By Mr. Thursday Night
With the 1st pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions select............
Coming off an embarassing 0-16 season, the Lions obviously have numerous holes to fill in the upcoming draft. The lone bright spot of the 2008 season was somehow landing a second 1st round pick for WR Roy Williams in a trade with Dallas.
In 2008, the Lions traded down and selected OT Gosder Cherilus of Boston College. Cherilus looks to be a solid pro for the next 10 years. In the 2nd round the Lions reached and took Colorado LB Jordon Dizon who will be out of the NFL within 4 years. In the 3rd round the Lions may have landed their RB of the future in Kevin Smith. Smith had a nice rookie year running behind a subpar offensive line.
The primary needs the Lions will address at #1 is either QB, LB or OT. Cherilus is a RT so Baylor LT Jason Smith would make sense. If the Lions go with a LB, it'll be Aaron Curry from Wake Forest. A LB core of Curry, Ernie Sims and newly acquired Julian Peterson would be a great start in improving a horrendous defense. In the end though I expect the Lions to go with Georgia QB Matthew Stafford. While Stafford is far from a sure thing like Peyton Manning was, the Lions need to find their signal caller of the future and other than Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford, the 2010 draft looks weak at QB. If Detroit does indeed take Stafford, look for them to grab the best avaliable LT with their 2nd first round pick (#20 overall).
This concludes HC&P's NFL draft preview. A special thanks to Dr. Donovan for composing the vast majority of these terrific write-ups. Enjoy the draft!
I love the fact that the Lions are making these prospects bid for the right to be #1. They are essentially saying whoever we can get at the best price/value at #1 we will draft. We can already tell that Matt Millen is out the door. The Lions are 2 for 2 so far.
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