Readers Write—Most of Them Feeling the Draft
Ask Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 04.24.2009/7:13AM
While we wait for the draft to start – and the probability that the Lions will do the right thing and draft and sign Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford before Saturday at 4 p.m. – let’s empty the mailbag.
It’s piled up, with a variety of subjects, most of them draft- and Lions-related.
Note: I’ll be on the site all day Saturday to answer e—mails.
BC on (what else) the draft: The Leos can load up with Curry or Monroe at No. 1, Jerry at 20 (you know I love his name,) or even Andre Smith at 20 (who really cam play), the Safety from Western Michigan (Louis Delmas) at 33, maybe an OT with the first third-rounder, etc. Then
BC, on (what the QB comes along. Rhett Bomar has been mentioned but Graham Harrell from Texas Tech is out there too, not to mention Nate Davis from Ball State who seems to be falling a bit.
You think they might look for a QB later rather than sooner?
“Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Haven’t you been listening? Seriously, if you’re going to take a quarterback – and they should – take the best. Don’t pick a lesser prospect and hope he develops. And all of those other QBs you mentioned are far, far lesser prospects. Your other picks, by the way, are all good choices.“
From OU812 (clearly a Van Halen Fan), comes a dig at my Mock Draft:I have to disagree with your draft completely. Defense is the place to start while filling the mortar on the o-line. I have the Lions selecting MLB Aaron Curry with the 1st pick. At No. 20, trade down to the late first while picking up a second- rounder in the process. With the late first-rounder, select DE Conner Barwin from Cincy. With the No. 33 pick, I select the middle man on the o-line. Although he will start at guard this year, either Alex Mack from Cal or Eric Wood from Louisville will solidify the line for years. With the latter second-round pick, I select my sleeper DT - from Hampton, Chris Baker to sit in the middle. What do you think, bro?
“What I think is, you have great ideas, and I can’t argue against any of them. The trades are problematical, because you never know which teams are serious about dealing, and your guys might not be on the board at those spots. As for the top pick, take the QB. It’s the haunting weakness of this franchise, and Stafford can be really good. But that doesn’t mean Curry is a bad pick. Rock on, my borther.“
From Randy, another vote for defense:I would rather draft defense right off the bat. Stafford will not help the Lions win this year. The lions stand to improve quicker by building their defense ASP and then next year, draft one of the quarterbacks. I think the quarterback stock is better next year than this year. I see the lions only winning a couple of games this coming year.
“Can’t agree about the QB drop next year. It’s a little deeper at the top, but the top prospects don’t match Stafford and Sanchez, and probably not Josh Freeman. You can still build the defense by taking a QB first. There are other good picks, and this is a deep draft – 37 players rated as first-round ability.“
Trent says switch drafts:The Lions would be good to go with trading their 6th- and 7th-round picks plus any or all picks next year to New England for New England’s first six picks. That would give them 11 picks inside the first three rounds and the Patriots 21 picks this year and next.
“That’s creative financing, Trent – and the reason my checkbook doesn’t balance and the auto companies and banks are in trouble. But I like your creativity.“
From MDK, the value of drafting a QB first: SI’s Don Banks maintained that the Lions would not draft a QB until recently when came the conclusion that “Quarterback is really the only position that has enough value to even vaguely justify the kind of money the No. 1 pick now commands.“ In the salary cap era, this has become very evident with 8 of the last 11 No. 1 overall draft picks being a QB, even though most of them didn’t top the draft boards as being ‘best available player. The Lions can’t draft Aaron Curry and give him 150% more money than the highest paid linebackers. I wish Lions fans would realize this and be happy that they have a QB of Stafford’s abilities available to draft and don’t have to settle for a David Carr or Alex Smith.”
“What’s the old saying? It’s not the money, it’s the amount? You can put left tackle up there, too. Whatever the cost, take the QB.“
Robert says keep it a secret:The Lions are right not to announce who they are going to take. Once you do that, you lose leverage in getting him to sign a favorable contract. If he knows he could drop out of the top five, odds are he’ll be more receptive to signing for less than last year’s No. 1 pick.
“The player might think that, but the agents will never let it happen. Put the pressure on to get the player signed.“
E Dew says the media will put heat on the QB: What I predict will be the downfall of Matt Stafford – if he is selected as the No.1 quarterback of the 2009 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, the media will not let him sit and develop!!! Already, you predict he will be starting by the St. Louis game and we have NO IDEA how QBs Culpepper or Stanton will be doing! No matter if you can PREDICT the first several games before St. Louis will be lost, irrespective of who is at quarterback, Stafford will be proclaimed the messiah in waiting and will NOT be allowed to develop.”
“If Stafford turns out to be a superstar, do I get credit for that, too? Probably not. With the draft position and the contract comes the pressure to perform – early, late and everything between. The winners handle it.“
Mike from Lake City on the death of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych: Boy, like everyone else, it’s a shock to me to hear this news. As it turned out, Mark’s life was similar to his baseball career—too short. I say that as a 54-year old lifetime Detroit sports fan with clear memories of 1976, and how he electrified the crowds at Tiger Stadium.
“You’re right, Mike. The Bird brought nothing but joy to sports fans, in Detroit and around the country. He was as good a person as he was an athlete.“
Mark, remembering Matt Stafford’s come-from-behind win in the Texas high school playoffs: I enjoyed reading your article on Matthew Stafford. One of the best high school games I have ever seen. Ryan Mallett, who went on to Michigan and is now at Arkansas, was the QB for Texas High. It was a big-time quarterback duel and ended up being the real state championship that year, because the next game was a 59-0 blowxout that gave Highland Park it’s first state championship in almost 50 years.
“Thanks for the review, Mark. I like players who can win, at any level. Stafford has a lot of qualities I like in an athlete.“
Mike from San Francisco asks about contract values: How often does a team ever pay the “announced” number in a player’s contract? We are continually told that so-and-so received a 5-year, $50 million contract with $20 million in guaranteed money. What does the other $30 million represent, and does it ever get paid? And if, as I suspect, it is rarely paid, what role does the higher amount actually play in the either the contract negotiations or the statement it makes about a player’s worth?
“The only time you can count on a player getting full value of his contract is when it’s for one year, and he’s guaranteed to make the roster. The guaranteed amount, obviously, gets paid, too. The rest of it – like the $50 million you mentioned – is mostly for the agent to use in recruiting clients. There are bonuses, escalators and other factors that raise the value.“
Bryan wants to hear from William Clay Ford: I’m a long-time season ticket holder hit by the recent economic turndown. I’m debating whether to renew. I have great seats and hate to give them up. My problem is I want to hear from Mr. Ford. My impressions of him are that the most important things to him in regards to his team are twofold. One, that he employs people to run the team based on how comfortable he feels with them and how much he likes them. Secondly, he wants the world to know who is calling the shots, and he will not bow to public pressure, no matter how great. These feelings are based on much evidence. Like when he gave Matt Millen that infamous five-year extension.
“I wish I could have run your entire e—mail, but this is the gist. Ford is loyal to the people he hires. You’re right about that. But he doesn’t want the world to know he’s the boss. He’s understated and unassuming. And he does not own the Lions simply to make a profit.“
J Grinnan compares Stafford to Mark Sanchez: know that you have Stafford alone in first place among quarterback prospects, and I get the pretty clear sense that you think that the Lions will, and probably should, take him. But I’m wondering about Sanchez. As I prowl the internet, I see more and more buzz for him as a long-range prospect. A growing consensus seems to be that, while he may not quite have Stafford’s arm strength, his arm is nonetheless plenty strong and that he is more reliably accurate and a little more steady and consistent than Stafford is, and less likely than Stafford to force throws into coverage. More than one draft expert—an overused term no doubt—has been heard to opine that Sanchez, not Stafford, is the safer pick and the one with the bigger upside NFL potential.”
“ou also mentioned that Sanchez was surrounded by better players at Southern Cal. All true, all good points. Sanchez is suited to a West Coast Offense – short, rhythm throws. Stafford is a better athlete, stronger arm, played with a weaker offensive line at Georgia, and is superior athletically to Sanchez.“
Comments [2] |
Readers Write, and Letter-Perfect Observations
Ask Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 04.6.2009/2:25PM
E-mail Mike O’Hara at
As a lead-in to answer some e-mails, these are my thoughts on a Monday afternoon – three hours before the Tigers open the season in Toronto, and five hours before Michigan State plays North Carolina for the NCAA basketball championship:
1. Based on a combination of the latest information available, gut instinct – never wrong, of course – and a grand dose of logic, I make Matthew Stafford the likely candidate to be the Lions’ first draft pick.
A week ago, I did my first mock draft, projecting what teams should do on the first round.
This is a mini-update, and I still think the Leos should draft a quarterback. But the difference, a week later, is that I think it’s what the Lions “will do” as opposed to “should do.”
I make it 65-35 that Stafford is the Lions’ guy. The other 35 percent goes to linebacker Aaron Curry of Wake Forest. A quarterback is the face of a franchise and the most important player. A linebacker makes plays. An offensive tackle – Jason Smith or Eugene Monroe – is a good player to have, but not on a Lions team that needs impact at several positions.
2. When the Denver Broncos made it known that they were putting quarterback Jay Cutler on the trading block, there was wide-spread speculation that the Lions would make a strong pitch. As it turned out, only Chicago, Tampa Bay and Washington were serious bidders. The Jets and Lions, among others, weren’t in the running.
3. I don’t see where the Tigers are better than 2006, better than 2007 or even better than last year. They have the look of a fourth-place team.
4. I participated in only one NCAA pool and had Michigan State going to the championship game – and losing. But not to North Carolina. Using my logic-gut instinct formula, that makes Michigan State a winner tonight.
5. Looking out the window and seeing that blanket of snow here on the northern reaches of the city of Detroit, I find it odd that there is more snow for the Final Four than there was for Super Bowl XL three years ago.
6. I’ll say one thing in defense of the Detroit City Council, which seems to get more outrageous every day. Which of Metro Detroit’s other city councils gets covered every day? Flat Rock? Rochester? Romulus? Ferndale? Warren? Any time I see a city council meeting on television, everyone’s yelling at each other. The big difference with Detroit is, it gets covered every day. That doesn’t make them right, or excuse unprofessional conduct, but it explains why so many people are aware of it.
And now on to the e-mails – starting with a comment on a line I wrote recently about the Lions – how they’re keeping their plans “closer to the vest than one of Pamela Anderson’s wet T-shirts.”
Doug O on the Pam Anderson T-shirt line: “Excellent, Mike. Love your new “freedom” writing your own blog instead of the paper and the rules you must follow? I suspect more saucy writing on your blog to follow.
Doug: Thanks. I’m working on a followup – something to do with the naked reverse.
TM asks why the Lions haven’t spent more on free agents: “What sense does it make to save all this money? Why not spend it? Teams like Dallas, New England, etc. have stars of their own that they can spend money on and spend money on high-profile free agents, yet the Lions don’t have any stars to speak of and yet they don’t sign any high-profile free agents. What good is the money if you are not going to spend it?”
TM: The free-agent route—Damien Woody, Dre Bly, even Dewayne White – didn’t work in the past. They need to develop a team through the draft. They picked up a big contract when they traded for linebacker Julian Peterson, and also ate a big part of Cory Redding’s signing bonus in the process. The Lions always have spent to the cap limit.
Paul from Harbor Beach weighs in on the Pistons’ trade for Allen Iverson: “When Joe D made the trade for AI, I was extremely skeptical. I decided to give Joe D the benefit of the doubt and wait awhile to see how it would shake down. Joe D is an exceptional exec and I thought, in the long run, it would work out. However, it didn’t. I am not casting stones at Joe D for this move, but it didn’t work out as well as everybody thought it would.
“I know that this frees up salary-cap money for next year, but I have a hard time believing that Joe D had that in mind when he made the trade. I think he was looking at a quick shot-in-the-arm to jump start the team and make the Pistons one of the top contenders for the championship. I thought it was kind of ironic that AI was selected to go to the All Star game – and so was Chauncey Billups. As far as a Pistons MVP goes, Antonio McDyess should get serious consideration.
Paul: Two things. First Dumars wanted a scorer and an expiring contract to have salary-cap space for next year. He got half of that – the contract – from Allen Iverson. The trade didn’t work. McDyess does not warrant “serious” consideration for the Pistons’ MVP. He should have the “only” consideration.
Bill from “down under” isn’t thrilled with drafting Stafford: “You say draft Stafford. Mel Kiper Jnr says draft Stafford and so do others. What is the issue here? Is the NFL stage leaving town and the one last remaining hope for a franchise quarterback on board?
“You know the Lions have more holes than a colander and they do, at least, have three quarterbacks on the roster. So go get a Jason Smith and a Robert Ayres etc. Strengthen either side of the line and you might even see the defense on the gridiron less often next season and the offense being more productive.”
Bill: The first pick isn’t their only pick. They’ll get other players with their other picks, but none as important as the quarterback. Why wait? Get him now, and get the ball rolling. Better yet, get it spiraling.
From William, who wants to trade the first pick: “The Lions should trade the No. 1 pick in the entire draft to the Broncos in exchange for both of their firs-round picks in the 2009 draft.”
William: Sorry, but I had to cut off some of your e-mail. The Broncos didn’t want the No. 1 pick. Too expensive. That ends any deal.
Comments [8] |
