MIKE O'HARA SPORTS

Mayhew Moves Make Lions Younger and Better

NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 04.23.2010/6:10AM

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For those of you who have been following along, I’ve been clanging the cymbals for the Lions to draft Ndamukong Suh to the point of nausea.
GM Martin Mayhew obviously wasn’t influenced by the racket – and shouldn’t have been – but he did the right thing by taking the star defensive tackle with the second overall pick on the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night.
Later Thursday, when a lot of people were folding their notebooks and looking forward to the second round on Friday, Mayhew was still working.
He cut a deal with the Minnesota Vikings to get their first-round pick, 30th overall in the draft. He drafted Jahvid Best, a running back from Cal, and one of the fastest players in the draft.
With two moves Thursday – one early, one late – the Lions drafted players at areas of excruciating need.
Mayhew’s management style is shining through the building process he inherited when he replaced Matt Millen as GM early in the 2008 season.
For public consumption, Mayhew doesn’t offer much. That’s a refreshing approach for those of us who’ve been inundated by toxic blathering on most levels in southeast Michigan – a lot of it coming from what passes for political leadership (not really), and the special-interest folks who align themselves with those in power.
Mayhew should get high marks for the two first-round picks – especially Best. Taking Suh was a no-brainer. The only question was whether the St. Louis Rams would stand firm and take Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the first pick. They did, and that left Suh for the Lions.
Best was another matter.
Nobody outside the Lions’ inner sanctum knew how highly the Lions valued Best. They never even talked to the kid before the draft. He wasn’t one of the players they invited in for a visit.
Mayhew didn’t want anyone to know about his level of interest for fear of having a team jump ahead of him in the draft order. When he thought the moment was right, he moved – striking the deal with the Vikings.
It took some maneuvering on Mayhew’s part to draft Best. And trading with the Vikings, a chief rival in the NFC North division, was a little dicey. Often, when a GM calls another GM in his decision to talk trade, the first thing he hears is the dial tone.
But those two picks weren’t what impressed the most. It was what Mayhew didn’t say and did say.
He didn’t talk about rebuilding, even coming off seasons of 0-16 and 2-14.
On the flip side, he talked about winning.
“We’re in this thing to win it,” Mayhew said. “We’re trying to win football games, and I think you have to be aggressive. You can play it safe if you want to, while other teams are being aggressive.
“If you have a good feel for what you want to do and you’re confident in your scouts and in your evaluation, then you can be aggressive.”
It’s been a good offseason for the Lions.
They’re stronger up front on defense, with the addition of veteran linemen Kyle Vanden Bosch and Corey Williams.
Chris Houston is an upgrade at one cornerback.
Nate Burleson gives them a complement to Calvin Johnson at wide receiver.
On the offensive line, Rob Sims plugs a huge hole at left guard.
A three-team trade earlier in the week sent linebacker Ernie Sims to the Eagles and brought tight end Tony Scheffler to Detroit from Denver.
Think about these two developments:
1. The Lions are better on the defensive line – so much so that they can play to their strengths as opposed to hiding their weaknesses on every snap.
2. They are younger and better on offense. Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Pettigrew, Tony Scheffler and Best are young players with talent who hold down key spots at the skill positions.
Younger and better – two words we haven’t used to describe the Lions in a long time – maybe since Barry Sanders and Herman Moore became teammates in 1991.

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