Lions Talent Not a Problem

I still see a lot of comments where fans believe the Lions still do not have near enough talent to be good. The most common position mentioned is cornerback. But talent is not the Detroit Lions weakness. Youth is!

Quarterback - Matthew Stafford has a butt load of talent, nobody really denies that, but he needs two things to become a truly solid QB in the NFL. Accuracy with the short routes and experience.

Running Back - The Detroit Lions have really improved this position with the addition of Jahvid Best in this years draft. Best has the talent to be a superstar in the NFL. He will be one of the fastest running backs in the NFL and he has a natural ability to see the field and make players miss. Like Stafford, Best needs two things to be great. Experience and staying healthy.

Receiver - Everyone and their illegitimate brother knows that Calvin (Megatron) Johnson has the talent to be one of the top three receivers in the NFL. Nate Burleson has enough talent to be the perfect compliment to Johnson. All these two need to be a top receiving duo is for the O-line, Stafford, and Best to do their jobs.

Tight End - In Brandon Pettigrews last few games before his injury, he was one of the best Tight Ends in the game. He was just coming into his own when he went down. There is no doubt that he has the talent, but now we have to wonder if he can be healthy. If not, the Lions addressed that ahead of time when they traded for Tony Scheffler, who is also a very talented pass catching Tight End.

Offensive Line - This is the biggest question mark on the Lions whole offense if not the entire team. Many of the fans hate Backus and Raiola being a part of the unit. I used to be one of them. I have come to realize however that they are not nearly as bad as the typical fans believe. If they were truly so bad, why would GM after GM and coach after coach not only keep them as starters, but even praise them? Why would the left guard position be the spot where they are now starting the 15th player in that position in the last 10 years? I realized that the play of the left guard has been so bad that it has crippled the play of both Backus and Raiola who play on each side of the left guard. Now the Lions have Rob Sims there, who is supposed to be a very strong run blocking left guard. If he plays as well as expected of him, it will lift the play of Backus and Raiola and solidify the entire blindside of the offensive line. The Lions can still use some more talent on the line but it is not going to be as bad as it has been in the past.

OFFENSE OVERALL - The Lions offense is gleaming with star quality. Its greatest foe at this time is inexperience.

Defensive Line - This is the unit that has the fans riled up for the upcoming season. Last year Sammie Lee Hill was coming on strong at the end of the season. His rookie year. The additions of Corey Williams at defensive tackle and Kyle Vanden Bosch at defensive end should help this unit tremendously. This alone would have given the Lions a decidedly much improved defensive line, but that was not good enough for Schwartz and Cunningham. Better was not enough. They want one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. So with their 2nd overall pick in this years draft, they took Ndamukong Suh. This guy has enough pure talent to be the best DT in the NFL one day. Teaming him with Hill in the middle with Williams to relieve them? Talent is not this units problem any longer. Once again experience is.

Linebacker - DeAndre Levy was a rookie last season and ended the year calling all of the defensive plays for the Lions. The two outside linebackers will be veteran Julian Peterson and possibly Zack Follett who was also a rookie last year and only has a few games he played in. All three of these guys could do a lot of damage. Especially Peterson this year if the D-line plays up to snuff.

Cornerback - Chris Houston will start. He has speed and toughness and was traded away from Atlanta mainly because he is a Man-to-man coverage guy and they are a Zone coverage team. The Lions will be mostly a man-to-man. Eric King is playing great so far in OTA's and many are expecting him to start across from Houston. One thing I have heard about this years cornerback crew is that they are more talented than last years. Personally I don't think Buchanon and Henry were bad at coverage. They were just asked to cover WRs for far too long on each play. If this crew is better and the D-line pressures the QB for once? This unit will look pretty good.

Safety - Delmas is like Levy but better. He ended his rookie season making all of the secondary calls for the Lions defense. He ended the season with a very good rookie year and many believe he was good enough to get more consideration for Rookie of the Year. Right now there are a smattering of players who will fill in the other safety spot. It is one place the Lions could use an upgrade in talent.

DEFENSE OVERALL - The defense is filled with talent now. More so than the Lions have had in decades. They can use a lift in one safety position and can use a shut down corner. If Follett does not work out they need to address outside linebacker soon. But the Lions have more pure talent on their defense than two thirds of the NFL. Again, their enemy for now is inexperience.

The Detroit Lions have eight starters of the 22 starting positions who have 16 games or fewer experience. That is 36% of their starters. If the young players can play to expectations they can be good enough to have a winning season this year and possibly make the play-offs. In pure talent, they can make the play-offs. Unfortunately, asking all of the young players to play to their potential is asking too much. Even last years rookies should still make their share of mistakes if far less than this years stock will. The talent on this team screams for an 8 to 10 win season. The inexperience pulls that back to five games.

Right now, at this time and with these players as starters, I predict the Lions to win five games in 2010 season. If they win as many as seven games I will not be totally surprised, but it would be better than I will expect. Once their core of talented young players gain another year or two of experience however, this team can be a contender.