| 25 March 2010
This week's Lions Congregation takes us in a small change of direction. There's only one question from Roar of the Lions' DetFan79. It has us looking at the Lions' big picture, trying to see the forest for the trees.
1. Taking into account all the free agent moves to date, where do you feel the team is at? Are they "set" at any positions? What glaring holes remain?
Despite all of Martin Mayhew's signings and trades, the Lions, as a whole, are still nowhere close to where they need to be. Which is, obviously, competing for a playoff spot. It will likely take at least a couple of draft classes to get to that point. So where is this team at going into the draft?
Coming off of a 2 win season, even after the signings in free agency and trades, this is a team still lacking in talent and depth at most, if not all, positions. Making the Lions, once again, a bottom feeder. They'll be lucky to win 5-6 games. A decent 2010 draft, combined with the continued improvement of the '09 deaft class, might net them a 3-4 game improvement in the standings.
As for free agency? Sure, the Lions have filled some holes and added some depth before the draft. But have they added any stars? Impact players in their primes?
One word answer. No!
DE Kyle Vanden Bosch was once an impact player. But he's on the bad side of 30. Vanden Bosch can still be effective, but not at the level of 3-4 years ago. DT Corey Williams is a good role player, anything more the Lions get from him is tasty, surprising gravy. I'm not expecting either of them to be the next coming of Bubba Baker or Jerry Ball (The last 2 Lions defensive linemen you could truly call consistently dominant. Not Shaun Rogers, who spent more time sucking oxygen on the sidelines than making plays.)
Shaun Hill is a very good pickup...but how many games will a backup QB win? Truthfully, you have to hope it's none. Hill is the insurance you hope you never have to use.
CB Chris Houston was available for next to nothing in trade for a reason. CB Johnathan Wade was allowed to become a free agent for a reason. Their previous teams thought they already had better players on their depth chart. The fact Wade and Houston are sizable upgrades over the Lions' 2009 corners says volumes about last season's Lions defense...none of it good.
The rest of the Lions' moves in free agency were to sign depth and special teams guys. Needed, but nothing game changing in the big scheme of things.
As for "set" positions, can a 2 win team really be set at any position? That's a rhetorical question. Of course not!
Save for Matthew Stafford as the starting QB (more so due to money owed than performance, though I hope that changes), Calvin Johnson at WR, Louis Delmas at S, and maybe Brandon Pettigrew at TE, the Lions could draft an upgrade at every other position. Not even the best kicker in Lions history, the ancient Jason Hanson, is irreplaceable.
As for needs, the Lions must find quality players at CB, RB, DT, OG, WR, and DE. Not necessarily in that order.
The most glaring hole on the Lions? They have long needed a big-time defensive playmaker, one who could wreak havoc in offensive backfields. That is the sort of player, be it a defensive tackle, end or linebacker, you can only find via the draft. Once teams find themselves a player other teams have to gameplan, they rarely hit the open market.
Which is why this is such an important draft for Mayhew. He needs to find that defensive playmaker, and may have a shot at one in DT Ndamukong Suh. Every time I see his name mentioned, I think back to his one man wrecking crew act in the Big 12 title game (4.5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, 9 tackles for zero or negative yards, 12 tackles, putting the fear of God in Colt McCoy). Proof interior lineman can be impact players, and why the Lions should draft Suh. But that's a subject for another Lions congregation.
So that's the state of the Lions as they head into the draft. A bad team that's slowly getting better, but remains a long way from respectability. A very long way.
For the rest of the Lions blogosphere's answers to DetFan79's question, head over to Roar of the Lions every Friday!
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