epheisey wrote:
That first statement. Opposing teams won't have to guard our "stacked" wide receiving corps, because their defense won't have to be on the field much. Our defense is going to struggle to get off the field. Yes our defense looked good last year, but they caused almost no turnovers.
You do know that when the other team scores a TD, our defense HAS to get off the field. If our secondary is as bad as you say, teams will be lighting us up.
Our offense was weak, but we brought in a legit #2 WR, which should have a domino effect, allowing our depth receivers line up against depth defenders. Our division was riddled with injuries to their starting QBs. Rodgers and Cutler were both out for extended periods. Do you expect our defense to stand up to those offenses, now that they actually have real threats at QB? We can't claim our defense is satisfactory when we consistently played teams that were hurting, and we can't rely on injuries to help us out.
its the NFL, you can't make predictions until 1 week out. Everybodies injured in the NFL.
Also we have CJ and Tate, what happens if 1 gets injured, then we are theoretically back in the same spot as last year. We needed to add another play maker to our offense. In ebron we did. Now what needs to happen is our QB to get them the ball.
Your debatin a losing argument. Was secondary a need? yes, was the value there? no.
As for Watkins and Evans, I'm not a Detroit beat writer. Unless Watkins fell to 10, I wanted nothing to do with either of them. But here's my argument. I don't think Ebron is a top 10 talent in this draft. I just don't think the TE position is deserving of a top 10 pick, ever. Look at the best tight ends in the league, and look where they were drafted. Outside of Vernon Davis who was a top 10 pick, Gates, Graham, Julius Thomas, Jordan Cameron, Jordan Reed, all very good NFL tight ends, and Reed was the earliest pick at 85th. The value of the position as a whole just doesn't warrant a top 10 pick. If any TE taken after Ebron, so much as smells better, he's a bust.
You keep referring to him as strictly a TE, yet he's not. What you think is your opinion, but fact of the matter is many teams (who are more credible)had him as a top 10-15 talent. AGAIN no one had any of those secondary players in their Top 15 other than Gilbert. You can't argue reaching in the first round, because there simply isn't a argument for it.
Also
1: So your arguing that we should draft TE with the 85th pick becuase another good TE was drafted in another draft at 85? makes absolutely 0 sense. Each Draft is different. You go by what your scouts tell you, what your analyst tell you and what the kids talent tells you.
2. If both TE's are successful and the other 6 aren't, does that even mean anything. All that matters is success.
Had the Lions traded down, acquired another selection, and still taken Ebron, I might be able to stomach that pick, but they didn't even let the opportunity come up. What team with a top 10 pick, makes their selection before the draft clock is close to expiring? The Lions pretty much ran to the podium when it was their turn to pick. Take the time, make the calls, and move back 3-7 spots with an additional pick.
The lions had a game plan and executed it, you don't understand that in terms of tiers, Ebron is on a different tier than all that was available. the lions were taking calls to trade down, if they pulled the trigger that early, obviously what was being offered wasn't anything of substance. Whats going on here is your fixated on the position drafted as oppose to the talent.. Again do some research.
Ratings/grades are all relative so I could take a few minutes, search a few draft sites, and find ones that rated Denard high enough, or Pryor high enough, or Fuller. My point is, I'd rather see them reach for need, than reach for a luxury.
You could, but they'd be in the minority. My problem with your arguments, is that its clear you have done 0 research. And again WR was most definitely a need. so your contradicting your self
Ebron, Stafford, Pettigrew, Best, Reiff, Cherilus, Calvin, Mike Williams, Roy Williams, Charles Rogers, Joey Harrington, Jeff Backus. Out of our past 14 drafts, we've taken 12 offensive players in the first round. And you named 3 of the 4 defensive players they took in the first in that same time period (Ernie Sims was the other). It's fairly clear where the Lions have focused their efforts in the draft, granted Millen was a doofus.
You stated
We have taken offense in the first round like 10 times in 10 years or something ridiculous like that. Clearly that formula hasn't worked. What we haven't done, is address the back seven of the defense in the draft.
All i'm saying is your statement if a over exaggeration. Also Mayhews picks are the only valid ones. What another GM has done, is really irrelevant
1a 2009 Matthew Stafford QB
1b 2009 Brandon Pettigrew TE
1a 2010 Ndamukong Suh DT
1b 2010 Jahvid Best+ RB
1 2011 Nick Fairley DE
1 2012 Riley Reiff OL
2 2009 Louis Delmas* S
2b 2011 Mikel Leshoure RB
2 2012 Ryan Broyles WR
3 2009 DeAndre Levy* LB
3 2010 Amari Spievey# S
3 2012 Bill Bentley CB
4 2009 Sammie Hill* DT
4 2010 Jason Fox# OL
4 2012 Ronnell Lewis DE
5 2012 Tahir Whitehead LB
5 2012 Chris Greenwood CB
6 2012 Jonte Green CB
7 2010 Willie Young# DE
7 2012 Travis Lewis LB
13 of 20 are defensive picks.
As for those CBs and S's not being elite talent, I agree, but the Lions are lacking talent period, in the secondary. Yea they've drafted a ton of CBs in Slay, Green, Bentley, and Greenwood. But let's be honest, Slay is the only one who might be a starter. Bentley is supposedly going to compete with the corner we drafted for the nickle corner spot. 3 years in and he's only improved enough to compete with a rookie for a 3rd corner slot? Picks after the 2nd round, don't address needs, they address depth, and none of our later round corners are worthy of starting for even the Lions.
Quin, Houston, Slay, Bentley,mathis, idehengo. We most definitely do have talent. Also they say it takes 3 years for a player to learn the most difficult position in the nfl and maybe all of sports. swanson going to compete, but nobody said he was going to win the competition. you make is sound as if its happened already and it hasn't. Inaccurate statement
Fauria caught 7 TDs in one season in the NFL. This "game changer" that we just drafted, the best receiving option on his college team, caught 3 TDs last season.
1.) college stats vs pro stats is a pointless argument , means nothing
2.) funny how you left out all the other stats, like yards, YAC, longest reception etc. if your going to make a argument you can't pick just 1 stat.
You can't put CJ, Tate, Pettigrew, Fauria, Ebron, and Bush on the field at the same time. Are you going to sit Tate, the guy with the best hands on the team? Are you going to sit Fauria, the best red zone threat aside from Calvin? Can't sit Pettigrew, or there's not even a threat to run the ball, same reason we won't be going empty backfield often, so Bush has to be in. And now we add in Ebron? Great! We can cycle players in and out, but this team is lacking quality talent at enough other positions, that it seems foolish that we're going to be sitting one of those 6, not to mention one of Bush/Bell in red zone situations.
This statement shows your lack of understanding, rather than get into it, just know, ppl who truly understand football see waht a mismatch putting ebron on this squad is.
The point of developing a player like Fauria is to improve his route running and other underdeveloped skills, therefore allowing him to make an impact in other areas of the game. So while I understand he is lacking in some areas, now, those areas will continue to be ignored, and he is locked into being a one dimensional player. Chances of us ever finding out if he could have developed into more than just a red zone option are slim to none now, and even if he does, it won't be here, because we have too much money invested into another TE who fills that role.
If Fauria isn't ready to win a super bowl now, then he doesn't belong on this team, this team is ready to contend now, and we don't have the time to wait for fauria to develop. Also when CJ finally puts cleets up, Fauria will never be the play maker to replace him, Ebon has that skill level and play making ability to do so. This pick does not only help us contend today but also have a impact player when CJ retires.
As for the rookie DE, he's headed for the practice squad. I doubt he sees the field this season. Seems like he's been associated with more positions than we drafted. TE, DE, OLB...he's so undeveloped, there's slim chance he's allowed to play impact downs at all.
okay, i'll listen to our GM , who indirectly has said Van noy will be starting. Again do some research
The Saints didn't win a Super Bowl with Jimmy Graham. So while I'm excited to see a form of the Saints offense installed here, that's not going to be what wins us games. They won a Super Bowl with a defense that forced a ton of turnovers, something our defense can't do, and didn't make any improvements to change that in the offseason.
Also, if Lombardi is such an offensive guru, why does he need so many weapons? The reason we changed coaching staffs was to bring in fresh ideas, make the players we HAD better. If our offense isn't putting up 30-40 pts a game, between Caldwell and Lombardi coming in to work with Stafford, adding Tate and Ebron, another year for our O-line to improve....then I'll be sitting here laughing my a** off at the same old lions.
Had the Lions simply not re-signed Pettigrew, I would be saying none of this. I personally like Pettigrew. I think he suffers from the wrath of rabid Lions fans searching for a scapegoat. But if they had simply let him walk, and then drafted Ebron, filling what would have then been a position of need, I'd be fine.
all these arguments are absolutely awful, and not well thought out. No correlation, and reaching a ton. GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, EBRON IS A WR AND TE!
