| 21 March 2010
With the NFL owners meetings underway, and draft picks dropping in at Allen Park damn near every day, I thought it'd be a good time to check out the latest and greatest Lions news. Meaning it's time for a link dump.
Wither Pacman: Jim Schwartz says the Lions are "still in the information-gathering stage" in regard to the former Titan/Cowboy/wannabe professional wrestler and cornerback, Adam "Pacman" Jones. Actually, the Lions' head coach had more to say about his former player...
"I coached him when he was 21 and 22 years old. Now, he's 26 or 27. There is a lot of ground that needs to be covered. It's a lot different than Kyle Vanden Bosch who was just a year away. A whole lot is not going to change in that year,''
Makes sense to me. I know most of us change considerably from our early 20's to our late 20's. Then again, how many of us have ever made it rain?
Turns out Schwartz isn't concerned about his physical tools, he's trying to determine if Pacman is still a tool...
"He's not going to look bad in a workout. He's a real good athlete,'' Schwartz said. "There's more to it than that. You're not signing that guy just off his workout. There's more that needs to be done. If we cross that bridge, that's be an organizational decision.
"Anytime you look at players in the league who have been through difficult times and then had success, it makes you keep an open mind. Look at Cris Carter. Should you have not been interested in Cris Carter when he went to Minnesota? He proved that you should've been."
But when evaluating a player, where do you draw the line between talent on the field, and being a dumb ass off of it? I tend to lean towards talent making up for being an asshat. I didn't agree with Matt Millen on much of anything, but when looking back in his days with the Raiders, Millen did say at least one thing that made sense. "Every team needs a rat."
Landon Johnson signed: The Lions new special teams coordinator, Danny Crossman, made his presence known this past week. The Lions signed LB Landon Johnson...who was a special teams demon with the Panthers, and coached by...Crossman.
Is it possible Johnson could help at LB? The Panthers paid Johnson pretty big money as a free agent a couple of seasons ago to do just that.
Probably not, as PFT gives us the details:
Johnson was cut by the Panthers earlier in the month, after two years with the team. Before that, he spent four seasons with the Bengals, starting 32 games in his final two seasons there.
In Charlotte, Johnson never cracked the starting lineup on a consistent basis, starting only three of 32 regular-season games.
Meaning he was a bust as a linebacker, but valuable on special teams. The Lions need talent everywhere, so why not bolster special teams with one of Crossman's players?
Meet Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy: The consensus best defensive linemen in the upcoming draft were both in town this week to visit the Lions. As expected, they both said the right things when talking to the team.
“I’d fit in great here,” he said. “How I wanted to play in college is how they play here, but we played a certain type of defense in college and I had to play within the scheme of the defense. I think that’s really what made me successful as I was because I played within the scheme of the defense.”
Suh:
“It’s a lot of good feedback and that’s kind of what I expected, but at the same time I am still learning. I don’t have set-in-stone habits. (Since I am) able to adjust, I don’t think it will be a problem for me to adjust to the next level and be able to play the pass first and foremost and then getting to the run later.”
“Coaches and administration have all been fun-loving guys,” he said. “Outgoing, easygoing – really easy to get along with.”
Suh and McCoy have been well coached by their agents, you think? When you are about be paid mega-millions by someone, of course everything is unicorns and rainbows!
Altie Taylor: The news about the death of Taylor, the Lions' 4th all-time leading rusher with 4,297 yards, totally caught me off guard. For you youngsters out in webland, Taylor was part of a tag team at running back with another Lions all-timer, Dexter Bussey, in the 70's. The Lions of that era were a big time running team, with even their QB, Greg Landry (shout out to friend of TWFE Remembering_Greg_Landry), a huge threat to run.
The Lions have a nice obit that recounting the highlights of Taylor's career.
Taylor was the Lions’ first selection in the 1969 draft as one of the club’s two second-round picks after a standout career at Utah State. A strong, quick 5-10, 200-pound back, Taylor led the Lions in rushing three straight seasons (1972-74). He was voted the club’s offensive MVP in ’73 after rushing for 719 yards and three touchdowns.
Taylor ended his seven-year career (1969-75) with the Lions as the club’s all-time leading rusher with 4,297 yards after he passed previous leader Nick Pietrosante during the 1975 season. He currently ranks fourth in Lions’ career rushing behind Barry Sanders (15,269), Billy Sims (5,106) and Dexter Bussey (5,105).
RIP Altie. You gave me many a thrill as a kid.
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