Pettigrew comes in as a starter at TE. It restricts your sets, but they are all still good sets. Someone is getting a breather. We were always able to rotate the TE position. Now we can rotate WR or TE with a RB. This should keep guys fresh. My biggest complaint is that we are overloaded at the skill positions that they all can't get in, but someone will always be fresh. I contemplate say trading Heller, but I actually say no here. Heller is a good goal line TE who can catch the ball. I do think 4 wide sets would include a TE wide, probably Scheffler. Special RB we got here.

Douglas Hogue

Interesting pick here. Jones, Herzlich (undrafted), Lawrence Wilson, and  Quan Sturdivant still on the board. This guy got moved from RB the LB. Don't think of Ernie. Ernie is kind of an idiot and I think the Eagles are realizing that. He ran one of the fastest 40 times, looked excellent in the combine drills, and he catches the ball. He is a work in process. I don't think he necessarily fills a need, but he could start. He needs time before he will be good enough to fill that gap even if he is starting. I think playing him right away might be the best thing for him. This is the type of guy that will dramatically increase his skill set in year 2 in the NFL. He should definitely be a good special teams guy. In that situation I'm taking Jones, Herzlich, and then him. Speaking of Herzlich I wish the best for you, but boy you would look good in Honolulu blue and silver. Best of all you would have a great chance at seeing the field. Hopefully we can get Hogue coached, and hopefully he is excited to be in Detroit.

Johnny Culbreath

Didn't get this pick. Unless they think Fox is ready to backup and is ready to start next year. This would be there new project. If Fox is ready Hilliard sadly won't be back and they won't go after a tackle in free agency which would be nice. If they sign a free agent this guy is not going to make the team unless they are going to move him to guard. Lee Ziemba was on the board. I had him rated well above this guy. I would have loved this pick to have been Herzlich. Culbreath has potential so we will see. Not that many 7th rounders turn out the way it is.

Overall I give the Lions an A based on talent. Based on everyting I give them a C. They drafted the best players available, so how can you say they had a bad draft. They really didn't fill need areas, but maybe that was smart. Fairley was the first pick after he won the National Championship. We will see. We will be talking free agency next.