Season Review: Detroit Lions

Record Overview: 2-14



Hard to believe that this used to be one of the best franchises in the NFL, huh. It’s not all that long ago that the Lions had such great players as Barry Sanders, Lomas Brown, Herman Moore and Robert Porcher. Since Sanders’ retirement, the Lions have been unable to pull together a strong offense and defense at the same time and, as a result, have missed the playoffs every year since then. Many of their problems spring from the fact that they have been unable to find a abundance of talent through the draft and what talent they have found they have failed to commit to for more than a couple of years (e.g. Kevin Jones, Roy Williams).

A lot of the Lions problems can be blamed on the defense. They were ranked dead last in points given up, yards given up and passing yards given up. Even when it came to the rushing yards they gave up, they were still ranked 26th. While not the worst, it is far from acceptable. A lot of these problems can be attributed to the defensive front four and the secondary. In most cases, the latter was really the problem. Other than Louis Delmas, there was little to no continuity in the secondary, with both corner positions and the other safety position consistently being changed around, usually with bad players or players who were fairly one dimensional to begin with. Delmas himself was everything the Lions were hoping for when they drafted him with the first pick in the second round. He showed very good range, was never afraid to stick his nose in the middle of a pile and was delivered a couple hard hits, including a sack. He also showed good, but not great, ball skills intercepting two passes, returning one 101 yards for a touchdown. He still made mistakes, like every rookie does, but he still showed enough to be considered a cornerstone for this group going forward. The same cannot be said of some of his compatriots at the position. Marquand Manuel started for 5 games at the beginning of the season and then was benched for his continued poor play and was eventually placed on injured reserve after suffering a shoulder injury. He has never been the player the Packer’s thought they were signing after the 2005 season and is likely not to be back. Ko Simpson, who started 5 games after Manuel lost his job, played well as he had for the Bills, but still was nothing special. Simply put he is an adequate coverage player and solid in run support, but lacks the knack for making big plays. He was lost to a knee injury in November. Then Marvin White stepped in to the safety spot and finished the season there. That was more by necessity than merit. White is very aggressive and can lay the wood, but he is always out of position in coverage. Daniel Bullocks would seem to be an option since he plays well when he’s healthy, but he is rarely healthy and isn’t very likely to be retained.

As bad as safety was though, it was in much better condition than the cornerback position. Phillip Buchanon and Anthony Henry were supposed to start and provide the kind of veteran experience that one would expect from players who have been in the league as long as they had. However, neither was able to contain opposing receivers and the position was in constant flux. William James tried his best to do stop opposing receivers and, at times, was pretty good. Nothing special but good enough to warrant keeping around for another couple of years, but he two was unable to contain the best receivers that the Lions faced. Often times, he or any of the other corners on the roster were either being beat by faster receivers or were simply unable to stay close enough in coverage to compete with the receivers. To be fair, James ranked fifth on the team in tackles and tied with Delmas and Henry for the team lead in interceptions. However, that was still only two. This is a position in need of a serious rebuilding.

The linebacker core was probably the best group of players on the team and the one in the most unrest going into the offseason. Larry Foote led the team in tackles and, while he freelanced some, he was often in position to make the stop. He also provided good leadership on the field and will likely be a priority to re-sign over the off season. However, because of his experience and success in both a 3-4 and 4-3 defense, he will be hotly pursued. Julian Peterson, while not turning in the kind of performance we’re used to seeing from him, was still the most disruptive force on the defense. He did take a while to get going and 4.5 sacks is a small number for him, but he still provided a good pass rush when he was blitzed and forced five fumbles. He may not be back next season though, mainly because of his 7.5 million dollar salary next year. Ernie Sims was hurt for a good portion of the season, because of which he was often not in position to make the kind of plays he made in previous years. However, when he was on the field, he continuously improved his play and was able to really play to his fullest at the end of the season. However he has been the rumor of trade bait because of his fit in the system and because the team is not sure if they want to keep him past the end of his rookie contract, so trading him beforehand would bring value back to their investment. DeAndre Levy, a third-round pick from Wisconsin, is main reason behind a lot of these rumors at outside linebacker. He played extremely well at the outside spot and in the interior when Sims and Foote were hurt at various points in the season. Ideally, the Lions would like to find a spot for him in the starting lineup. However, they have two solid linebackers on the outside and another strong player in the middle. They really should keep him as a backup until they find out if they have re-signed Larry Foote or not. This team does not need to create more problems at a position of strength.

The defensive line is another group that needs a good bit of work for this team to improve. There was some amount of continuity with this group. Sammie Lee Hill, Grady Jackson, Cliff Avril and Jason Hunter took the majority of the snaps and Turk McBride, Landon Cohen, Andre Fluellen and Dewayne White rotated in regularly and took starts when other starters were hurt. While that kind of stability is usually a good thing, in this group’s case, it only served to prove that it is still missing quality in the lineup. White, who was supposed to start, was a disappointment and finished the season without a sack, given the fact that he signed a nice big contract extension in 2007, that production is unacceptable. McBride was in bad position to help the line after trimming down to try and fit in to the 3-4 that Kansas City (his former team) was playing. Cohen and Fluellen are better as rotational players then starters and may have to battle for their spots on the team in the coming offseason. Grady Jackson was the rock of this group, but was also nothing special. While he used to be able to take up two or three blockers at a time, he looked like a shell of his former self this past season. The real interior pressure, and perhaps the biggest surprise of this season, came from Sammie Lee Hill. Through the majority of the season, he was the player who demanded the most double teams in any given game. He was hurt for a couple of games, but was still able to provide an interior push when he returned and is considered a good building block along the line. Hunter is a bit of an unknown; he played well at times, but is often invisible and doesn’t create any amount of consistent pressure. Avril is a least a rotational piece. He wasn’t able to create consistent pressure, however he still lead the team in sacks with 5.5 and forced three fumbles. He does need to be more consistent in the pass rush and his a bit undersized for taking on the run. Overall the defense needs to keep those talented players they have and needs to be strategic in where they add more talent.

While the offense faired better than the defense, it still wasn’t much better. They ranked 27th in points scored, 26th in total yardage gained, 21st in pass yards gained and 24th in rushing yards gained (all per game). The big thing to remember about this group is that they were often running with a good number of rookies or first time starters and they were clearly a growing group.

Quarterback was the position that had all the pressure on it during the season. Specifically, all the pressure was on first year QB and number one overall pick, Matthew Stafford. In all honesty, he met that pressure and preformed pretty well. While he didn’t; have a great completion percentage (52%) and turned the ball over a lot (20 Int.), he also showed why he was considered such a good prospect. His arm strength is already among the best in the league, he showed great leadership in holding the team together and never getting down on himself or his teammates during the harder stretches. He also showed a toughness that was reminiscent of Phillip Rivers (in the 2007 AFC Championship game) when he played through a separated shoulder and dislocated knee to pull off the shootout win over the Browns. Those injuries will be given time to heal during the offseason and neither looks to be a problem going forward. He is secured as the starter for at least the immediate future and will likely be the QB to take the Lions back to the playoffs. Daunte Culpepper played in all the games that Stafford missed and wasn’t much better than he was last year. His career has really fallen into a tailspin since the shot to his knee took out three ligaments and lead to his dismissal from the Vikings. He may return as the backup, but he may also leave. Drew Staton provided a bit of a spark in his one start, but also plays like a rookie at times and doesn’t have the experience to be anything more than a project at this point.

Runningback was a disappointing position and may be needlessly overhauled in the offseason. Kevin Smith took a while to get going, but once he did, he looked like Ray Rice in a blue uniform. Seriously, he played every bit as well as Ray Rice when he was healthy and running well. However, a shoulder injury and a torn ACL towards the end of the season threw him clear off track and may have cost him the starting job. Although, that may have more to do with the fact that he isn’t a great breakaway runner and the team wants someone flashier to start. Maurice Morris played pretty well in his stead, but is clearly little more than a backup. Real surprise from this group was the play of Aaron Brown. The sixth round pick from TCU really wasn’t expected to be any more than a bit player who could develop, but he turned out to be a better kick returner than third round pick Derrick Williams and was a big play presence on offense. Scott Linehan found ways to get him the ball and he responded with big runs and became a threat to be reckoned with. Reports are that the team is looking to add a true feature back to this group and push Kevin Smith and Aaron Brown to the duty of true change-up backs. That would seem to me to be a wasted investment when Smith has shown such surprising play towards the end of his season, but this is par for the course in Detroit.

The wide receiver position is in somewhat better condition. Calvin Johnson is clearly among the league’s elite receivers, even when he doesn’t have an elite season. He has great size, speed, hands and knows exactly how to attack the ball in the air. His main problem is an inconsistency at QB and in the running game. These problems caused him to draw more coverage or have passes overthrown or short-hopped. It didn’t help that his other receivers never posed more than an occasional threat. Bryant Johnson was supposed to be a solid number 2 and someone who could take pressure off of (Calvin) Johnson. However, he never seemed to be able to pull away from defenders and was out physicaled by corners. He still was able to pull in three touchdowns and started every game of the season. He may not be the best option, but he is durable and experienced so he’s worth bringing back at a reasonable price. Dennis Northcutt and Derrick Williams were supposed to be excellent slot options but neither was able to wiggle open enough to help the passing game. Williams was especially disappointing since he was supposed to be an excellent return man. He succeeded at neither return role and will have to prove himself to remain in the team’s plans beyond training camp.

As far as tight end goes, Brandon Pettigrew is clearly the man at that position. He was a solid blocker and developed into the main escape valve for the young rookie Matthew Stafford. His receiving talents did take awhile to develop, but they did come one strongly later in the season and he should be a key figure in the Lions offense going forward. All that is provided he recovers well from his torn ACL. If he doesn’t, well the Lions are right back where they were before. Impending free agent Will Heller caught one more touchdown than Pettigrew (3 to 2), but had one fewer reception (29 to 30) for almost 50 fewer yards (296 to 346). The thing is, Pettigrew never had a 50 yard reception through the course of the season. On top of that, Heller played the entire season, while Pettigrew only made it twelve games before being injured. I think those stats tell all one needs to know about how well Heller filled in for Pettigrew. Casey Fitzsimmons is also on the team and he is a solid blocker and adequate receiver, but hardly a playmaker. This position may need some more depth during the offseason.

The offensive line has, perhaps, been the group that the Lions have invested the most in, yet gotten the least return from. Over the past four years (Backus in 2006, Cherilus in 2008, Peterman and Raiola in 2009), the Lions have invested a total of 88.9 million dollars (39.36 guaranteed) into the offensive line. Of those, Jeff Backus and Dominic Raiola played excellently, Backus drawing enough praise to even be mentioned as a pro bowl snub. Raiola has never been spectacular but was strong enough to be worth the money they invested in him. Peterman is a strong run blocker and fair pass blocker, but was hurt for the last seven games and the Lions play clearly suffered from that. All of these previously mentioned players are very likely to return to their starting positions next season. Gosder Cherilus on the other hand is beginning to ware out his welcome with the organization. He needs to step up his game, particularly in terms of his technique. He has the attitude, but he is never quite able to consistently apply both his ferocity and his technique to be a dominant player. He needs to have a big year to maintain his spot on the team. The other guard position was the most unsettled. Manny Ramirez and Daniel Loper swapped spots on the starting lineup for most of the season and neither was very effective. They even got desperate enough to start veteran right tackle Jon Jansen at the guard spot. None were able to lay claim to that spot as their own. The line as a whole needs depth and another solid starter to make this group dominant.


Team MVP: Calvin Johnson


It’s hard to consider the best player, or rather the most valuable player on one team a wide receiver, mostly because the position is so dependent on others to be great. However, in this case I think it’s a deserved honor. More then anyone else on the Lions, Johnson changed the way the Lions were able to play offense. It also helps that he was by far and away the best player on the team this year. He had 26 more receptions than the next guy (67 to 41), 567 more receiving yards than the next guy (984 to 417) and led the team in receiving touchdowns with five. By the way, the next closest RECEVIER (the player with the second most catches was Kevin Smith) was Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt with 35 a piece, meaning that Johnson almost doubled the other receivers in catches by himself. All of this is helped by the fact that he is an athletic super freak. He has speed to burn, great size, amazingly soft hands and is extensively versed in route running. He is everything a team could look for in a dominant star receiver.


Offensive Player of the Year: Calvin Johnson

See all of the above.

Defensive Player of the Year: Julian Peterson


As I said earlier, Peterson was the most disruptive force on the Lions defense all season. He ranked fourth on the team in tackles with 76, third on the team in sacks with 4.5 and led the team in forced fumbles with 5. He did start slow and wasn’t the kind of force that he had been in his first two years with the Seahawks and that is what may hurt his case, if this was an open discussion. But it’s not. It’s my decision and my examination shows that Peterson was the most versatile and dangerous and disruptive force on the Lions all season.


Rookie of the Year: Louis Delmas

Delmas is everything I talked about in my previous section about the safeties and then some. He showed his excellent range, hitting ability and instincts. He also showed good leadership down the stretch as the lineup continued to change. He still has room to grow, but so do all rookies.

Breakout Player of the Year: Louis Delmas

It’s bad when your breakout player is just a rookie. Everything I have said about Delmas to this point still applies.

Surprise Player of the Year: DeAndre Levy/Sammie Lee Hill

Again, this was a really close call and there was no way I could separate these two. It’s really a good thing for the Lions who need talent on the defensive side of the ball.

Levy was such a great fourth linebacker that there is a great deal of talk about how the Lions could keep him on the field longer. He has great athleticism and instincts. He used those tools to be perhaps the Lions best option in coverage, as far as linebackers go. He also started the last three games in the middle and reminded me somewhat of Jonathan Vilma. He isn’t the kind of thumping middle linebacker you would expect to see but he uses athleticism and intelligence locate and fill the holes meant for runningbacks to run through. A great building block for the future should the Lions wish to become more economical with their personnel.

Sammie Lee Hill, on the other hand, fought his way directly into the starting lineup during training camp and stayed there all year when he was healthy. He provided the best interior pass rush of any of the defensive lineman on the team. While he didn’t consistently draw double teams, he did so often enough to be considered a key piece along that defensive line. He would benefit from another season of experience and a strong force on either side of him (a great DE or DT). Another great building block on this defense.

2006 Draft Review and Final Grade: D+


This draft got a solid player at the top (Sims) and another one in the second round, though he is injury prone (Bullocks). Scott is hanging around the league and Cannon contributed enough before being released to keep this from being a “D.”


Ernie Sims, Linebacker, Florida State


Sims came out in the draft as one of the best linebacker prospects in the draft. He was known for is great speed and was often compared to the great Tampa Bay Buccaneer Derrick Brooks. This made him an ideal candidate for the Tampa-2 defense that the Lions ran at that point in time. Since being drafted he has started 56 of the 59 and made over one hundred tackles each of his first three seasons. This past season was the first time injuries have caused Sims to miss any amount of time and his numbers suffered as a result. While the defense has changed he is still likely in the future plans. A solid player and one of the few successes in the tenure of former GM, Matt Millen.


Daniel Bullocks, Safety, Nebraska


Daniel Bullocks has been a very good safety for the Lions. He is able to play the run very well and is competent in coverage. He sometimes can be blown by and drawn in by play-action fakes, but is other wise a good solid safety. That is, when he is healthy. Sadly, he has had a number of knee injuries that have kept him from becoming the best player he could be. He started a good number of the games he has been able to play in, 22 out of 31 the problem is that he missed both the 2007 and 2009 seasons with those knee injuries. Otherwise he is a strong player, should he recover and not get shoved out of his job.


Brian Calhoun, Runningback, Wisconsin


Calhoun has been in much the same boat as Bullocks, except without the production part. He had numerous problems with his legs and missed large portions of every season he was with the Lions. He did show some talent when he did get on the field in preseason games and occasionally in the regular season. In fact, he showed enough that in the early part of the 2008 training camp, he was a candidate to win the starting job, but he quickly fell down the depth chart and was released last May. He has not been picked up and is an unfortunate bust.


Jonathan Scott, Tackle, Texas


Jonathan Scott was supposed to the massive bodied tackle that would compete for either of the starting tackle positions. He did do that, but only when injuries forced him into the lineup. He had numerous injuries while with the Lions that led to him finding his way off the team in 2008. He re-emerged somewhat this season with Buffalo and was the top backup to the right tackle Brad Butler. However, injuries once again forced him from the lineup and he still hasn’t shown that he can be more than a third or fourth tackle. Marginal bust.


Dee McCann, Cornerback, West Virginia


A more traditional failure of the Lions is represented in Alton “Dee” McCann. He was supposed to contribute some in special teams and compete for the dime spot, but ended up on the practice squad until injuries forced him onto the 53 man roster as a rookie. He didn’t make it out of training camp the following year and bounced around the league somewhat before being left out entirely these past two seasons. The failure I referenced earlier is the inability to turn late round picks into back-ups and contributors. Bust.


Fred Mutua, Guard, USC


Fred Mutua followed a similar pattern to the latter part of McCann’s career. He didn’t make it past training camp in his rookie season and bounced around on practice squads with the Browns, Titans and Redskins for the next few years before being out of football in 2008 and 2009. Bust.


Anthony Cannon, Linebacker, Tulane


Anthony Cannon bucked the trend that McCann and Mutua were forming by actually contributing on special teams for a couple of years before finding his way off the team this past march and being out of football last year. Since he was the last pick in this draft for the Lions, it is kind of unfair to call him a bust since he did do what they drafted him for and they didn’t lose much in doing so. A mediocre pick, mostly because he didn’t stick around longer.

Offseason Needs

Other than linebacker, the Lions need at least solid backups at every position. With Daunte Culpepper likely leaving in free agency and Drew Stanton not showing the strides the Lions expected him to take by this time, another backup QB would be a good addition. While it’s likely that the Lions will push for a “franchise” runningback in the draft, they really don’t need one. Kevin Smith is very capable and shouldn’t be cast aide too early. They need another solid wide receiver, tight end and guard to help the passing game. Depth at all of those positions would be helpful as well.

Defensively they need starters at defensive end, defensive tackle, both corner spots and safety. That’s not including who may be cut or traded away for salary reasons. Depth is also a concern; however some of the starters from this past season may be better in a rotational role. Lots of money needs to be spent on this team during the offseason.

1st-round Draft Prediction and suggestions for ways to go.


1st Round Pick should be: Gerald McCoy, Defensive Tackle, Oklahoma.


McCoy isn’t quite as good as many analysts would lead you to believe, basically meaning that he isn’t as good as Ndamukong Suh, particularly in the run game. McCoy is more of one-gap penetrator and is a little more focused on getting to the QB than stopping the run. Also, penetrating, one-gap pass rushers in college have a tendency to get overwhelmed when they get to the NFL by the larger, stronger guards. All that being said, he is still a tremendous prospect and would, likely, be an instant double team on any given play. There has been no indication of him taking plays off or needing to be given a break during the course of a season. To be fair, he was playing in the Big 12 which is not known for its dominant guard play or strong power running games. But again, I’m nitpicking. He would definitely be the best option if Suh goes number one, but other options would be guys Derrick Morgan, Eric Berry or Joe Haden.

As far as other picks go, they really should address the defensive backfield in the second round, preferably going to corners first. Guys like Kyle Wilson from Boise State, Devin McCourty from Rutgers or Patrick Robinson from Florida State. Ideally they’d like for Perrish Cox from Oklahoma State would fall to the second round, but he is likely to get snatched up in the late first round. Trevard Lindley from Kentucky, Javier Arenas from Alabama, Syd’Quan Thompson form California and Alterraun Verner from UCLA are all good options in later rounds. As far as Safety goes Taylor Mays from USC may fall into the second round which would be nice, but a more realistic option would be Nate Allen from South Florida, Kam Chancellor from Virginia Tech or Myron Rolle Florida State are options in the middle rounds.
Along the third round they really need to consider a strong defensive end. Guys like Greg Hardy from Mississippi, Willie Young from North Carolina State or Rahim Alem from LSU. Corey Wooton from Northwestern and Brandon Lang from Troy would be available in the second round, but I think the drop-off between the majority of the defensive backs in the second round and the later rounds is bigger than is the case with defensive lineman. Other options for the defensive tackle spot are guys like Lamarr Houston from Texas and D’Anthony Smith from Louisiana Tech.
As far as their options go in building depth offensively they should look at getting a tight end, wide receiver or/and a runningback in the fourth or later rounds. As far as tight ends go, they could get come good mileage out of players like Mike Hoomanawanui from Illinois and Anthony Moeaki from Iowa. Emmanuel Sanders from SMU, Jeremy Williams from Tulane, Seyi Ajirotutu from Fresno State and Antonio Brown from Central Michigan are all good options at Wide Receiver. The one I am probably going to wrong about is what they do with runningback. There is a good chance that they would take a player like Jahvid Best or Jonathan Dwyer should either be available in the second round. I personally think that that would be a mistake. LeGarrette Blount from Oregon, Javarris James from Miami (Fl.) and Curtis Steele from Memphis would all be good options in the later rounds and all would be good compliments to Aaron Brown and Kevin Smith.