^^^This. I fully expect us to come away with a top left tackle to bring the offense together. It would be nice to grab some interior help as well though.

Raiola has to go. The dood is flat out garbage, he's a hot head, and he's a penalty waiting to happen. Given where we're going to likely pick in the draft (sub 20), I'd be happier with the best OC in the draft than moving up to take a LT. Get him out of here...

Whats frustrating is hearing people that are just casual football fans think that if your line is bad, it MUST be the left tackle. I totally agree with your statement and think Raiola is the weakest link on that line. So far the big name ive heard is Mike Brewster of OSU. Dont know if hes as good as advertised or not.

Raiola opened up the hole for Best's 88-yarder on Monday night, so that was pretty solid. He's not a big powerful guy so he typically gets pushed around a lot but he is good at the line making the calls so I doubt if the staff is eager to replace him. With that said, I think every position on the OL could be upgraded.

My guess is the Lions will continue looking for players who can play multiple positions, which might mean finding someone who can play G and/or T, or someone who can play G and/or C. Position flexibility is very important to this front office and to both offensive and defensive schemes, so I'm guessing any new OL acquisitions will reflect that philosophy.

Excellent post. I agree that the Lions will draft a guard/center type player and let him replace Peterman before he replaces Raiola. I am not a fan of Dom, but he's not the weak link on this offensive line. Peterman gets that title, with Cherilus a close second this season. Raiola has actually done pretty well so far. You aren't seeing DTs getting to Stafford that much, and that's his first priority. Dom's never been a strong run blocker, so stating that he's lacking in that area is stating the obvious.

Ya you're probably right about Peterman, guess I was jumping the gun on Dom. Peterman probably is our weakest link on the O-line.

I guess it depends what you mean by "weak link." If you're talking about the worst player then I would agree that its probably Peterman, but if you're talking about size/strength, I think it's Dom. He's too small, his arms are too short, and he gets thrown around. I know it's not supposed to be the Cs job to handle a DT, and that their job is to primarily assist the OGs, but I don't think Dom is strong enough to even do that well.

I'm not questioning Dom's pass protection. I think he can do that fairly well (though he does get beat badly at times, and holds.... IMO it's ridiculous for a C to ever get caught with a holding call). However, I've said it before, I don't think that we will ever be a good running team with Dom centering the line. For that reason I would love to land someone to replace him in this draft. From what I understand his contract is expiring this off-season. If we sign him to a 3+ year extension I'll puke. He's going to want big money (we already over-paid him on his last extension), and he's not worth it. That's what makes me think/hope he could get replaced before Peterman.

Not that Mayhew will draft for need, but that SF game made it painfully clear that the OL needs an upgrade. Drafting an o-lineman in every round of the 2012 draft might be a decent idea

Well, unfortunately although the Lions have drafted a RB in the first 60 picks for two years running, we may have to pull the trigger yet again on that position.

Why do you think that? I say fix the OL and our running game and passing games will both improve. Screw a new Rb, unless there is some crazy talent there. IMO if recent drafts and acquisitions have proven anything it's that you can get a good quality Rb late in the draft/free agency.

I was answering in response to the "take an offensive lineman with every pick" post, and basically stating that there may be another need. I never said use a high pick. But when it comes down to it, if Best is having to consider retirement and LeShoure is not the same guy, we have nobody to run the football worth while. Yes, we could make a move in free agency, and probably get a good RB there. However, with the new CBA and the rookie wage scale, it may make better financial sense to use a mid-round pick on a rookie rather than pay bigger bucks to a free agency RB who may have played his best football already.

I don't disagree with drafting yet another rookie RB. I think a team should draft a RB in the mid rounds every couple of years, develope him, run him for 3-5 years, and dump him. That's all they're good for. That said, earlier picks I would rather use on OL talent. Bad Rbs behind a good line get yards, good Rbs behind bad OLs don't fare as well, IMO. I also think that virtually anyone with speed and strength can play RB (see Samkin Gato, Danny Woodhead, BJGE, that white dood from Minny, Hillis, a whole slew of past Denver Rbs, etc.), but late round OLmen, despite their "grooming" seem to bust quite often.

steesn to this thread in 3, 2, 1....

He hasn't been on the board at all for a few weeks now. Not sure if that's on purpose or not.

I actually JUST watched some videos on Cordy Glenn for my first time, and though you cant really "project" anything from that, I really like what I saw. I like him as a guard. I think if everything worked out well, Id like him to take Petermans spot at RG. I think hes got the size and strength to really upgrade that side of the OL.