Judge For Yourselves

[jayfan]

Wrong question...many teams have a lot of roster turnover in 6 year span. Ted Thompson one of the best at letting talent walk and not overpay and receive comp picks. To me that question proves what? You need to elaborate why you asked it.

CJ, Dom and Mulbach are only three I can think of... and Mayhew oh nevermind.

Woah, Gandy. Just asking a question. Wondering how much of the roster was acquired by Mayhew, as opposed to Millen & Mayhew.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Every team, even Seattle, Green Bay, San Fran, Denver, and New England, all miss on players

Mayhew has looked adequate to some because he has had success with his first round picks, as he has had picks at #1, #2, #5, #10 and #13 overall, as well as #20, #23 and #30. 4 picks in the top 10 and 5 picks in the top 13 will make a GM look good, as it is much more difficult to screw up picks that high.

How many picks in the top 10 of the draft have the teams you listed had in the last 6 years since Mayhew has been GM? My guess is none, but I don't feel like looking it up.

I just don't see how anyone can defend Mayhew. After going 10-6 -- our team is 11-21 the last two years. We have had a top 10 pick the last two years, with a roster made up of entirely players he has brought in. The best player on the team one of the few guys on the roster he had nothing to do with (Calvin Johnson).

Imagine what Detroit would look like without Calvin Johnson on the team?

 

[Howie115]

Anybody know how many teams there are which haven't been better than 16th in
defense in the last 5 years? My guess: One. This one.

You can go back at least one more season and make it 6, because I didn't include 2008 and we all know how good the defense was that year.

 

[broncosmitty]

Cant blame Mayhew for '08. He was only an assistant to the head dumbass back then.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Mayhew has looked adequate to some because he has had success with his first round picks, as he has had picks at #1, #2, #5, #10 and #13 overall, as well as #20, #23 and #30. 4 picks in the top 10 and 5 picks in the top 13 will make a GM look good, as it is much more difficult to screw up picks that high.

How many picks in the top 10 of the draft have the teams you listed had in the last 6 years since Mayhew has been GM? My guess is none, but I don't feel like looking it up.

I just don't see how anyone can defend Mayhew. After going 10-6 -- our team is 11-21 the last two years. We have had a top 10 pick the last two years, with a roster made up of entirely players he has brought in. The best player on the team one of the few guys on the roster he had nothing to do with (Calvin Johnson).

Imagine what Detroit would look like without Calvin Johnson on the team?

2009 (Mayhew's first year): Seattle #4, Green Bay #9 (Denver picked 12th). Seattle drafted Aaron Curry, which worked out great for them, and Green Bay took B.J. Raji, who has been decent, but not worthy of a top ten pick.

2010: Seattle #6 (San Fran #11). They took Russell Okung, very solid pick thus far.

2011: Denver #2, San Fran #7. Denver took Von Miller and the 49ers took Aldon Smith. Both have been stand-out pass rushers for their respective teams.

2012: None, closest was Seattle at #12

2013 None.


So not exactly "none" as you guessed. None in the last two years, but this goes to show you how fast the bad teams become good in the NFL, and vice-versa. Seattle is the bees knees right now since they just won the Super Bowl in an upset, but they're only a few years removed from being pretty brutal...

 

[tpaulus_2]

You can go back at least one more season and make it 6, because I didn't include 2008 and we all know how good the defense was that year.

Good to see you posting the last couple days, man.

 

[Thruthefog]

Drafting, trades, free agency, developmental player contribution, salary cap, team character, and advising ownership of what is best for the team.

Those are the areas I would say are the leading indicators of a GM's success or failure.

Mayhew has been horrible at drafting. I'm sorry but Stafford really was an easy pick. We had a LT that hadnt missed a game in a decade so J. Smith wasnt really a serious option, and when is the last LB that went #1, and I cant even remember who the other possibility was that year. We had Orlovsky starting for crying out loud, Stafford wasnt a tough call. It was Suh or McCoy the next year. Well McCoy is also a Pro Bowler so he wouldnt go wrong either way. To this point Fairley has been a disappointment. Reiff has been average. In the second and third round (where you are supposed to find quality starters as well) he has been nothing short of awful. Only when Xanders comes into the picture do our drafts improve. No way is he in the top half in this category.

In my opinion you left out the most important thing a GM is responsible for. The hiring of your head coach. Now I admit that opinions vary as to how effective Schwartz was in this capacity. Probably all the way from, 'The guy was an arrogant, classless tool' to 'get a rope'.

Hire a coach that can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, keep your team out of cap hell, and few fans will give a shit which picks you hit on or missed on.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

So not exactly "none" as you guessed. None in the last two years, but this goes to show you how fast the bad teams become good in the NFL, and vice-versa. Seattle is the bees knees right now since they just won the Super Bowl in an upset, but they're only a few years removed from being pretty brutal...

I agree -- NFL teams can go from the basement to a playoff team in a few years with a quality front office. My issue is -- Detroit went from 0-16 to 10-6 in 3 years then down to 11-21 in the last two years. It seems as if most here want to place the blame on the coaching staff, but IMO, it falls on the front office as much as the coaching staff.

Detroit has the talent on the offensive side of the ball to be successful, but unless a couple of their draft picks over the last couple years really develop into quality starters -- the defense is going to struggle against the top teams with quality QB's. With Houston now gone -- Our "#1" CB is a guy who was a rookie last year and was benched multiple times for poor play. Our #2 CB is either a 34 year old Mathis or a guy who has more PI calls against him than passes defensed since being drafted (Bentley).

I realize a lot of fans on here like to think of the glass as half full when it comes to giving players the benefit of the doubt on Detroit. We are going to have issues this year though. We are going to have to face Aaron Rodgers twice, Marshall and Jeffrey twice, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, etc. It isn't the cupcake schedule they faced last year, so it is going to be very interesting to see how the defense does against these teams.

In all honesty though -- none of us really know what we are going to see, as it is an all new defense.

 

[themuzzer]

It's pretty simple, The Lions will have to outscore opponets. We made our bed (offense) and now it's time to sleep in it. Sure it will be fun to watch and probably put butts in the seats, but the defense is going to get scored on like a (input your funny comment here)

 

[gandydancer]

It's pretty simple, The Lions will have to outscore opponets.

I thought that is how you win a game anyway

 

[themuzzer]

I thought that is how you win a game anyway

Na, you thought wrong, One simple rule....If the other team can't score you can't lose.....You may tie, but you can't lose......The Lions went with the other method, score like a mother fucker and hope the defense only gives up 40......Granted it's a philisophy but we shall see.....Michigan tried it under Rich Rod, so let's give it a go in Allen Park.

 

[Howie115]

Good to see you posting the last couple days, man.

Appreciate it. I tend to not get on a lot of boards during that sport's offseason, but the cap issues kind of stoked my fires.

 

[Howie115]

We made our bed (offense) and now it's time to sleep in it. Sure it will be fun to watch and probably put butts in the seats, but the defense is going to get scored on like a (input your funny comment here)

The defense will give up points faster than Miley Cyrus gave up her dignity.

 

[Microwahevo]

The defense will give up points faster than Miley Cyrus gave up her dignity.

The Lions went with the other method, score like a mother fucker and hope the defense only gives up 40......Granted it's a philisophy but we shall see

Lol. The Lions defense have up 23.5 pts a game last year, 15th in the league. They also had the 2nd best red zone scoring defense last year. In fact, they didn't even give up 40 pts once last season. But yep, they're gonna give up a ton of points. smh

 

[Howie115]

Lol. The Lions defense have up 23.5 pts a game last year, 15th in the league. They also had the 2nd best red zone scoring defense last year. In fact, they didn't even give up 40 pts once last season. But yep, they're gonna give up a ton of points. smh

Ha, yes, I agree, just having some fun. The D had its best season in the last 6 or 7 years. Offense and Defense both in the top half of the league last year, and yet the team goes 7-9. Turnovers were the big key, along with penalties. The Lions D was tied for 21st in takeaways (22), and the O was 3rd in giveaways (34). Differential of -12 was fifth worst in the NFL. And the Lions as a whole were 8th in penalties.

 

[Old Lion]

Lol. The Lions defense have up 23.5 pts a game last year, 15th in the league. They also had the 2nd best red zone scoring defense last year. In fact, they didn't even give up 40 pts once last season. But yep, they're gonna give up a ton of points. smh

And our offense averaged less than 14 points per game in the second half of the season outside of T-day.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Ha, yes, I agree, just having some fun. The D had its best season in the last 6 or 7 years. Offense and Defense both in the top half of the league last year, and yet the team goes 7-9. Turnovers were the big key, along with penalties. The Lions D was tied for 21st in takeaways (22), and the O was 3rd in giveaways (34). Differential of -12 was fifth worst in the NFL. And the Lions as a whole were 8th in penalties.

8th most penalties, I assume, right? Or were we a whole lot better in that department than I thought, and just had some poor timing on the ones we did have?

 

[Howie115]

8th most penalties, I assume, right? Or were we a whole lot better in that department than I thought, and just had some poor timing on the ones we did have?

You assume correctly ... 8th most.

 

[gvsulaker82]

The defense is worst than what it was ranked at the end of the season. The lions avoided all of the elite offenses last year somehow.

 

[Naughtymax]

I think Mayhew has been middling. He certainly needs to stop drafting injury risks and head cases as every one of them has been a failure. The draft hits-versus-misses have been about league average IMO.