Ya, we definetly dont need the word "slow" in our defensive backfield. If he can hit, thats great, but we need some ball skills back there other than Delmas.

Ryan Matthews has a good chance to go in the 1st round IMO and will not make it to the 3rd . He will not even make it past our 2nd pick unless someone falls like Kyle Wilson. I don’t see Jerry making it the 4th round either. [/quote]

I just wanted to go on record to say that I am not a Taylor Mays fan. I thought he showed a lot of promise as a junior, but I was completely unimpressed with his play this past season. I don't agree with blueblood that Mays is slow though. IMO, he lacks instincts and that's why he appears to be a step slow at times. If you watched the Oregon game, you would see what I'm talking about. The guy had several opportunities to make plays, but he simply didn't. Unfortunately for him, that happened more times than not throughout the entire season.

I'm with you on Mays, and I think that he may have to transition to OLB, but whether or not he can take on blockers is the big question. I feel like he might have to do that in order to be successful. Good safeties in the NFL are all playmakers, and that has been the knock on him this year.

Great, then we'd have two safeties that are liabilities in coverage and still nobody on the outside that can play man coverage. Excellent strategy for the team that has been 32nd in pass defense for three years running.

Kyle Wilson PROVED himself during the Senior Bowl practices as the best senior cover corner on the market. Haden and perhaps Warren are the only juniors who are better. To ignore Wilson in favor of players who have been over-hyped like Mays (a slightly better version of Darnell Bing, but certainly not even close to the second coming of Sean Taylor), or player who really doesn't fit a need (Spikes is strictly suited for ILB in our defense....and don't we have like THREE qualified LBers for that spot?).

The Lions may not be world beaters against the run, but their true Achille's Heel is their pass defense. Teams use the pass to score, and the run to wear the defense and clock down. They don't run against the Lions as a true game plan to score. How many more fringe QBs have to put up career numbers against the Lions before you realize this? Getting Suh or McCoy will help the pass rush. The Lions SHOULD consider getting another DE with pass rush specialist written in permanent ink on his forehead. Dexter McCluster in the third would give us the speed out of the slot I'd like, but it seems to me we could get that out of a pick like Jacoby Ford in the fifth round. That speed guy isn't there to make a great number of catches, but to pull the coverage deeper and open things up underneath for Pettigrew, CJ and whatever RB we are using for flares and screens. Use that high third rounder on a DE, like a Willie Young in that mock. Then get the OG in Jerry in the fourth (I think he's a solid second round talent) and we'd be looking good.

1. DT Suh
2. CB Wilson
3. DE Young
4. OG Jerry
5a. WR Ford
5b. BPA
6. BPA

I've noticed a recent disturbing trend in various mock drafts. A lot of them have us taking Donovan Warren, CB, Michigan in the 2nd round.

Now, I only got to listen to a few UofM games on the Radio this year. But, he didn't impress me at all. Is he better than I think he is? I know that he isn't in the same zip code as Charles Woodson and Marlin Jackson. But, few CB's are. What Pro CB is he compared to ability wise?

Wait wait wait... I never said that I would take Mays over Wilson or Warren. After the Senior Bowl I'm expecting Wilson to be gone before the 2nd round, and I'm not 100% sure where Warren is going to go. I think we'll know more after the combine, but I think he's going to have a good one... The kid is flat out fast, and he's a bigger/strong CB. He may end up going in the first round too.

I dont really think anyone has been on high on Mays since draft time last year to be honest.

Everything Ive read about Warren has been tied to his potential, and that teams are willing to look past how U of M used him last year. I think on paper he has prototypical size/speed, but with his game tape being iffy or thrown out in some cases and the rise of Wilson he should probably still be around when the Lions pick in the second round.

But it seems like CB is always a sough after position, and it only takes one team to fall in love.

You're right. Donovan Warren really wasn't that impressive the past two seasons from a stats standpoint, but I don't know that it is entirely his fault. He does have excellent speed, and good size. Much of it has to do with the fact that opposing offenses worked away from Warren.

Personally, I don't think Warren is a first round talent. He has the measureables, but I don't think he breaks on the ball that well and doesn't seem to be a willing open field tackler at times.

Time will tell....

Wait how do you know who Warren was covering if you were listening on the radio? From watching the games, he wasn't the problem it was whoever was the other CB... I never thought I would say that I missed Morgan Trent, but last year I said it multiple times... As Jim Halpert put it "Congratulations universe... You win..."

As far as Taylor Mays goes... He's got undenyable potential and he should be looked at very seriously if he's there in the second round... M2K said we'd have 2 safeties who are coverage liabilities and I guess that confuses me because Delmas is at least a decent cover safety... When I watch Mays I see a guy with incredible size, range, power who almost always takes the correct angle... I think he has value playing the deep middle or coming up in the box... I wouldn't line him up over Gates, but really who has a 2nd safety that you would?

First Round Mock Draft
Tue, 02/02/2010 - 22:36 — Frank Coyle

* NFL Mock Draft

First Round Mock Draft for the NFL Draft
Mock Draft after Senior Bowl week

1st Round
Team / Player / Pos / School
1 St. Louis * Sam Bradford - QB - Oklahoma
2. Detroit - Ndamukong Suh - DT - Nebraska
3. Tampa Bay - * Eric Berry - S - Tennessee
4. Washington - * Jimmy Clausen - QB - Notre Dame
5. Kansas City - * Gerald McCoy - DT - Oklahoma
6. Seattle - C.J. Spiller - RB - Clemson
7. Cleveland - * Joe Haden - CB - Florida
8. Oakland - Russell Okung - OT - Oklahoma St
9. Buffalo - * Rolando McClain - LB - Alabama
x 10. Denver (Chicago) - * Derrick Morgan - DE - Georgia Tech
x 11. Jacksonville - Taylor Mays - S - Southern Cal
12. Miami - * Carlos Dunlap - DE - Florida
13. San Francisco - * Brian Bulaga - OT - Iowa
14. Seattle (Denver) - * Anthony Davis - OT - Rutgers
15. New York Giants - Mike Iupati - OG - Idaho
x 16. San Fran (Carolina) - Brandon Spikes - LB - Florida
x 17. Tennessee - * Dez Bryant - WR - Oklahoma St
18. Pittsburgh - Trent Williams - OT - Oklahoma
x 19. Atlanta - * Jonathan Dwyer - RB - Georgia Tech
x 20. Houston - Patrick Robinson - CB - Florida St
21. Cincinnati - * Everson Griffen - DE - Southern Cal
22. New England - Jerry Hughes - LB - TCU
23. Green Bay - * Earl Thomas - S - Texas
24. Philadelphia - Brandon Graham - DE - Michigan
25. Baltimore - * Jermaine Gresham - TE - Oklahoma
26. Arizona - * Navorro Bowman - LB - Penn St
27. Dallas - Sergio Kindle - LB - Texas
28. San Diego - Dan Williams - DT - Tennessee
29. NY Jets - Jared Odrick - DT - Penn St
30. Minnesota - * Brian Price - DT - UCLA
y 31. New Orleans - Greg Hardy - DE - Mississippi
y 32. Indianapolis - * Jason Pierre-Paul - DE - South Florida

Just a thought guys..

What if the Lions traded for Glenn Dorsey for, lets say, a 2nd round pick. Now we have him and SLH in the middle. What do the Lions do now? You think they take Eric Berry at #2? What about trade down for cheap and draft Iupati, Spiller, Morgan, or even McClain (maybe)?

Just a thought.

I think that would put us in a tough spot. Personally I would be upset with them sending a 2nd for Dorsey, I think he can be had with a 3rd and maybe a 6th or 7th. That being said, for whatever they get for him... I think that would change things and maybe open us up to looking at Berry or Okung. I think Okung has a high ceiling and can add the weight he'll need to be a dominant LT. I think we could let him sit a year or maybe play some guard until he is ready.

Morgan would be an option to sure up the line. Then get a CB in the second... we'd be looking a whole heck of a lot better on D.

Murtyle, the reason I say that Delmas is a liability in coverage is two fold:

1. He bites on play action fakes too easily and gets caught out of position. This happened to him often, and what really got me is that it would happen in obvious passing situations, where the likelihood of the opposition using a run play was was slim. I like his aggressive approach in run support, but he doesn't possess the instincts yet to be able to make up the ground.

2. He goes for the big hit when he should be going for the big play, same as Taylor Mays. Big hits are great, if you make them and if you separate the player from the ball. But I saw Delmas miss on some of those hits, and big plays resulted for the opposing receiver. I also feel that there were times that if he had played the ball, he could have easily had a pick rather than the hit. Rattling someones fillings loose is all well and good, but if the opportunity is there to get the ball back for your offense, that should be your choice.

This is why I have said I don't really feel Delmas is well suited to play free safety, but should instead be switched to strong safety where his run support strength would best be used. If we could get a ball hawking safety, someone like a converted CB ala Jairus Byrd of the Bills, then we could easily mix in Cover 3 zones with man coverage to better confuse opposing QBs. Right now if we go into Cover 3 or Cover 2, the QBs will look to work against our safeties quite a bit because they lack true cover ability. Of course, so do our CBs, so that's why opposing QBs have career passing days against us. Yet another reason why we need a strong coverage safety, because our CBs flat out suck.

Those are valid points... The way I see it is this... Delmas was a rookie, those things are going to happen to him... There's no reason to think that he can't learn to be disciplined... I would worry with Delmas playing SS because of his size as well... I'd much rather Mays in that role... Plus can you imagine how much fun it would be to see him and Peterson blast each other two games a year?

I'm just saying if he is there in the second (which I still highly doubt) we have to at least consider drafting him...