"Have at it” – ESPN.com Fields Suggestions on How to Fix the Lions

ESPN.com’s NFC North blogger, Kevin Seifert, threw up a post asking his readership to lay out their blueprint for the Lions’ future.  He received just about every conceivable suggestion, from pumping up the offense, to ignoring the offense and fixing up the defense, and everything in between.  This morning, Kevin collected some of the best answers and supplied his own.

He generally supported the no-job-is-safe approach that Schwartz has taken, though cautioned that sometimes, consistency is a virtue in and of itself.  He also advocated a long-term strategy of addressing both the offensive and defensive lines—something almost every Lions fan can get behind.

Frankly, the most dire situation isn’t the OL, whose play has been somewhere between “okay” and “pretty good”.  Nor is it the DL, where injuries have either felled or limited Jared DeVries, DeWayne White, Cliff Avril, Jason Hunter, and Sammie Hill.  That’s the top two DEs at each position, and three of the four projected starters on the defensive line.  Once the DL gets healthy, the front seven should be moderately stout.

However, the secondary remains a completely unfettered disaster.  Theoretical #1 cornerback Anthony Henry started off solid, but is starting to show why the Lions have wanted to switch him to safety.  Phillip Buchanon has the talent to be a #1 corner, but his play has been wildly inconsistent.  Will James, would be an excellent nickel corner, and an okay complement opposite a true #1.  However, he’s currently the Lions’ best corner, and that is not good.  Ko Simpson has played very well next to Louis Delmas, but Simpson’s been dinged up, and Delmas is playing like the very talented rookie that he is: talented . . . but a rookie.

Don’t forget, Gunther Cunningham’s aggressive blitzes can’t work, and won’t be called, if the secondary can’t hold it down behind them.  As long as the defensive backfield is in such disarray, the Lions won’t be able to run their defense like they want to.  Minimally, the Lions will need to either acquire a veteran starting corner, or spend a weekday draft pick on one.  After that, they’ll have to either settle on Ko Simpson or scout out his replacement.  Finally, they’ll have to rebuild the depth at corner with a mid- and/or late-round pick or two.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

Levy signs; Lewand expects all draftees signed by Friday

Some good news heading into the start of training camp Friday: Lions team president Tom Lewand said he expects all of Detroit's rookies to be signed and in camp on time, Tom Kowalski reports at MLive.com.

Those yet to ink deals include first-round pick TE Brandon Pettigrew; second-round S Louis Delmas; third-round WR Derrick Williams and fourth-round DT Sammie Lee Hill.

"I feel confident that we'll have everybody in camp on time," Lewand said this afternoon. "We've been pretty close to meeting it every year. The last couple of years, we've missed a day or two at times and you certainly don't want to do that and I don't think there's any reason why we should this year. "We've got good relationships with the agents we're dealing with. They're established, credible, good agents who have good track records of their own."

Why wouldn't you want to report on time as a rookie on a team this bad? Where else do you have a better shot at playing time?

As if to prove Lewand's point, ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert reports on his NFC North blog that the Lions signed third-round LB DeAndre Levy to a three-year deal today.

Discuss in The Den!

---

A Peek Across The Lake

A couple of national columnists devoted space to the Vikings and Packers today so I thought I would take a minute to share and weigh in.

Rick Gosselin points out that the Packers have the most returning starters in the NFL with 20, losing only Mark Tauscher - by choice - after he closed the season on IR. This is pretty bad news for the rest of the North as Green Bay had awful luck last year, scoring 40 more points than they allowed in a 6 win season. They should bounce back strong, particularly considering the youth on the team. Gosselin notes:

The Packers may be on to something by trying to keep this current team together. Green Bay endured those struggles last season with the youngest roster in the NFL at an average age of only 25.5 years.

Despite all that youth, the Packers defeated 12-4 Indianapolis and NFC North champion Minnesota, fell in overtime to 13-3 Tennessee and blew fourth-quarter leads in losing four other games. Green Bay had the talent to compete in 2008 but lacked the maturity to close out opponents.

The continued development of a young playmakers – quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Greg Jennings are both 25 and running back Ryan Grant is 26 – and an overhauled defensive approach has coach Mike McCarthy believing his Packers can return to Super Bowl contention after a year's absence. Green Bay won 13 games in 2007 and hosted the NFC title game.

Gosselin also mentions that Detroit leads the league in '08 starters no longer on the roster with 9 departures.

In Kevin Seifert's NFC North blog, Seifert predicts that Percy Harvin will be the division's 'breakout' player of the year.

Vikings coaches seem prepared to load him with as big of a role as he can handle -- using him at all three receiver positions in spring drills, as well as a kickoff returner, punt returner and at quarterback in a new Wildcat formation.

In fact, Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell has added some 15 plays to the Vikings' playbook in anticipation of Harvin's unique skills. "We are up there [in meeting rooms] trying to diagram everything we can," Bevell said.

Okay, for one thing I object to the idea that a first round rookie could ever be a 'breakout' player. Breakout typically implies some years laboring in obscurity before suddenly taking play to a superior level. But I really object to the idea that a rookie wide receiver could be that guy. Harvin may be different, but the fact is that rookie WRs typically do not have great production their first year.

Just look at the best WRs of the decade. Holt, Harrison, Owens, Moss, Fitzgerald and Smith (I apologize if I am overlooking anyone obvious). Of that group only Moss had a great season, making All Pro on a team that set an NFL record for scoring. While many of the others had good years that illustrated their future greatness, none broke 1000 yards receiving or 10 TDs. The Lions' own Calvin Johnson had 49 receptions his first year.

If Harvin can stay clean and healthy I expect him to be an outstanding receiver and playmaker. I believe he is a tremendous talent. But I really don't expect that talent to begin to manifest itself before the last half of '09 at the earliest. There is too much for receivers to learn in the NFL. There are too many adjustments to make.

Getting back to the question of which player in the NFC North is most likely to break out, I probably would just throw that open to discussion. On the Lions my best guesses would by either Bryant Johnson or possibly Jordan Dizon, if he is forced into the lineup. As for the rest of the division? I have no good guesses.

Discuss it Here in The Den

---

ESPN blogger: Calvin, Delmas among "Ultimate Building Blocks"

The Lions continue to get more offseason love than you'd expect for a team coming off 0-16. Kevin Seifert, the NFC North blogger at ESPN.com, lists the top 10 "Ultimate Building Blocks" in the division. At No. 3 Seifert places Calvin Johnson:

He put up huge numbers last season on a team without a quarterback. Imagine what he could do with a permanent fixture at that position. He'll be a living mismatch for the next decade.

(Loved that "living mismatch for the next decade" line!) At No. 8 is Louis Delmas:

We're doing some projecting here, of course. But Delmas has the hitting ability and Bob Sanders-like toughness to be a star in this division.

Seifert explains in his criteria that as building blocks, he was looking for players with three or more highly productive seasons left in them -- and specifically lists Jason Hanson as one of three people that left off his list. (Hey, don't sell Hanson short of giving us more than three more years!) Discuss it in The Den!

---