2012 Draft Discussion
 

2012 … looking ahead at the landscape of talent in college football & matching that up with our beloved Detroit Lions “needs”, it looks pretty solid.

Needs (not really in order): LT, CB, LB G/C, S

• My 1a strategy for Detroit would LT. This is finally the year to silence all the Backus haters and get the LT they have coveted. I was a fan of Indy’s strategy this draft of going back to back offensive lineman in the first 2 rounds. Jax & NY Jets have also been successful at building in the trenches with this strategy in recent drafts. Inevitably the end is near for Lion’s steadfast LT Backus & C Railoa. It was an up & down decade for them, but Stafford will be in need of some youth to be served up front. Some players I like early: Kalil USC, Martin Stanford, Reiff Iowa (Brewster C OSU in 2nd?)

• My 1b option would be CB. OK so I have to admit, I have peaked at some 2012 mocks already. (I know, it’s a sickness?!) :o) But looking at the positional depth, it looks to me that there could be as many as 6 CB’s taken in the top 20! Who knows where Detroit picks … we are 1 injury away to Stafford from eyeing Matt Barkley, right? Assuming Stafford has shaken his injury bug though, let’s look to FINALLY draft a CB early in the draft with what several "experts" have as a popular slot for Detroit, being pick #20. Some players I like early: Kirkpatrick Bama, Dennard Nebraska, Harris Oregon

• My 3rd option would be LB. Bottom line they need a tackler beside Levy. Follett, Palmer, Carpenter, Hogue can be solid back-up/roll players but if they added a high impact guy like any of the 3 I listed it would instantly improve that D. Some players I like early: Burflict ASU, Upshaw Bama, & Te’o ND

Your thoughts??

I will let you know after the combine. All joking aside, I really like the corner from Oregon, Harris. He is a playmaker.

I think we should keep an eye on Jayron Hosley who is a corner from VT. He had 9 ints his sophomore season. I can only imagine how many he would get when he has the Lions d-line putting pressure on the QB. But my first choice would probably be an o-lineman since our line isn't getting any younger and I would like to have a replacement in place for Jeff Backus just in case if his performance suddenly drops off.

Cliff Harris is interesting, but he's really reallllllllly small. Oregon's site lists him at 165 pounds. That's crazy.

But he's fast and it looks like he has a crazy vertical (24 seconds in this video)

The Lions need to draft Vontaze Burfict. Just looking at the early names that are popping up I think the OT and LB class is a lot stronger than 2011. Teo would be a nice consolation prize if they can't get Burfict. I also like the guard out of Stanford - Decastro.

Welp since we dont draft needs we'll probably end up drafting a really talented Quarterback or a Cant Miss WR prospect.

Yes. I'm sure that will happen.

If we did draft Burfict (which I would love btw) no team in their right mind would want to run through the middle, unless they want their RB to be torn to pieces by Suh, Fairley, and Burfict.

I think it is a reasonable expectation that we may be drafting in the 20's, certainly no earlier than the late teens. So we can forget about the top guys in the draft, those days are over, at least I hope so.
We aren't going to get a top guy and need to keep it realistic.

As a side note, I saw on NFLN today, a review of our top 3 picks and it wasn't pretty.
We are all aware of the character issues about Fairley but it turns out that Young and Leshoure had character concerns as well. Young apparently has some Terrell Owens in him and Leshoure flunked a drug test while at Illinois, only once out of many mind you, as they watched him closely after the 1st failure.

CB all the way next year. There should be 3-5 legit 1st round guys. We should be able to nab one. I like a couple of the guards too, but I don't want to blow a 1st rounder on a guard unless he changes the game in some substantial way. I wouldn't mind trading up to the top of the 2nd to grab Brewster from Ohio State to man our pivot. Well, if he lasts that long.

If I had to map out what I wanted vs depth of the projected draft...1st round is still BPA(except WR, RB, QB, or DT), then 2 of the next 3 picks have to be offensive line. This is a deep oline class across the board and we need to take advantage.

Burfict would be the shiznit.

No use even talking about what we should do in next year's draft till FA is finished. Obviously, our priorities will significantly change if say, we sign 2 decent CB's, etc.

Yeah not just this years FA either. 2012 FA will probably be before the 2012draft. So 2 FAs to fill 2 OLBs(1 OLB if a miracle by Palmer/Carpenter),CB1(which I would rather draft or trade for a good one),possibly CB2(depending on Houston play and contract/Smith/Berrys play in 2011), future Left Tackle(this is Backus last stand but he may move to Right) and future Center/RG/RT(maybe not RG/RT if Peterman returns to 2009 form and Gosders gets healthy from a microfracture).

Right now its wide open BPA except for TE/DT/WR. I hope QB is on that list but Stafford has to show he can take a hit in year 3. If he can't the Lions FO have a really tough decision which I hope we never have to make.

For sure CB looks like the position to address next year. So many good prospects. Dre Kirkpatrick, Jayron Hosley, Cliff Harris, Stephon Gilmore, Chase Minnifield, and Janoris Jenkins. Hopefully we can get one of them at pick 32. :P

I wouldnt be opposed to going oline back to back this year.

There is still FA to go thru (if we ever get a cba done) and that could change needs as well but i'd say the obvious 3 needs are oline, cb, LB

After watching 4 games I think is pretty obvious our needs: Oline and Secondary.

Assuming we are able to bring back Wright and Tulloch I think we need to address the Oline big time. Our offense has the makings to be downright dominant. Not that it isn't right now, but there's still a way for teams to beat us and thats with pressure. I would love to see Mayhew fix these holes now and let this offense reach its full potential.

I agree, we will probably be picking towards the end of the first round so we could get someone like David DeCastro from Stanford and he could possibly replace Peterman. Its hard to say what OT we should draft since most of the ones who are 1st round worthy would have been already picked up. Luckily this year the CB position is LOADED in this draft. Personally I would like to take Cliff Harris, Jayron Hosley, or possibly Janoris Jenkins assuming he has cleaned up his act. The only other position I would think about drafting at would be MLB, but that is ONLY if Vontaze Burfict falls to us, which is very unlikely.

2 game losing streak, so its time for some Draft talk! Our biggest need is obviously offensive line. But I figured I'd borrow from thenetrat.com and put a basic roster and contract status up here for reference. The site is missing Keiland Williams, so the info may be a few months behind the times.

Guys under contract for 2012
Name-year contract ends
QB
Stafford-2014
Hill-2013

HB
Best-2014
LeShoure-2014
Williams-2012? It wasn't on site, but we picked him up off waivers.

WR
Megatron-2012
Burleson-2014
Young-2014

TE
Pettigrew-2013
Scheffler-2013
Heller-2012

Oline
Sims-2014
Raiola-2013
Peterman-2013
Cherilus-2012
Fox-2012
Gandy-2012
Culbreath-2014

Dline
Suh-2014
Williams-2012
Fairly-2014
KVB-2013
Young-2012
Jackson-2012

Lber
Durant-2012
Hogue-2014

DB
Delmas-2012
Spievey-2012
Wendling-2013
Houston-2012
Berry-2012
Smith-2012

K/P/LS
Hanson-2012
Donahue-2013

Key Losses-2011 Contract Salary Hit
Rashied Davis-1.18M
Maurice Stovall-685k
Jeff Backus-6.723M
Cliff Avril-2.611M
Sammie Hill-645k
Stephen Tulloch-3.25M
DeAndre Levy-729k
Bobby Carpenter-525K
Ashlee Palmer-525K
Vincent Fuller-??? waiver pickup
Eric Wright-3.5M
Don Mulbach-LS 915K

People to Resign
I'm on the fence with Tulloch and Wright. I don't know about resigning 4 lbers, but Carpenter and Palmer are cheap and if we focus on oline and secondary, then we can't afford to lose much here. Backus can be back for a discount, but we'd have to see how much.

Biggest Needs-LT, CB, C, G

Mock Draft
1) Alfonzo Dennard CB Nebraska
2) Mike Adams OT Ohio State
3) Ben Jones C Georgia

Claiborne and Kirkpatrick push Dennard down to us. Mike Adams has the tools, but had suspensions and injuries at Ohio State. Ben Jones is too good of value to pass on in the 3rd. 6-3 315lbs and looks good against SEC dlinemen? Good deal. One thing to look out for is the potential 2013 class of OTs. There are probably 5-8 quality tackles in the next draft. If Adams is a bust then he can slide over the the right side or still provide cheap depth and we'll grab another quality guy next year. Lots of good Sophomores out there at tackle in the SEC.

I guess that I should add my OT rankings to clear up why this site has Mike Adams in 1st round vs me personally having him in the late 2nd.

1a. Kalil
1b. Martin
3. Reiff
4. Sanders
5. Adcock

Mike Adams- Injuries, Suspensions, inconsistent play of Ohio State's oline will raise too many questions for 1st Round. Throw in some talented guards, maybe Fluker declaring, or some surprises and he's late 2nd/3rd.

Prowler I really like the way you think! Alfonzo Dennard & Ben Jones are 2 players I have had my eye on all season for Detroit. I think Adams is going to get a flyer by someone in the late 1st/early 2nd (imo) ... so "if" he was there in the mid to late 2nd for Detroit's pick that would be okay by me.

I've been hoping that Tampa Bay gets off their serious love crush for Dennard. The good news is that I've seen Stephon Gilmore and Travis Lewis drop to third round, so there is some serious depth at corner and linebacker this year. Throw in Datko, Adcock, Potter, and Wagner in 3rd round and there's decent oline depth as well. I'm actually cool with BPA this year too, provided its not QB or DT. Burfict, Konz, DeCastro, Glenn, Zach Brown, Jenkins, Minnifield, Te'o, Hightower, Melvin Ingram, Mike Adams, Kevin Reddick, Brewster, Zebrie Sanders, Mark Barron, Cam Johnson, etc. There are so many names in the 1st-2nd rounds that I prefer trading down in most instances.

Another way of predicting our 1st round pick may be determining who is most likely to fall to us. We have some serious draft talent mojo working for us right now. Fairley, Suh, and Stafford were all #1 prospects on draft boards at the end or at some point in the draft process. We can call this the Mayhew effect. Top talent finds a way to be on our team in the first round. I'm trying to think of other players who would qualify and might drop to us. Michael Floyd? Trent Richardson? Burfict? Janoris Jenkins? Alshon Jeffery? Burfict and Jenkins were never really at the top of the board, but can make a positional claim. Maybe Jonathan Martin takes an Oher tumble? Will fate tempt Mayhew twice?

I have a feeling that Burfict could possibly drop to us since teams might be afraid of picking him due to his overly aggressive attitude which can cause him to commit stupid penalties sometimes. He would be the only guy outside of a O-lineman or CB that I would pick.

I think Adams has moved way past where we will draft and only a RT type, Zebrie Sanders, Florida St or Levy Adcock, Oklahoma St. will be there when we pick. Dennard might well be in our range but I'm not so sure CB is that great of a need. Kevin Reddick is a sound LB who can play all 3 downs. Dwight Jones, WR for North Carolina might open things up for Johnson and make our passing threat that much more dangerous. Finally, Lamar Miller, LaMichael James or Chris Polk all RB's might give us a running attack that can stay healthy for a season.
As you can all see, the big names are gone from the discussion and we must choose between lessor known talent. A new experience for us all that comes from winning.

I agree about the tackles being out of reach. I'm starting to think that Mercilus from Illinois might be a good value play. I can't believe that a player with his production 52 tackles, 19.5 for loss, 14.5 sacks, 9 forced fumbles at 6'4" 265 would be there at our pick. He should rise during the combine, but for now he's got my vote.