Lions' Round 1 Projections: (from reliable sites)

* - indicates consensus choice

Defensive Ends:

Mario Williams, DE (North Carolina State) *
Mathias Kiwanuka, DE (Boston College)
Loren Howard, DE (Northwestern)
Darryl Tapp, DE (Virginia Tech)

Offensive Tackles:

Andrew Whitworth, OT (LSU)
Marcus McNeill, OT (Auburn) *

Line Backers:

Spencer Havner, LB (UCLA)
Abdul Hodge, LB (Iowa) *
Ahmad Brooks, MLB (Virginia)



Not really surprising that these three positions are the Lions' most dire need!! Our OL has been absolutely horrible this year (espeically the OT positions of both Backus and Butler). The Lions need another talented DE opposite James Hall (upgrade over Redding), and with Dan Wilkinson aging a DL to replace him is another possibility too (even though Shaun Cody might be the answer here). And regarding the LB position, Earl Holmes is aging and going into the last year of his contract. Boss Bailey and Teddy Lehman are our OL for the future, but we'll need to find a starting MLB for next year. We definitely need to either address the MLB in the first or second round, depending on who's available. Anyways...who do you guys think the Lions should take in the first round?

ALSO, I'll post some of the statistics for these players to help separate the field.

I personally like Mathias Kiwanuka in the 1st, a T or G in the 2nd, a MLB in the 3rd and then another G or T in the 4th.

As for Big Daddy leaving, I think we could get by w/ Rogers/Cody/Bell/FA to fill that void

No quarterback listed?

None of the draft sites I went to listed a QB as the Lions' potential 1st round draft pick. However, I believe the QB position should definitely be addressed in the 1st round if Joey does not have a break out season. The question though is if we can't get Leinhart at the QB position is it worth drafting another QB? Are the other talents good enough to get the job done in Detroit? Cutler out of Vanderbilt? Or Whitehurst out of Clemson? Like I said in another post if we decide to address the QB position we should draft at least 2 QB's. Maybe one in the first round and one in the 4th-5th round. Tom Brady was taken in the 6th round and is one of the best QB's to ever play the game. Maybe Orlovsky will someday be our starter, but I don't see this happening.

McNeil is as close to a SURE thing as there is in the NFL. Backus and Butler are questionable coming into this season, and most likely one of them will need to be replaced for next season. McNeil is a stellar OT and could definitely help the QB, whoever he is next season, by giving him time to throw the ball. I don't think the DE position is a need because we drafted Shaun Cody last year, and we drafted Lehman and Bailey in the 2nd round so the MLB position could wait to be addressed until the 2nd round as well.

All i'm going to say is that your draft sites are giving you bad information.

I read that there is some concerns among scouts that McNeil may not have quick enough feet or play with enough knee bend to be a top-flight OLT.

I DO like his size........because we definitely need an OLT that can run-block better than Backus.

Other LIKELY top 20 picks at OT:
Jonathan Scott (Texas)
Eric Winston (Miami)
D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Virginia)

Possible 1st rounders:
Winston Justice (USC)
Andrew Whitworth (LSU)

And then there is OG/OT Max Jean-Gilles of Georgia, who is thought to be a 1st rounder as well. The only question is will he be an OG or a ORT?





Where is the AJ Hawk choice?

I think Hawk is the most impressive LB in the country.......and I think the most impressive to some out of college in several years.

He reminds me a lot of Ray Lewis (fast, instinctive sideline-to-sideline playmaker!)..........and if we can't get the OLT we want, I would have no problem picking him to line up behind the "BIG" DTs we have.