Dodging A Bear

A very good morning/afternoon/evening to my fellow Lions fans,

Since Tom ‘Killer’ Kowalski is MIA, I will have to fill his shoes in the interim until he resurfaces. There has been very scant news from MLive and other sources which befuddles me because we are three weeks away from the March Madness of the NFL, the draft. There have been no free-agent signings, potential draftee visits or any other major announcements. So maybe Tom Kowalski is on vacation and will return soon.

There hasn’t been much attention give to the Lions as of late since most sports coverage have been on the Red Wings, Pistons, Pre-Season Tigers and of course our Michigan State Spartans in the Final Four!

Thanks to two of the bestest Chiefs of Staff in the Michigan State Senate alerting me to the Jay Cutler trade that went down on Thursday late afternoon, I will give my input on this breaking news trade. The Denver Broncos have traded QB Jay Cutler and their 5th round pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for QB Kyle Orton, their 1st and 3rd round draft picks in this years draft and their 1st round pick in next years draft. Wow, that price tag is extremely high and there wasn’t a chance the Lions could or would match that.

Here are a couple of articles from the Detroit Free Press Online and MLive about the Jay Cutler trade.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090402/SPORTS01/90402116/1049/Jay+Cutler+traded+to+Bears

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/broncos_deal_jay_cutler_to_the.html

The Lions could have matched that deal but it would have been a colossal gamble to give that many picks plus a player in exchange for a late round and a whiny QB. I wish he hadn’t had been traded to the Bears since they are a division foe. We now have to face him twice a season for the foreseeable future. So we will have our work cut out for us on Sundays when we face the Bears. That is the bad news but the good news is the Lions dodged that roll of the dice. Like the rest of you we can only hope that after years of taking beatings from Brett Favre and the Packers that Jay Cutler and the Bears aren’t following in that tradition.

I could not imagine a worse scenario if the Lions traded under those conditions. That would have been totally contradictory to the Lions front office philosophy of building this team through the draft, not free agency or trading draft picks away. The situation with the Bears is their OL is not the greatest although they signed OT Orlando Pace which will bolster their OL. However, they do not have a solid core of WRs, their DL is rebuilding and with surrendering draft picks they won’t have much depth. The Broncos will be able to stack their team with good players and add depth. The Bears got the worst of this deal. I am so thankful to God that the Lions didn’t take this bait.

I can only imagine Matthew Stafford jumping and screaming with excitement over this trade announcement. He wants to be a Lion. Even if he wasn’t a potential number one I sincerely believe he is hoping beyond hope that the Lions acquire him. He believes it is his destiny to lead the Lions. To me that is very hard to argue against. A lot of players are shunning the Lions because of our dismal past but he welcomes it.

Here is a scenario where I can see Stafford wearing Honolulu Blue on Sundays. Say the Lions draft Jason Smith the OT from Baylor with the number one overall. Stafford will in all probability be gone by the time we get to our 20th. Damn you Cowboys for not having a crummier season! Say the 49’s or another team drafts him, the Lions could make a trade on draft day to them and give them our 20th and hopefully we can bait them with one our 6th rounders but most likely it will be one of our 3rd rounders. I know some you might say “then why don’t we just draft him number one overall and be done with it?” The reason is Jason Smith is WAY too good to pass up and WILL BE gone within the first few draft picks. He will give the Lions immediate pay-off value for at least ten years.

If the Lions do draft Matthew Stafford number one overall I am OK with it. We do need to get over the fear of him being a potential bust like Joey Harrington. I believe he is a solid QB that we will get value out of. I will eat my hat if he is a bust but I am going to go out on a limb here and say he will be good for our team. I just might even pre-order a Stafford jersey. Hell I used to have a Joey Harrington and a special thanks to my brother Kevyn for taking that one off my hands.

Other than that there is nothing else to report on as far as the new logo, schedule, and draft scenarios other than my tid bits that I just gave you all. I would like to share Kenny’s version of the NFL if I controlled the NFL world, which like I sometimes say ‘it can happen, it can happen’.

NFC

EAST
A. New York Giants
B. Philadelphia Eagles
C. Washington Statesmen

WEST
A. Seattle Seahawks
B. Arizona Cardinals
C. San Francisco 49’s

NORTH
A. Detroit Lions
B. Minnesota Vikings
C. Chicago Bears

SOUTH
A. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
B. Dallas Cowboys
C. New Orleans Saints

CENTRAL
A. Cincinnati Bengals
B. St. Louis Rams
C. Green Bay Packers

ATLANTIC
A. San Antonio Scorpions
B. Atlanta Falcons
C. Carolina Panthers

AFC

EAST
A. New England Patriots
B. Buffalo Bills
C. New York Jets

WEST
A. Denver Broncos
B. Oakland Raiders
C. San Diego Chargers

NORTH
A. Baltimore Ravens
B. Pittsburgh Steelers
C. Cleveland Browns

SOUTH
A. Richmond Rebels
B. Jacksonville Jaguars
C. Miami Dolphins

CENTRAL
A. Houston Texans
B. Tennessee Titans
C. Indianapolis Colts

PACIFIC
A. Portland Rhinos
B. Los Angeles Lynx
C. Kansas City Chiefs

As Porky Pig would say 'That's All Folks'. From what the players are saying, there is a new attitude and culture forming and our team will be far better come September. Until then take care, God Bless and GO LIONS!