Lions cutting it thin on the DL

With John Niyo’s Twitter report that the Lions have released DT Orien Harris to make room for DE Turk McBride, the Lions have only three named DTs on the roster: veteran run-stopper Grady Jackson, fourth-round rookie Sammie Hill, and 2008 seventh-rounder Landon Cohen.  As Jackson is considered a 10-20 snap situational player, the Lions now have, quite literally, no depth at the tackle spot.

Even if Andre Fluellen, who has shifted from DE to DT and back again several times already this season, flips back to DT, both depth and production at the DT spot are alarming.  Jackson is now the only player on the roster who’d started an NFL game at DT before last Sunday.  With true big-bodied DTs always in high demand, and the season already underway, it seems impossible that the Lions could do much of anything to bring in reinforcements--save re-sign one of the veterans they’ve already cut.

Keep an eye on the waiver wire as the week winds on . . . and discuss it here, in The Den!

Drew Stanton’s future in doubt?

According to John Niyo of the Detroit News (via Twitter), the Lions are sending Drew Stanton to consult with Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon. Meanwhile, they’ve signed former Vikings QB Brooks Bollinger.

This is terrible news for Stanton fans, as his inability to stay healthy has been made even more maddening by his improving production.  Just as it looked like he had a roster spot sewn up as the Lions’ #3 QB, he may well be facing more surgery and another year on the shelf.  It’s premature to say he’s destined to lose yet another season to injury--but Dr. Andrews is the biggest name in orthopedic surgery; if it weren’t potentially serious, Drew wouldn’t be going to see him.

On the other hand, the Lions could easily have waived Drew, and given him an injury settlement, cab fare, and a firm handshake.  For them to make this kind of continued investment speaks well of the organization’s attitude toward the former second-round pick’s progress.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

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Tackling, secondary big concerns -- sound familiar?

Two snippets I found interesting from Detroit News football writer John Niyo's column today:

Special teams is an area of emphasis with the new coaching staff. But that was hardly apparent Saturday.

Josh Cribbs is arguably the NFL's best return man, but he made it look way too easy in the first quarter against the Lions, who are missing a couple of key coverage men in Cody Spencer (injured reserve) and Casey FitzSimmons (ankle). Cribbs' 95-yard touchdown return of the opening kickoff was called back because of a late holding penalty. But there were no flags on his 84-yard punt return for a score, just lots of missed tackles.

"There's no reason to start the game the way we did on special teams," Schwartz said. "It's a work in progress, but were going to find out who can tackle and who can't. That's going to be a major criteria for making this team."

Stan Kwan's return unit wasn't much better, averaging 18.6 yards on kickoffs. And that's a growing concern, with Aveion Cason perhaps getting too many reps and neither rookie Derrick Williams nor Aaron Brown distinguishing himself. When you have too many returners, Schwartz noted the other day, that means you don't have any.

A lot of us have been scratching our heads about why Cason is getting so much time as a returner. Maybe that's a reflection of the coaching staff's lack of confidence in Derrick Williams or Aaron Brown in that department. And that ain't good. Hey, let a rookie take kicks out to the 18 yard line rather than a veteran, I say. At least there's a potential for upside with the rooks.

While the defensive front seven's inability to get consistent pressure on the QBs or stop big running plays is already looking problematic, Niyo notes that the secondary may be the team's weakest link.

Five Browns wide receivers had catches of 20 yards or more Saturday night. Two came on the opening drive against starting cornerbacks Phillip Buchanon and Anthony Henry, but the depth behind them is a real worry, especially with Keith Smith (groin) still on the sideline.

"Our corners need to get up and challenge guys," Schwartz said. "We need to find out who will have the confidence to get up and challenge rather than playing cautious."

They also need to find another safety who can stop the run alongside rookie Louis Delmas. Kalvin Pearson had trouble again in run support Saturday, and LaMarcus Hicks didn't fare any better replacing him. It was the same against Atlanta in the exhibition opener. Marquand Manuel, who has a calf injury, should get a shot to start when he's healthy.

Noticing a theme to Schwartz's comments? Get up there and tackle. Challenge. Don't play tentative. Be decisive and make plays.

I refuse to get visions in my head of Bobby Ross saying "I don't coach that!" or Rod Marinelli saying "Put it on me."

Discuss in The Den!

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Lions safety depth chart muddied even further

As reported by John Niyo of the Detroit News on his Twitter feed, the Lions have signed free agent safety Calvin Lowry.  The 5’-11”, 200-pound Lowry was drafted by the Titans fourth round of the 2006 draft.  Head coach Jim Schwartz and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham are familiar with Lowry’s ability; the former Nittany Lion saw action in every game during his first two seasons—including 11 starts in 2007.  Still, he couldn’t crack the Titans’ roster for 2008, and the Broncos acquired him off waivers.  The Broncos released him late in the 2008 season to make a roster space for an injured Patrick Hillis’ replacement. He was picked up by the Jaguars, but recently released.

With Daniel Bullocks’s injury, the Lions were down one safety.  But, between rookie Louis Delmas, veteran Marquand Manuel, holdovers Kalvin Pearson and Stuart Schweigart, and rumors of CB Anthony Henry getting reps at safety, it doesn’t seem as though replacing Bullocks—who is not yet on IR—would be a high priority.  However, Pearson is considered a pure strong-side safety, and that limits his utility in the symmetrical Schwartz/Cunningham defense.  Lowry has started at both free and strong safety in the past, giving him greater versatility.

If Pearson’s role will be situational and/or special teams, and Henry stays at corner, then Lowry, Manuel, and Schweigart are probably competing for one starting spot and one—possibly two—reserve spots.  Notably, Den poster “shine8” predicted this signing the moment Lowry was released by the Jaguars.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

The jumble at CB -- and who's that with the Fords?

Detroit News football writer John Niyo reports its become a sad rite of spring for the Lions in recent years -- the annual roster purge of the team's secondary.

After an historically bad performance last year, the Lions are at it again. The top four cornerbacks on last year's roster are gone, and only two of the eight in camp -- Keith Smith and Ramzee Robinson -- have been with the team longer than 10 months, Niyo writes.

Coach Jim Schwartz admits he has "a stew" at CB -- a mix of young and veteran with backgrounds in a lot of different schemes. (Feeling confident about the secondary's improvement this year yet?)

Still, things are beginning to take shape. The starting CBs look like they will be Phillip Buchanon and Anthony Henry, and Eric King, who was with Schwartz in Tennessee the past three years, has been making plays in practice and may be tightening his hold on a nickel back spot.

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As an odds-and-ends aside at the end of his article, Niyo notes that Wednesday's practice was attended by owner William Clay Ford, vice chairman Bill Ford Jr., and former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi.

What's that all about? No explanation. Is Accorsi a buddy of the Fords? If that's the case, where was he during the Matt Millen era, when we needed him?

Talk about it in The Den!

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DT help on the way?

With Shaun Rogers long gone, free-agent signee Grady Jackson facing a possible 4-game suspension, and the remainder of the DTs on the roster either insufficiently experienced or insufficiently, well sufficient to fit the new defensive scheme, the Lions are in desperate need for help at defensive tackle.  Veteran DT John Thornton already turned the Lions down, in part because he didn’t want to gain the fifteen-to-twenty pounds required to anchor the middle of the line.  The latest candidate to fill out a size XXXL jersey will have no need to gain weight; in fact he’ll have to lose quite a bit in order to slim down to the 330-pound target the Lions seem to have in mind.

Former Eagles and Saints DT Hollis Thomas has been on the market since the Saints released him shortly after the draft.  On the 17th, Scout.com’s own Adam Caplan reported that Thomas’ old team, the Eagles, worked him out—yet he was allowed to leave that session without a contract, and he reportedly weighed in well about his listed playing weight, 335 pounds.  Despite an extremely disappointing 2009 campaign in which he gathered only 14 tackles in 8 games (2 starts), Scout still lists Thomas amongst the best available talent at his position, partially due to a 50-tackle, 3-sack 2008 campaign.

According to PFT, the Rams are on Hollis’ four-team short list—it’s unknown if the Eagles are still in play after declining to sign him last week—and an ESPN Insider piece named the Lions as a natural fit.  John Niyo of the Detroit News wrote in his blog on Sunday that the Lions may keep a roster spot open for a veteran defensive lineman.

Frankly, the Lions have nothing to lose here; even if Hollis cannot get back down to a more athletic 335 pounds, he should at least be a usable big body on first down and short yardage situations.  A moderate one-year deal to at keep Grady Jackson’s sizable seat on the bench warm for four games seems like a no-brainer.  The only question is, can the Lions outdraw the other three teams on the list for his services?  We should find out this week.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

Niyo: 10 hot Lions topics heading into training camp

Lions writer John Niyo of the Detroit News lists 10 hot Detroit Lions topics heading into the start of training camp. I won't list them all here (follow the link to see them all), but a couple that caught my eye:

So, who are these guys, anyway? It's way too early to suggest the 2009 Lions can repeat the feat of the 2008 Dolphins. Miami rebounded from a 1-15 finish in 2007 to win the AFC East and make the playoffs last winter under rookie head coach Tony Sparano. And the key was a Bill Parcells-led purge that saw 27 new faces on the Dolphins' 53-man roster to begin last season.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew is on a similar pace, with nearly half the players from last year's Week 1 roster (25 of 53) already gone -- and others sure to follow in the next six weeks. Mayhew has made five trades since last October, claimed seven players off waivers since the start of free agency in late February, and signed 27 new players, not including draft picks, since the end of last season. In short, he's trying to, as new head coach Jim Schwartz puts it, "take advantage of being crappy."

When you stop and quantify it like that, there really has been a lot done to try to turn over last year's awful team. Many of us were calling for a major roster overhaul to start the road back, a la the Dolphins or the Saints under Jim Haslett years ago. We sort of got that -- and like Niyo said, with more to come.

But who'll emerge as a playmaker on defense? There simply wasn't one last season, though defensive end Cliff Avril showed promise as a rookie. The Lions finished 2008 with a NFL-low four interceptions, with only one by a defensive back. Not surprisingly, the secondary is almost all new, and free-agent cornerback Phillip Buchanon, along with rookie free safety Louis Delmas (Western Michigan), will be counted on to make a big splash.

So will the revamped linebacker corps, with Julian Peterson and Larry Foote helping to free up Ernie Sims. And while the addition of Peterson, a five-time Pro Bowler, may have been the team's biggest offseason move outside of the draft, the more noticeable difference could be schematic.

The answers will all start to become clearer -- for better or worse -- very soon.

Discuss in The Den!

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Close only counts in horseshoes & nuclear war

Fresh off of the John Thornton close-but-not-quite, and in the same offseason where the Lions very nearly signed OG Darnell Dockett, and almost pulled off a trade for QB Jay Cutler, the Lions again fell just shy of acquiring a player who could make an impact.  Thanks to getting suspended for the season due to testing positive for a banned substance, Kentucky DE Jeremy Jarmon was available in today’s supplemental draft. 

The Lions’ 0-16 record in 2008 made their supplemental draft picks very powerful.  If the Lions were to bid a certain round’s pick, then every other team loses out--unless they bid a higher round pick.  Since bidding a given pick in the supplemental draft means you lose that pick in the next regular draft, that's a huge advantage for the Lions over all the other teams in the NFL.  Since the rumor was that Jarmon could be had for a fourth-rounder, the Lions would need only to bid their fourth to ensure they'd get him.  Surprisingly, however, the Washington Redskins chose to bid their third-round pick, thus acquiring the rights to Jarmon.  John Niyo, of the Detroit Free Press News, then reported via Twitter that Mayhew'd text messaged Redskins' VP Vinny Cerrato that he'd indeed bid the Lions’ fourth-rounder for Jarmon, and was surprised not to get him. 

Should Mayhew have bid a third-rounder, thus practically guaranteeing Jarmon’s acquisition?  Well, the Lions’ probably-high 2010 third-round draft pick could become a potential starter at any position, or be invaluable ammo in a trade to move up or down.  Spending it now, when it could only become Jarmon--a player who’s only available due to his character problems--simply wouldn’t maximize that picks’ value. While it’s certainly disappointing to lose out (again) on a potential impact rookie at a position of need, the Lions made the right move.

Discuss it here, in The Den! 

The heat is on

Terry Foster and John Niyo of the Detroit News collaborated to tell us all about the suffocating heat wave that’s coincided perfectly with the Lions’ minicamp.  There are a couple of great quotes from Jim Schwartz in there about what camp was like with the Titans: sweltering in the Tennessee heat, it really prepared them to do battle with the other teams in the AFC South. 

This can only be a positive for the Lions; the new veterans and rookies need to be pushed as hard as possible.  The roster turnover has been extensive—outside of OLB Ernie Sims, and DEs Cliff Avril and Dewayne White, every defensive starter has been replaced.  Similarly, at least two--and as many as four--offensive line starting spots are up for grabs.  For now, Jim Schwartz has even dispensed with the depth chart entirely.  With every position up in the air, and so few players having any history here, it’s almost impossible to have a sense of team—even seven-year-vet Nick Harris says he feels like a stranger.  It’s all about putting pressure on the veterans—holdovers and newcomers alike--to perform their best, and evaluating the rookies against the fiercest possible competition. It’s in the figurative heat and pressure of these competitive flames, and literal heat and pressure of the sweltering summer sun, that this team will be forged.

To expect the Lions to make up for a decade of constant turnover in one summer, and play like a team that's had a decade of continuity is expecting too much.  However, at the very least, two-a-days in a pressure cooker will reveal who can stand up to the heat, and who can’t.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

William Clay Ford Sr. speaks out

John Niyo at detnews.com has a fairly lengthy interview with Lions owner William Clay Ford Sr., Ford's first since the firing of team president Matt Millen early last season.

Among the interesting tidbits:
* Ford did get input from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after Millen's firing regarding a new front office leader. But he went with Millen holdovers Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand because he knew them, liked them and found them qualified.
* An admission that both Millen and former Coach Rod Marinelli didn't have the necessary experience going into the job.
* That Ford relied on Millen to make the decision to hire both Marinelli and Steve Mariucci, but new Coach Jim Schwartz was his call and his alone.
* That Ford's son, Bill Ford's, public declaration that Millen would be fired were he in charge, days before Ford Sr. actually fired Millen, did not influence the decision. In fact, the elder Ford told Niyo, he had heard his son's dissatisfaction with Millen multiple times -- days before he went public with it; weeks; months; and years earlier.
* That Ford has never directed a coach or team executive to play or not play a player.
* That the supposed dispute over remaining money to be paid to Millen is resolved.
* That Ford feels for the fans, praises those who remain loyal to the team; understands those who have finally bailed out; and that he actually listens to the fan complaints.

A lot of meaty stuff here, obviously.

Ford's been psychoanalyzed in the past by armchair pundits. He certainly has a different way about him, and it shows through in the interview. He pays lip service to wanting to win and doing what it takes. But then he casually explains away sticking for years with Millen despite his abysmal failure at all levels, with the entire world including his son howling at him to make the necessary change.

We hear Ford casually talk about blowing off the NFL Commissioner's attempted help on not making another Millen mistake, and why his grand search for a way to turn around 0-16 ended at the end of his nose, with the front office guys right in front of him. (Don't get me wrong; that might actually work out. That still doesn't make the lack of a real examination of the situation or a search outside of a 31-97 franchise any less maddening.)

I continue to think Ford doesn't have a clue how to win, and the bottom line of why it hasn't happened for decades is it's simply never been high on his priority list. We can only hope he's stumbled into the right people who can make this successful in Mayhew, Lewand and Schwartz.

They're talking about it in The Den!

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