The Glass Is Half-Full & Half-Empty!

A very good day to the finest fans in all of football, the Detroit Lions fans. Well the draft has come and gone. I know some of you are unhappy with the direction they took and the mantra of building from the inside out, took sort of a back-burner. It wasn’t the direction I probably would have taken. I support the decision to take QB Matthew Stafford with the number one overall pick though. When QB Jon Kitna was traded to Dallas and Jim Schwartz was named Head Coach it was a given we were taking a QB in this draft.

Here are a couple of articles from Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press about his view of the Lions draft strategies. He does not give a very good assessment. To each his own but I do see his viewpoints and if I had been calling the shots I would have made a few of his suggestions.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_ignoring_of_defense_on_d.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/secondday_reaches_cap_strange.html

Here is a rather disturbing scenario for the first day of the draft what if WR Jeremy Maclin was sitting there at pick 20 and the Eagles who selected him passed on him instead? I can guarantee the Lions would have drafted him with their 20th pick. The second part of a jaw-dropping day one draft would have been if the Cardinals hadn’t selected RB Chris Beanie Wells with their pick the Lions would have taken him at the top of the second round with the first pick. Now that would have been a really tough pill to swallow. You ignore DL and OL positions completely and take THREE offensive weapons. I could make the rationalization that with so much offense the Lions could sustain offensive drives keeping our defense off the field and truly stick it down other team’s defensive throats. So we were lucky in this draft that we got a QB, TE and a Safety because it very well could have been QB, WR and RB.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_mightve_taken_beanie_wel.html

Well here we go with some links on some thoughts from Tom Killer Kowalski. http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_staffords_contract_wit.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_stafford_must_win_over.html

This one has Tom Kowalski’s analysis on the first three picks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/player_bios_more_on_the_lions.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_focus_on_offense_with_fi.html

Here are two chat blogs one with Tom Kowalski and the other with Philip Zaroo, really long reads with people asking questions and worth it if you have time to scan through. I actually had one of my comments posted in the chat blog for day 2 with Philip Zaroo which was made shortly after the Sammie Lee Hill pick.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/live_blog_nfl_draft_day_1.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/live_blog_nfl_draft_day_2.html

Here are some tidbits, highlights, positives and audio interviews on each of the ten players the Lions selected in the draft.

1. QB Matthew Stafford Georgia Jr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=136155
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/matthew-stafford?id=79860
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_matthew_stafford_agree_t.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_qb_matthew_stafford_i_wa.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_stafford_i_really_didn.html

2. TE Brandon Pettigrew Oklahoma State Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=114052
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/brandon-pettigrew?id=71431
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/brandon_pettigrew_detroit_lion.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/detroit_lions_take_oklahoma_st.html

3. S Louis Delmas Western Michigan University Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=126286
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/louis-delmas?id=71279
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/western_michigan_safety_louis.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/louis_delmas_theres_no_such_th.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_say_size_isnt_an_issue_w.html
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/louis_delmas_to_lions_im_ready.html
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/the_best_of_louis_delmas.html

4. LB DeAndre Levy Wisconsin Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=132285
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/deandre-levy?id=71365
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/detroit_lions_grab_wisconsin_l.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/deandre_levy_said_lions_talked.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_will_try_deandre_levy_at.html

5. WR Derrick Williams Penn State Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=124921
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/derrick-williams?id=71517
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_draft_wide_receiver_derr.html

6. DT Sammie Lee Hill Stillman College Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=123732
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/sammie%20lee-hill?id=79571
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_use_fourthround_selectio.html

7. RB Aaron Brown Texas Christian University Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=133343
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/aaron-brown?id=89690
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_take_running_back_aaron.html

8. T Lydon Murtha Nebraska Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=118291
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/lydon-murtha?id=81853
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_use_first_of_three_seven.html

9. LB Zack Follett California Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=135558
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/zack-follett?id=80640
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_take_second_linebacker_o.html

10. TE Dan Gronkowski Maryland Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=101512
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/dan-gronkowski?id=81829
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/one_pick_before_mr_irrelevant.html

Here are some more player bios for the second day picks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/player_bios_lions_secondday_dr.html

Now I really like our picks and as fans we need to unite behind them, support them 100% and hope they are successful and make huge contributions on the team. Some of the later round guys probably won’t be starters but developmental players, add for depth and can step in at times and make plays. I give them a solid B for a letter grade in this draft. The reason I give them a B is they grabbed four of the top picks in each of those positions QB, TE, S and Kick Returner and the reason I don’t give them an A is because of their choices and prioritizing in the third round.

We needed a QB desperately. Kitna was traded, Orlovsky was a free-agent, Culpepper is a short-term solution and Stanton and Henson are not starters. I am glad we grabbed a TE in the draft but thought it would have gotten a back-burner priority with more desperate needs in front such as Middle Linebacker. Drafting Pettigrew who is a really strong run blocker gives Stafford a huge weapon on offense and rookie QBs best friend is what kiddos? You guessed it a Tight End.

Here is a funny clip called the Matthew Stafford Song which is pretty good.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/05/the_matthew_stafford_song.html

I like the Tight End Dan Gronkowski pick. With him and Pettigrew that gives our Tight End situation some serious teeth. I remember watching the NFL Combine and was really impressed with both of them. I love the Safety Louis Delmas from Western Michigan University and a fitting nickname for him is the heat-seeker. He will really strengthen the secondary and hopefully be our version of the Steelers Troy Polamalu.

I LOVE the DT Sammie Lee Hill pick. That kid is going to be a monster! He once saved a man from a burning home by going in and pulling him out. Not that this means a lot but he has a couple of tattoos and one of them is a lion on his chest wearing a crown. Maybe it’s fate much like the fact that Matthew Stafford is from the same high school as Bobby Layne.

Here are some interesting audio interviews with Tom Kowalski about taking Matthew Stafford and other thoughts on the draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_kowalski_on_wrif.html

Here is an audio interview with Coach Schwartz discussing whether to start Culpepper or Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/jim_schwartz_on_matthew_staffo.html

The Lions have already started building on the 2010 draft by acquiring the Denver Broncos #5 pick.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_trade_sixthround_pick_to.html

I apologize for not getting this out there sooner but this week has been a really busy one. I try to share links with stories that are relative that have a lot of good information and the draft weekend had TONS. I left out quite a few links but wonder if I didn’t cut enough. I appreciate you all taking the time to read my blog or at least browsing through it. Tom Killer Kowalski who has been the Lions beat writer for the better part of two decades brings a lot to the table so I reference his and the other writers at MLive's work. They are the only really good sources outside Pat Caputo of the Oakland Press and Brian VanOchten from the Grand Rapids Press.

There are a lot of sports writers that just bash the Lions and DO NOT help anything with their barrage of negative attacks and venomous criticism. I criticize also but I give suggestions on how this team can be better. Well anyways it’s later than I wanted to get this blog entry done so I am going to post now. I will have another one sometime mid-week about some of the Unrestricted Free Agents as well as the drafted rookies from this weekend’s rookie camp. Until then keep the faith and GO LIONS!