Detroit Lions
Owner: William Clay Ford, Sr.
Founded: 1930
Stadium: Ford Field
2010 record: 6-10
Last playoff appearance: 1999, 8-8, L27-13 WAS
General Manager: Martin Mayhew (December 29, 2008 – current)
Head Coach: Jim Schwartz (2010-current, 8-24 overall record as head coach)
Offensive Coordinator: Scott Linehan
Defensive Coordinator: Gunther Cunningham
Defensive Alignment: 4-3
2010 NFL Rankings:
OFF: 22.6 PTS (15th) 338.9 YDS (17th) 238.1 PASS (12th) 100.8 RUSH (23rd)
DEF: 23.1 PTS (19th) 343.6 YDS (21st) 218.6 PASS (16th) 124.9 RUSH (24th)
Pro Bowlers: Calvin Johnson WR, Ndamukong Suh DT
2011 schedule:
1 Sep 11 at Buccaneers 1:00 PM Tickets
2 Sep 18 vs. Chiefs 1:00 PM Tickets
3 Sep 25 at Vikings 1:00 PM Tickets
4 Oct 02 at Cowboys 1:00 PM Tickets
5 Oct 10 vs. Bears 8:30 PM Tickets
6 Oct 16 vs. 49ers 1:00 PM Tickets
7 Oct 23 vs. Falcons 1:00 PM Tickets
8 Oct 30 at Broncos 4:05 PM Tickets
9 Bye
10 Nov 13 at Bears 1:00 PM Tickets
11 Nov 20 vs. Panthers 1:00 PM Tickets
12 Nov 24 vs. Packers 12:30 PM Tickets
13 Dec 04 at Saints 1:00 PM Tickets
14 Dec 11 vs. Vikings 1:00 PM Tickets
15 Dec 18 at Raiders 4:05 PM Tickets
16 Dec 24 vs. Chargers 4:05 PM Tickets
17 Jan 01 at Packers 1:00 PM Tickets
TEAM NEEDS: OT, OLB, CB
Potential Free Agents:
Drew Stanton QB - re-signed – 1 yr
Brian Clark WR
Dylan Gandy C
Jared DeVries DE
Bobby Carpenter OLB – re-signed
Landon Johnson OLB
Vinny Ciurcui MLB
Tye Hill CB
Chris Houston CB – 2 yrs
Eric King CB
Brandon McDonald CB
Nathan Vasher CB - re-signed – 1 yr
John Wendling FS – re-signed – 3 yrs, 3 million
CC Brown SS
Dave Rayner K - re-signed –
Free agent acquisitions:
Rashied Davis WR (Bears) -
Maurice Stovall WR (Buccaneers)
Justin Durant OLB (Jaguars) – 2 yrs
Stephen Tulloch MLB (Lions) – 1yr, 3.25 million
Eric Wright CB (Browns) -
Erik Coleman S (Falcons)
Free agent losses:
Turk McBride DE – Signed with Saints
Julian Peterson OLB
Jordan Dizon OLB
Picks in 2011 Draft: (overall draft grade: B): The Lions 2011 draft class will be remembered for how Nick Fairley and Mikel LeShoure fell in the draft to them. Fairley and Ndamukong Suh in the middle of their defensive line are already creating fear for their opponents. I just feel sorry for Jay Cutler when he plays the Lions two times next season. I wasn’t exactly impressed by the rest of Detroit’s draft, however. Titus Young went a bit early and ahead of other better wideouts, but he’s proven he’s got very good speed and may be able to take some coverage off of Calvin Johnson. Of course, only having five picks doesn’t make it look like they did very well, but I still think this draft turns out amazing if just Nick Fairley turns into a star.
(! Indicates draft pick who was interviewed, had a private workout, etc. prior to the draft according to my compiled list):
*The Detroit Lions were the only team who had all of their picks be players that reportedly received interest from the Lions prior to the draft.
Rd 1, Pick 13 (13) Nick Fairley DT, Auburn! – Suh and Fairley in the middle are going to dominate the league for years to come. Astonishing that Fairley fell so far.
Grade: A+ Rated: 5
Rd 2, Pick 12 (44) Titus Young WR, Boise State! – I thought this was a reach, there were better receivers on the board. Lions get a receiver who can take some pressure off Megatron.
Grade: C+ Rated: 74
Rd 2, Pick 25 (57) Mikel Leshoure RB, Illinois! – love this pick for the Lions. They wanted a bigger back to compliment last year’s second first rounder Javhid Best. And to get him this late is a real nice value.
Grade: A Rated: 39
Rd 5, Pick 26 (157) Douglas Hogue LB, Syracuse! – athletic linebacker can help improve the competition at outside linebacker.
Grade: C+ Rated: 196
Rd 7, Pick 6 (209) Johnny Culbreath OT, South Carolina State! – This pick gives the Lions some developmental talent behind Jeff Backus.
Grade: C Rated: NR
2010 Lions’ Draft review:
I apologize for the shortness of this review. There were only three videos that lasted about three minutes on Lions.com covering the draft press conferences. The teams that I’ve already covered in the NFL Offseason Series have had full press conferences available. So here’s what I was able to take away from the clips: Lions’ GM Martin Mayhew said that everybody was on board with the Suh pick at number two overall. They had some conversations the day before the draft and the day of the draft about possible trades. Obviously they didn’t trade out. Mayhew said that Suh was too good to pass up. The decision came down to between Suh and McCoy prior to the draft. A couple of days before the draft was when the decision was made to make Suh the pick. Suh was best player on their board, obviously, according to Mayhew. Defensive Coordinator Gunther Cunningham gave Suh the highest possible grade in the lions’ grading system (which is likely called “a Barry”). Jahvid Best was surprised to be picked by the Lions. They had talked to him at the combine but he hadn’t heard anything else from them until they traded up with Minnesota and called him to tell him that they were going to pick him. Will Young was at top of board when he was picked. They didn’t go into draft targeting players.
Rd 1, Pick 2 (2) Ndamukong Suh DT, Nebraska – 2010 NFL Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, 16 starts, 66 TCK, 10 SCK, 3 PD, 1 INT, 1 FF
Rd 1, Pick 30 (30) Jahvid Best RB, California – 15 games, 9 starts, 171 ATT, 555 YDS, 3.2 AVG, 4 TD, 58 REC, 487 YDS, 2 TD, 1 FMB LOST
Rd 3, Pick 2 (66) Amari Spievey CB, Iowa – 15 games, 9 starts, 51 TCK, 3 PD, 2 INT
Rd 4, Pick 30 (128) Jason Fox OT, Miami (FL) – 4 games
Rd 7, Pick 6 (213) Willie Young DE, North Carolina State – 2 games, no stats accumulated
Rd 7, Pick 48 (255) Tim Toone WR, Weber State – cut in finals cuts, added to practice squad, then to PC IR. Re-signed to futures contract in January.
Looking back at my grades for the Lions’ 2010 draft class: After the draft, I gave the Lions a B+ grade. Obviously, the Suh pick was given an A, but I also really liked the Best (A) and Will Young (A) picks. They were good values at where they were picked. I had Best at 30 on my value board, which is the exact spot where I had him on my value board. Impressive, no? Of course, that was one of only a couple of the picks that I got right in my mock draft or value board. I gave lesser grades to the other picks however. I thought Spievey (B-), Fox (C), and Toone (C) weren’t good values. Giving Mr. Irrelevant a C grade doesn’t really matter, but I thought Fox and Spievey could have lasted longer. Fox had gotten injured, but he may have been undervalued. I still like giving the Lions a B+ grade for their 2010 draft class. Suh was exactly who we thought he was and received Rookie of the Year honors. Best was also a great pick. The rest of the class dragged the overall grade down to B+, but having Best and Suh will see this team into the playoffs in the future.
First Round Picks From Last 5 Years: Ndamukong Suh DT, Jahvid Best RB, Matt Stafford QB, Brandon Pettigrew TE, Gosder Cherilus OT, Calvin Johnson WR, Ernie Sims OLB
2010 Stat Leaders
Shaun Hill 257-416 61.8% 2686 YDS 6.5 YPA 16 TD 12 INT 81.3 RTG
Jahvid Best 171 ATT 555 YDS 3.2 YPA 4 TD
Calvin Johnson 77 REC 1120 YDS 14.5 YPC 87 LNG 12 TD
Dave Rayner 13-16 81.3% 55 LNG
Louis Delmas 84 TCK
Ndamukong Suh 10 SCK
Alphonso Smith 5 INT
Out of Season Storylines (Because there is no offseason)