Not at the top of round two. However, I think he'd be a good choice if the Lions decided to either trade down to mid-round two or below. He doesn't have great top end speed, but he has excellent quickness.

Yes, I didn't word it right. "20 defensive players projected 1st round talent" would have made it a little more clear I guess. Also, your projection of 40-45 guys with 1st round talent is pretty close I would say.

RUNNING BACKS

Strength = 3

1 Ryan Mathews, Fresno St (1st Rounder)
2 CJ Spiller, Clemson (1st Rounder)
3 Jahvid Best, Cal (1st Rounder)
4 Ben Tate, Auburn
5 Montario Hardesty, Tenn
6 Toby Gerhart, Stanford
7 Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech
8 Joe McKnight, USC
9 Anthony Dixon, Miss St
10 Charles Scott, LSU
11 LaGarrette Blout, Oregon
12 Lonyae Miller, Fresno St
13 James Starks, Buffalo
14 Deji Karim, S. Illinois
15 Brandon Minor, Michigan

Sleeper = Joique Bell, Wayne State

Very Interesting and Telling ranking on the RBs

LINEBACKERS

Strength = 2

1 Rolando McClain, ILB Alabama (1st Rounder)
2 Sergio Kindle, OLB Texas (1st Rounder)
3 Jerry Hughes, OLB Texas Christian (1st Rounder)
4 Sean Weatherspoon, OLB Missouri (1st Rounder)
5 Sean Lee, ILB Penn State (1st Rounder)
6 Daryl Washington, OLB Texas Christian (1st Rounder)
7 Navorro Bowman, OLB Penn State
8 Brandon Spikes, ILB Florida
9 Ricky Sapp, OLB Clemson
10 Eric Norwood, OLB S. Carolina
11 Perry Riley, OLB LSU
12 Jamar Cheney, ILB Miss St
13 AJ Edds, OLB Iowa
14 Rod Muckelroy, ILB Texas
15 Pat Angerer, ILB Iowa

Sleeper = Chris McCoy, Middle Tenn

Sean Lee a first round talent? Surprising. Most analysts see him as late 2nd to mid 3rd round. Personally, I like the guy and think he's got the versatility to play any spot in a 43, or ILB in a 34. Kindle and Hughes I consider to be strictly 34 rush OLBs. Tough to separate them from DEs in that respect.

How is the LB strength a 2, but he's got 6 first rounders?

That really is a good question.

I like Sean Lee as well, his versatility makes him that much more valuable. I found this player bio on him.

Sean Lee LB Penn St


TALENT BOARD

Round 1



STRENGTHS

Sean Lee has the athletic talent, football instincts, intelligence, decision making coach-like abilities on the field and leadership qualities that you look for in a franchise linebacker to build you defense around. He is a head up, wrap up squeeze and drive tackler who can play any linebacker position on the field in any style defense. Sean is excellent playing against the run and the pass. He is very quick and has the speed and athleticism to cover (in pass defense) most wide receivers in this draft. When defending against the run, Sean is like a comet streaking across the field to make a perfect tackle in the hole for a loss behind the line of scrimmage. He is one of the smartest players I have seen on a football field and, barring injury will be an impact player the day after you draft him.



NEEDS TO IMPROVE

Sean needs to be in a system that will allow him to flow to the play. Don't waste his talent on a shed and block linebacker system. The biggest problem you will have with Sean is deciding were you are going to play him. Keeping Sean healthy is a priority. His college career has been a history of injury problems. To his credit, he has come back from all of them in magnificently. That shows an excellent work ethic, but also a troubling quirk that will cause lots of teams to not want to invest first round money in him. Personally my thinking is if you down grade players because of injuries then I think half the 1st round players would not be first round players.



BOTTOM LINE

I have been sitting on this profile for a long time. I have not listed Sean in my top ten or top twenty for a reason. I wanted to wait until Sean got to the combine, worked out and was ready to move up on everyone's draft board to at least the top 15. For me personally I will be listing him in my final top ten. He is just that good and the truth is the McClain from Alabama has great talent, but Sean is the best linebacker in this draft and has the quickest LTI. Injuries have hurt this kid, but he has more talent and football instincts than the top linebacker taken in the 2009 draft last year. Sean can rush the passer or play middle linebacker and stuff the run or play in man to man coverage in pass defense. He makes the players around him better through his play on the field. Defensive Coordinators wives will be wondering why their husbands are dreaming more about Sean and not about them. This kid must stay healthy to impact, but if he does, he will make your team's defense one of a kind.



Drew Boylhart 2/10

What Goose said was "This is as lean a year for linebackers as teh NFL has seen in the last decade. There are some quality pass rushers who fit a 3-4 scheme but the traditional 4-3 backers with the size to play the run are lacking".

With nearly half the NFL now running a 3-4, the landscape has changed for LBs. I see a lot of these potential 1st rounders go mid-to-late in the first where many 3-4 teams are sitting right now.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Strength = 8

1 Dez Brant, Oklahoma St (1st Rounder)
2 Demarylus Thomas, Ga. Tech (1st Rounder)
3 Regus Benn, Illinois (1st Rounder)
4 Damian Williams, USC (1st Rounder)
5 Brandon LaFell, LSU
6 Golden Tate, Notre Dame
7 Dexter McCluster, Miss
8 Taylor Price, Ohio
9 Andre Roberts, The Citadel
10 Emmanual Sanders, Southern Methodist
11 Jordan Shipley, Texas
12 Eric Decker, Minnesota
13 Dezmon Brisco, Kansas
14 Marty Gilyard, Cincinnati
15 Marcus Easley, Conneticut

Sleeper = Johnathan Haggerty, Southwestern Oklahoma

OFFENSIVE LINE

Strength = 5

1 Russell Okung, T Oklahoma St (1st Rounder)
2 Trent Williams, T Oklahoma (1st Rounder)
3 Anthony Davis, T Rutgers (1st Rounder)
4 Bryan Bulaga, T Iowa (1st Rounder)
5 Maurkice Pouncey, C Florida (1st Rounder)
6 Mike Ipati, G Idaho (1st Rounder)
7 Rodger Saffold, T Indiana (1st Rounder)
8 Charles Brown, T USC (1st Rounder)
9 Bruce Campbell, T Maryland (1st Rounder)
10 Jonathan Asamoah, G Illinois
11 Zane Beadles, G Utah
12 Vladimir Ducasse, T Mass
13 John Jerry, G Mass
14 Chris Scott, G Tenn
15 Ed Wang, T Va Tech

Sleeper = Ramon Harewood, OT Morehouse State

Note: his spotlight was on Jared Veldheer, OT Hillsdale

Yet Jared Veldheer does not even make is top Olinemen? I'd put Veldheer at #10 on that list. If for some reason he was to slip to the third round, I sure hope the Lions would consider him.

I'd put Veldheer ahead of Campbell as well.

I'm not sure why OT strength is a 5... there is a glut of pretty good OL this year.