In the first two days of the 2012 NFL Draft, Detroit Lions GM, Martin Mayhew, shows his knowledge of how to build a team. And I was less than impressed.
Okay, I guess I can understand the first pick of Reiff. A top ranked Left Tackle who fell into their laps, who can be Backus' replacement when he retires. A solid offensive lineman who can pass block and run block. It was a solid pick. I did not like it!
Even though I can understand the pick, I believe it was the wrong choice. There were plenty of good linemen available still. The draft was deep in the position. There was still a chance of getting one with the second pick. And it was not an emergency to upgrade the position. Let's face the facts here. Stafford threw for over 5,000 yards last year. You just don't do that unless the line is doing a decent job. Does Reiff improve the unit? Yes. But they could have improved another unit immensely.
With several good linemen still available, there was another position that was in dire need of upgrading and only one top talent left to fill it. This should have been a no brainer pick. The Detroit Lions weakest link in 2011 was the secondary. In the off season, Wright left in free agency, making the secondary even weaker. With Janoris Jenkins still available, he should have been taken without hesitation. But rather than draft a player that would have improved your defense immensely, the Lions drafted one of many offensive linemen who will likely start but not make a huge difference.
Still, I can understand the desire to take a top left tackle, so I will give a little leeway and give this pick a C+.
Then day two rolls around and guess what? CB Janoris Jenkins is still available. With Mayhew's ability to trade and move up to get players in the last two or three drafts, he needed to do it again and get Jenkins. Adding Jenkins and a top left tackle would have made this draft an instant success. He made no such move and soon Jenkins was taken. When it was the Lions turn to draft, there was another top player available who could have improved the Lions more so than Reiff will. C - Peter Konz would have given the Lions a boost in the running game where Raiola, who is undersized has been lacking. But no, Mayhew had another idea. He drafted WR- Ryan Broyles.
Yes Broyles broke the NCAA record for most receptions, but there were several reasons this was a bad pick. First off, the Lions did not need another WR. The last I checked, Stafford threw for over 5,000 yards in 2011. That is something like the 6th best passing season ever. Do you truly believe adding another WR will improve that much? The fact is, adding another WR, no matter how good he is, will not improve the Lions passing game by much. With the Lions, this was a wasted pick. But it doesnt stop there. Broyles is coming off a major knee injury. So the Lions just spent their second round draft pick on a WR (who they did not need) who is coming off of a major knee injury? Seriously? Yes. I am serious! And sad for it too.
For their third and final pick of the two most important days of the draft, the Lions drafted CB- Dwight Bentley. A player who was virtually a no name prospect until he had a good game in the senior bowl. He was considered a timid tackler until he had one good game. And he is only 5' 10" tall. I know, Jenkins was no taller, right? But Jenkins had #1 shutdown corner speed and talent. Bentley has none of that. He will be a success if he is as good as Wright, and that really was not that good.
The Lions, after the first three rounds, ended up with LT-Reiff, injured WR- Broyles, and CB-Bentley. They should have had, CB-Jenkins, C-Konz and anyone else you want to add who was available.
What they should have had and what they ended up with? This shows me one thing. Mayhew does not know how to build a good football team. In the first few years, he took us from 0-16 to 10-6 and a play-off birth, but the Lions are not a good team. Until they can actually beat a good team, they are not a good team. Right now, they are an average team that had a good year due to a very weak schedule. Not unlike what the KC Chiefs did the year before. Mayhew has added talent to a desecrated team. That is not a big deal. With early draft picks, he has added enough talent to turn the Lions into an average team. But Mayhew and his ridiculous BPA draft strategy has shown me he simply does not know how to take an average team and step it into the good or elite realm.
How can I say that you ask? He has yet to show us a team that can beat good teams, and he insists on drafting players to add depth while ignoring where the Lions are weakest. Last year he could have had a top CB in Jimmy Smith and instead drafted DT- Nick Fairley, when they were already solid at the position. Once again, this year, he had a chance for a shutdown corner in Jenkins, and again he ignored the position to take an offensive lineman. Then he turned around and took a WR, when the Lions have three good WR's already rather than move up for Jenkins or take Konz who is the best Center in the draft.
Mayhew has failed miserably this year and quite frankly, it does not matter what he does in rounds 4 through 7, this draft gets a low grade. "D". The Lions needed this off season to improve the team. They did not sign one good player in free agency, lost their second best CB and did extremely little to improve the team in the draft. I seriously could not have imagined Mayhew could have done a worse job if he took advice from Millen.
4/22/12
Lions Will Fix Last Years Mistake
In the 2011 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions drafted Nick Fairley, DT in the first round. Many fans loved it. I still say it was a mistake and this year they will rectify it.
The biggest mistake in the pick of Fairley, was to believe he would be an absolute beast. Rare it is that a player will come out and be a beast. Ndamukong Suh is a beast and possibly the best defensive tackle to come out in decades. He might end up being the best all time when all is said and done. But that is another discussion altogether. When Fairley was drafted, I even heard ramblings about him being nearly as good as Suh. Sorry, I will have to see that to believe it. He had one big year in college, the year after there was a mad rush of players leaving early to beat the rookie salary caps. So a player suddenly having a huge year against what in my opinion was some what watered down talent, is not going to be listed as a beast until he proves it in the NFL.
Yet, even if you think Fairley will be a beast when he stays healthy, it was still a mistake. The Lions had one of the top two or three defensive lines in the NFL before they drafted him. Adding him was adding depth, not making the unit a lot better. There was really good talent in other areas of need still available when they drafted. More precisely, at corner back. As much as the Lions needed to improve the CB spot, they chose to ignore it to draft a one year wonder to add depth to their strongest position.
This Thursday, on April 26th, the Detroit Lions will finally do what they should have done last year. Draft a Cornerback!
The one cornerback they could be drafting is one that will be adding controversy as well as a whole new slue of jokes. Janoris Jenkins. I can hear it now. "Mayhew gets draft advice from Fairley, LeShoure and Culbreath." or "Jenkins should feel right at home." But you know what? If he is available at the 23rd pick in the draft, the Lions will be making a mistake to pass him up.
Jenkins was listed in the same breath as Peterson (who was drafted 6th overall) before last years draft. He is the most talented corner back coming out in the draft this year, hands down!
I know. You have heard that he has had a heard of children with a handful of women. Magic Johnson claims to have slept with a hundred women and that didn't stop him from going down as one of the all time best players in history. As much as I am against the immorality of fathering children with different women, it makes no difference as to whether he will be a great player or not.
I know. He was caught with weed twice inside of three months and was kicked off the University of Florida Football team. If you look into it, you will also find out a few other facts. His father would not let him join the supplemental draft where he would have been an early pick. He gave him the choice of switching colleges, going the military, or driving a truck (which is what his father does). Oh yeah, for him to switch colleges, he would also have to do extensive community service.
Parents who make their kids face consequences for their actions usually do not raise trouble makers. Janoris did not fight with his father over the choices either. He accepted them. He did the community service and even grew to enjoy it. He did not get into any trouble in the following year and he played for a lower level school. His drug tests have come back clean. All of this is evidence of a young athlete who let stardom get to him and made some mistakes. He faced the consequences and all evidence shows he has been humbled and learned from his mistakes.
If Janoris Jenkins is there at #23 overall in Thursdays draft, and the Detroit Lions pass him up, it will be a big mistake. He will fit nearly every draft scheme. At that point, Jenkins will easily be the best talent left on the board, so the Lions will be allowed to draft BPA (Best Player Available), and he will also fill what is arguably the Lions biggest need as well.
If the Detroit Lions draft a Defensive End in the first round, they will continue to pile on to last years mistake. I dont expect this to happen. The Lions will take a Corner Back and that will possibly be Jenkins, and the mistake from the year before will be rectified.
The biggest mistake in the pick of Fairley, was to believe he would be an absolute beast. Rare it is that a player will come out and be a beast. Ndamukong Suh is a beast and possibly the best defensive tackle to come out in decades. He might end up being the best all time when all is said and done. But that is another discussion altogether. When Fairley was drafted, I even heard ramblings about him being nearly as good as Suh. Sorry, I will have to see that to believe it. He had one big year in college, the year after there was a mad rush of players leaving early to beat the rookie salary caps. So a player suddenly having a huge year against what in my opinion was some what watered down talent, is not going to be listed as a beast until he proves it in the NFL.
Yet, even if you think Fairley will be a beast when he stays healthy, it was still a mistake. The Lions had one of the top two or three defensive lines in the NFL before they drafted him. Adding him was adding depth, not making the unit a lot better. There was really good talent in other areas of need still available when they drafted. More precisely, at corner back. As much as the Lions needed to improve the CB spot, they chose to ignore it to draft a one year wonder to add depth to their strongest position.
This Thursday, on April 26th, the Detroit Lions will finally do what they should have done last year. Draft a Cornerback!
The one cornerback they could be drafting is one that will be adding controversy as well as a whole new slue of jokes. Janoris Jenkins. I can hear it now. "Mayhew gets draft advice from Fairley, LeShoure and Culbreath." or "Jenkins should feel right at home." But you know what? If he is available at the 23rd pick in the draft, the Lions will be making a mistake to pass him up.
Jenkins was listed in the same breath as Peterson (who was drafted 6th overall) before last years draft. He is the most talented corner back coming out in the draft this year, hands down!
I know. You have heard that he has had a heard of children with a handful of women. Magic Johnson claims to have slept with a hundred women and that didn't stop him from going down as one of the all time best players in history. As much as I am against the immorality of fathering children with different women, it makes no difference as to whether he will be a great player or not.
I know. He was caught with weed twice inside of three months and was kicked off the University of Florida Football team. If you look into it, you will also find out a few other facts. His father would not let him join the supplemental draft where he would have been an early pick. He gave him the choice of switching colleges, going the military, or driving a truck (which is what his father does). Oh yeah, for him to switch colleges, he would also have to do extensive community service.
Parents who make their kids face consequences for their actions usually do not raise trouble makers. Janoris did not fight with his father over the choices either. He accepted them. He did the community service and even grew to enjoy it. He did not get into any trouble in the following year and he played for a lower level school. His drug tests have come back clean. All of this is evidence of a young athlete who let stardom get to him and made some mistakes. He faced the consequences and all evidence shows he has been humbled and learned from his mistakes.
If Janoris Jenkins is there at #23 overall in Thursdays draft, and the Detroit Lions pass him up, it will be a big mistake. He will fit nearly every draft scheme. At that point, Jenkins will easily be the best talent left on the board, so the Lions will be allowed to draft BPA (Best Player Available), and he will also fill what is arguably the Lions biggest need as well.
If the Detroit Lions draft a Defensive End in the first round, they will continue to pile on to last years mistake. I dont expect this to happen. The Lions will take a Corner Back and that will possibly be Jenkins, and the mistake from the year before will be rectified.
4/6/12
Lions and the Marijuana Incidents
Fairley, Culbreath, LeShoure! They have all been busted with the drug in recent weeks. LeShoure was arrested twice within a month. One has to wonder, are the Detroit Lions even checking their Draft Picks out?
I have heard it all in recent days. Some fans are upset about the situation. Others blow it off and some even say they don't think its bad that the players smoke pot. Let me assure you. It is bad and it is a problem that needs to be dealt with!
Whether you smoke it or not. Whether you think the drug is bad or not or if it should be legalized or not... the fact is, it is against NFL policy and players are in fact suspended for it! For that reason and that reason alone, it is important for players to "Just say no!"
Personally, I believe it shows a lack of intelligence for NFL players to get busted with pot. Here you are, making millions of dollars playing a sport that millions of fans only wish they could play professionally for a quarter the pay, and you cant stay away from smoking pot? I don't care if you are addicted to cocaine, if you have millions riding the line, check yourself in for help! But to take a chance on throwing it all away because you cant stay away from a drug as minor as pot? That is plain ole stupidity at its finest!
The Lions need to start doing their own drug tests and coming down hard on those who fail. Last year the world saw how undisciplined the Lions were on the field. Now they are seeing how undisciplined they are off the field. Now, more than ever, the Detroit Lions need to start laying down the law and get this team disciplined both on and off the field. Until they get that figured out, they will never be more than a middle of the road team.
I have heard it all in recent days. Some fans are upset about the situation. Others blow it off and some even say they don't think its bad that the players smoke pot. Let me assure you. It is bad and it is a problem that needs to be dealt with!
Whether you smoke it or not. Whether you think the drug is bad or not or if it should be legalized or not... the fact is, it is against NFL policy and players are in fact suspended for it! For that reason and that reason alone, it is important for players to "Just say no!"
Personally, I believe it shows a lack of intelligence for NFL players to get busted with pot. Here you are, making millions of dollars playing a sport that millions of fans only wish they could play professionally for a quarter the pay, and you cant stay away from smoking pot? I don't care if you are addicted to cocaine, if you have millions riding the line, check yourself in for help! But to take a chance on throwing it all away because you cant stay away from a drug as minor as pot? That is plain ole stupidity at its finest!
The Lions need to start doing their own drug tests and coming down hard on those who fail. Last year the world saw how undisciplined the Lions were on the field. Now they are seeing how undisciplined they are off the field. Now, more than ever, the Detroit Lions need to start laying down the law and get this team disciplined both on and off the field. Until they get that figured out, they will never be more than a middle of the road team.
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