Around the League

[ajaX82]

Did they mail themselves? That's the sign of a desperate team fo sho.

I meant to say 31 teams, but who knows, maybe they emailed themselves

[TSE]

Yeah a group email account for all teams. That way they by default they have a reminder in their inbox for the morning in case they forgot what they were doing. SF is just being responsible with their personal calendar mngmt as they try this football thing.

[Icness]

Jets released Cotchery, who could fit here as the #4 wideout if he's got anything left.

SF is desperately trying to deal Taylor Mays to save the embarrassment of cutting their 2010 second round pick. Body like Tarzan, play like Jane if Jane had a lobotomy. I've never seen a more clueless DB in coverage and that is not hyperbole.

Just read an article about how the Niners sent a mass email to all 32 teams letting them know Mays was available. How subtle and insulting. Did you happen to get the email Ice? And how cheap could you get him now?

I didn't get it but I've seen it since.

I'm guessing they don't want to actually cut him, so they'll hold out for a 5th-6th rounder and hope he shows any sembleance of being an NFL talent for another year if they can't get it. Good luck with that.

Love their pickup of Donte Whitner too. IMO if they still had Shaun Hill as their QB and not Alex Smith, they'd win the NFC West. But they don't, and they won't.

[TSE]

Oh we are trading Shaun Hill. I know Mayhew thinks he won't now, but he will. Or he'll trade somebody else equally exciting, but I think fate is gearing up to push Mayhew to make a wild decision. I think today is a good day for a big NFL headline, make it happen Mayhew!

[TSE]

Not even into the preseason and guys are already getting hurt. The DT Edwards from Carolina that they signed for millions of dollars last week is looking like he might be out for the season, and now SS Adrian Wilson from ARZ has a muscle tear that could end his season. This is where I would like to deal and expendable guy like Erik Coleman, get equal value for him to help another spot, and then that frees up a spot to then get value for having Taylor Mays for free. If we couldn't displace Coleman's value elsewhere, then Mays wouldn't add value to us as his value can't count towards the safety pool that way.

So maybe we use Coleman to fill ARZ's SS spot, CW to fill CAR's DT spot, and in exchange for helping them we get to include say KVB in a deal, and now we can combine all 3 values of guys that we don't absolutely have to have for the long-term, and use that entire package to get something really sweet. Plus we would be shedding 3 guys on the team that are all over the average age and pay rate, nice financial savings to transition off of, and a way to make our offseason needs list of the next few offseasons even more precise and finely tuned, which leaves us less chance to lose future value on not prioritizing positions correctly, as that is always a built-in inherent risk factor. Our team would be insured against that risk category, and we could clean up our future draft assortments to a much more dangerous configuration, which would also allow us to eliminate other types of risk categories that are built-in into the system.

[cochiseuofm]

Sounds like Leshoure got carted out of practice today...this draft class is sure turning out great so far...

[ajaX82]

Sounds like Leshoure got carted out of practice today...this draft class is sure turning out great so far...

torn Achilles. out for the season.

wow

[TSE]

Dang we spent a 1st round pick on him too. Too bad Mayhew didn't go with my idea to simply have Legarrette Blount, and at a cheaper pay rate. Still think that was the no-brainer decision, and this pick would have been saved and spent on OL so we would have our TOUGH RB along with other upgrades. Also, the Tigers extended their GM for 4 years and Leyland for another year. This is a tough day for Detroit sports. YIKES!

[cochiseuofm]

Dang we spent a 1st round pick on him too. Too bad Mayhew didn't go with my idea to simply have Legarrette Blount, and at a cheaper pay rate. Still think that was the no-brainer decision, and this pick would have been saved and spent on OL so we would have our TOUGH RB along with other upgrades. Also, the Tigers extended their GM for 4 years and Leyland for another year. This is a tough day for Detroit sports. YIKES!

No...we didn't. Jahvid Best was a first-rounder. Leshoure was a 2nd round pick that we got by trading our 3rd and 4th round picks away to Seattle. It sucks either way anyways...but you can't really predict freak injuries occuring. Just bad luck with these rookies so far.

[ajaX82]

Dang we spent a 1st round pick on him too. Too bad Mayhew didn't go with my idea to simply have Legarrette Blount, and at a cheaper pay rate. Still think that was the no-brainer decision, and this pick would have been saved and spent on OL so we would have our TOUGH RB along with other upgrades. Also, the Tigers extended their GM for 4 years and Leyland for another year. This is a tough day for Detroit sports. YIKES!

No...we didn't. Jahvid Best was a first-rounder. Leshoure was a 2nd round pick that we got by trading our 3rd and 4th round picks away to Seattle. It sucks either way anyways...but you can't really predict freak injuries occuring. Just bad luck with these rookies so far.

Exactly. This really, really sucks, but how can you know he is going to tear an achilles?

Bad day

[TSE]

Dang we spent a 1st round pick on him too. Too bad Mayhew didn't go with my idea to simply have Legarrette Blount, and at a cheaper pay rate. Still think that was the no-brainer decision, and this pick would have been saved and spent on OL so we would have our TOUGH RB along with other upgrades. Also, the Tigers extended their GM for 4 years and Leyland for another year. This is a tough day for Detroit sports. YIKES!

No...we didn't. Jahvid Best was a first-rounder.

Duh, my bad. Well a first round projection (not my rating I didn't scout this player, just going by what the consensus experts seemed to be saying) more accurately lol

[TSE]

Dang we spent a 1st round pick on him too. Too bad Mayhew didn't go with my idea to simply have Legarrette Blount, and at a cheaper pay rate. Still think that was the no-brainer decision, and this pick would have been saved and spent on OL so we would have our TOUGH RB along with other upgrades. Also, the Tigers extended their GM for 4 years and Leyland for another year. This is a tough day for Detroit sports. YIKES!

No...we didn't. Jahvid Best was a first-rounder. Leshoure was a 2nd round pick that we got by trading our 3rd and 4th round picks away to Seattle. It sucks either way anyways...but you can't really predict freak injuries occuring. Just bad luck with these rookies so far.

Exactly. This really, really sucks, but how can you know he is going to tear an achilles?

Bad day

Well the quality of research on the medical side could offer clues. Also the player's character and commitment etc. Guys who love football and are passionate are more likely to train and prepare their bodies etc. There are TONS of things that Lions officials could have found out about him that would have given them clues as to what his risk factor for injuries and other matters. Nobody knows the future, but a good GM can make smarter choices and be more likely to not pick a future bust if he does his homework. We couldn't see all the homework that the Lions did on Leshoure, so there's no way for us to know if we did our diligence or failed at something. It is interesting how so many experts touted him as a 1st rounder, or even the best RB in the draft, yet he slipped.

Maybe some of those teams uncovered some warning flags that we didn't see? Or maybe Mikel got hurt doing something stupid outside of the football and is pretending that he got hurt here. Maybe he had this problem and figured a way to fake it through pain and drugs or what not. Who knows. But a few players have gone down awfully quick after signing. Could they all be accidents that happened as they say? We will never know.

[Icness]

That's two of the first three draft picks from this draft that will probably never suit up for the Lions. Horrible news. Rains on my season preview where I kinda gushed about Leshoure too; he was my #1 RB in the last draft.

The Texans have a logjam at RB so they could be willing to part with some talent for low cost.

[TSE]

I'd rather trade for Blount. And I'm offering nothing, cause in my mind he was destined to be a Lion, and reality as we know it has robbed us of that. Stafford should never have existed in Detroit, Blount should be a Lion, and now we are living in some kind of warped fantasy world that has nothing to do with the path nature intended. This path sucks.

[ajaX82]

Well the quality of research on the medical side could offer clues. Also the player's character and commitment etc. Guys who love football and are passionate are more likely to train and prepare their bodies etc. There are TONS of things that Lions officials could have found out about him that would have given them clues as to what his risk factor for injuries and other matters. Nobody knows the future, but a good GM can make smarter choices and be more likely to not pick a future bust if he does his homework. We couldn't see all the homework that the Lions did on Leshoure, so there's no way for us to know if we did our diligence or failed at something. It is interesting how so many experts touted him as a 1st rounder, or even the best RB in the draft, yet he slipped.

Maybe some of those teams uncovered some warning flags that we didn't see? Or maybe Mikel got hurt doing something stupid outside of the football and is pretending that he got hurt here. Maybe he had this problem and figured a way to fake it through pain and drugs or what not. Who knows. But a few players have gone down awfully quick after signing. Could they all be accidents that happened as they say? We will never know.

LeShore should have totally done Achilles strength training. Good call.

[ajaX82]

That's two of the first three draft picks from this draft that will probably never suit up for the Lions. Horrible news. Rains on my season preview where I kinda gushed about Leshoure too; he was my #1 RB in the last draft.

The Texans have a logjam at RB so they could be willing to part with some talent for low cost.

Well hey there Debbie Downer. You don't think Fairley or LeShore is ever going to see the field? Come now Jeff....

[TSE]

LeShore should have totally done Achilles strength training. Good call.

Huh? And sure why not, wouldn't you if you were drafted in the NFL? The stronger you are, the more likely you are to succeed. Besides, my comments have nothing to do with what Leshoure shoudl have done, it was speculation that maybe our team could have figured out that he wasn't doing what he should have done, or had other concerns that explained why he dropped so far. I also take offense to you saying I made a good call, when it is clearly an astute point of view. You gave me an unfair rating, although that was probably because of your sarcasm inspired response that foolishly doesn't even fit within the context of my post. Bad rebuttal.

[cochiseuofm]

There are ways to workout to try and help prevent ACL tears, but that doesn't necessarilly mean doing them will 100% guarentee that the athlete won't get injured. And TSE, you have no idea what kind of conditioning LeShoure was in or even what caused the injury. Many times ACL tears are just freak injuries. I don't know what happened exactly, but this is just a bad situation.

And if we're talking about not drafting players because they dropped in the draft, well Nick Fairley dropped to us at 13 and he too is injured now. But I seem to remember you being very enthusiastic about that pick and calling his injury bad luck. What's different here outside of you like Fairley and not LeShoure?

[Icness]

That's two of the first three draft picks from this draft that will probably never suit up for the Lions. Horrible news. Rains on my season preview where I kinda gushed about Leshoure too; he was my #1 RB in the last draft.

The Texans have a logjam at RB so they could be willing to part with some talent for low cost.

Well hey there Debbie Downer. You don't think Fairley or LeShore is ever going to see the field? Come now Jeff....

Leshoure can come back but history shows the Achilles injury takes a full year and the player clearly loses initial burst. The repair actually makes the heel stronger but it takes away flexibility to torque from a solid plant.

I stand by my earlier statement that Fairley will come off PUP, get hurt right away, and go on IR. Then he will show up fat next summer and go thru the same crap again. I'll treat the current board regulars to a Lions preseason game in 2013 if Fairley plays more than 6 games in the next two years.

[TSE]

There are ways to workout to try and help prevent ACL tears, but that doesn't necessarilly mean doing them will 100% guarentee that the athlete won't get injured. And TSE, you have no idea what kind of conditioning LeShoure was in or even what caused the injury. Many times ACL tears are just freak injuries. I don't know what happened exactly, but this is just a bad situation.

And if we're talking about not drafting players because they dropped in the draft, well Nick Fairley dropped to us at 13 and he too is injured now. But I seem to remember you being very enthusiastic about that pick and calling his injury bad luck. What's different here outside of you like Fairley and not LeShoure?

You meant to say Ajax, that was his theory and I just followed up on HIS hypothetical insinuation that Leshoure didn't do his part. If you read my post, I clearly showed that it's a no-brainer to do that, and I never took a position on thinking he did or did not do his part; I merely speculated about the possibility.

For Fairley, well he was a tremendous BPA value and in a position of strategic need, which means we could make great use of a DT, as that fits within my desire to trade away the old DL players in CW and KVB, so Fairley was a monstrous positional/BPA value. Leshoure is a RB, and my philosophy is that you have to focus on your other needs first and get those key starters and long-term fixtures in place for your foundation before you start filling up the tank with gas. Gas makes a car run, but you don't need it as much until after the car is complete. Would you fill up a gas tank in your car halfway through the assembly process? This is a weak analogy maybe, but the concept has some similarities to how I manage the IN/OUT cycling of the RB position. I had Bowers pegged for that pick, who was another MONSTER value, because again, that's DL, and I want to part with KVB and so getting a critical DE for the future would be a far greater interest than a 2nd RB. My way of filling needs allows us to get more quality players for less cost, and then when we do get a RB, we can end up with a much better option as we have a lot left in the bank to spend on an RB when the time is appropriate, and we may save still there when we look and see a freebie guy like Legarrette Blount who has no GD business being on any other team other than mine. So if you are then happy with your RBs at the end, which we could have 3 cheap stolen RBs by the time I fill out my other needs, then you can just keep stockpiling value for depth elsewhere. Options galore at that point, and ultimately an essentially unbeatable team every Sunday, for potentially a decade or two, or more!

That's why the Leshoure pick is treated differently, because we didn't manage our roster with follow-up moves this offseason to make that pick strategically compatible for maximum efficiency. I'm now very disappointed with where this team is personnel-wise yet again. I'm not going to complain about it too much though cause Mayhew still has several weeks until the season starts and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he will reshape this team prior to that start to give us a logical foundation as we approach both the current season and the long-term. We need corresponding moves that maximizes the health of both of those sets in the proper mix.