Lions will trade up to 1 or 2 for Clowney

[jalopy]

RB is right about one thing. Clowney is head and shoulders the class of this draft. The problem I have with it is the cost it would take to move up. If we were already in possession of the #1 pick, I think there would be a consensus to take Clowney but the fact is, the Lions don't own that pick and there would be a significant cost to get it. My assumption is it would likely cost our #10 pick, our 2nd round pick, and a 2nd next year. With the Lions salary cap situation, they can't afford to fill holes at WR, LB, TE and S through free agency.
It is my opinion (as a dick) that the Lions should be doing the exact opposite and looking to amass as many picks in this draft as possible.

 

[RobBase]

It is my opinion that the Lions should....

I need to go to lunch now.

 

[jalopy]

Maybe I'm wrong reading this comment as snide. If so, I apologize.

You are and I do, thank you.
The intent wasn't for me to offend but merely to disagree. I really haven't been a frequent visitor to the Lions boards until recently an the fact is that our opinions overlap greatly. For me, the entertaining and informative part of the discussion (any discussion) is to hash out where and why we disagree. I am often wrong and often base my opinions on facts that I later find out to be incorrect. Such is life. The great thing is that people have no problem pointing out when I am wrong.
My intent was not to offend. If you inferred it that way then I need to better my communication skills.

 

[Gulf of Brazil]

Draft magazines and "media experts" have nothing to do with how teams draft.

Last post about your straw man Seattle argument. Go do research on Seattle and talk with Hawks fans if you want to talk Seattle after this. This thread is about what the Lions will do, nothing to do with Seattle.



"Carpenter had a good post-season performance and, according to Sports Illustrated, went "from a third-round choice to a player who could be a surprise pick late in round one"

James Carpenter (American football) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I merely made a point as to what Bruce Irvin's ranking when he was drafted, as evidence or case in point. But, YOU just made it a clear hypocrisy in the 1st quote of yours then to bring up a Sports Illustrated article about James Carpenter. I watch college games every Saturday so I'm very familiar with Carpenter.

Say and do what you wish. Furthermore, for you to make degrading/derogatory remarks about others and their opinions, isn't called for.

I do not have some beef with you. I just don't always agree with your theories, just like you or others do not agree with mine.

 

[gvsulaker82]

Maybe I'm wrong reading this comment as snide. If so, I apologize.

I read it the same way. You have to understand jalopy is so incredibly smart he thinks hes being sneaky with the unnecessary provoking of a man that is entitled to opinions. He stated in another thread though that he doesnt provoke other posters, hes above that kind of behavior. Exactly what else couod tha sentence mean? Clearly he thinks you contradict yourself often even though he doesnt actually come here often according to himself, so he must just be trolling you. Hes kind of a hypocrite though so honestly I have no idea. Iffy, is that you?

 

[gvsulaker82]

He will also pretend he doesnt know who iffy is. He likes to play dumb and at the same time pretends hes incredibly gifted language wise. Hes smarter than you or I and definitely could kick my ass at boggle jr.

 

[Naughtymax]

It makes for an interesting question, Would you trade Fairly and Reiff for Peterson right now? I think we can all agree Peterson is the greatest talent of them, but that is a solid piece on both sides of the line.

In a heartbeat.

 

[Naughtymax]

I have to admit I actually would pull the trigger if we could get Clowney for no more than this year's and next year's #1 picks, or 1, 2, and 4 this year. Won't happen, though.

 

[K.J.Ester]

The Lions believe they are ready to win. They are not saying they only need to fill one position. Yet let us pretend they believe they are only one player away from the SB. I highly doubt they believe that one player is Clowney. However good he is, if a team is only one or two players away, that means they are one or two specific players away. Not one BPA player away.

If a team is strong in every position but their QB simply blows chunks, adding Clowney wont be what they need. They will need a QB to get there. When you are one player away, then you must be thinking there is a specific position that needs to be addressed to get over the hump. Not just adding a little more talent to a strong position.

If the Lions lose Mathis, they do not have one viable starter at CB this year. Slay, only if he is ready this year and not next. If your secondary is that bad, you will not win no matter how good your D-line is. The Giants didnt do that. They added the DL, but they had a decent secondary already.

 

[K.J.Ester]

Plus, ready to win and ready to win the superbowl is two different things. The Lions believe they are ready to get back to a winning season. Maybe take the division. They need another year or two to believe in the Superbowl. However anyone wants to believe, no team is going to win the Superbowl with a secondary as bad as the Lions presently have.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

IF they do, do you agree that they would have to trade up to get Watkins, and that he would be the Lions only Super Bowl ready WR on their draft board?

If the Lions front office believes they are one player from a trip to the Super Bowl, unless that one player is Peyton Manning -- they are delusional.

Come on guys -- I'm not trying to be Mr. Negative, but this is a team that is 11-21 in the last 2 years. We couldn't win the NFC North when Chicago and Green Bay were without their starting QBs for extended periods of time.

I love the Lions, but we lack depth at pretty much every position, but RB and DT. We need every draft pick we have to fill holes at multiple positions and DE isn't one of them. We need a safety, OLB, TE, 2 WRs and a CB. Adding an elite DE would make the defense fun to watch, but trading away multiple draft picks would kill this team if they have any type of injury to a starter.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

no team is going to win the Superbowl with a secondary as bad as the Lions presently have.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Really? Look at Green Bay, New Orleans and New England as recent Super Bowl teams with secondaries that were worse than what we currently have.

Obviously improving our secondary is a priority, but these teams each had historically bad secondaries (much worse than ours was last season) and still made it to the championship game.

Every team is going to have weak areas in the salary cap era, it's just a reality of today's NFL. Some teams might get lucky and be strong across the board for a year or two, but top-shelf talent is too expensive for teams to be able to keep every position group well-stocked...

 

[Old Lion]

If the Lions front office believes they are one player from a trip to the Super Bowl, unless that one player is Peyton Manning -- they are delusional.

Come on guys -- I'm not trying to be Mr. Negative, but this is a team that is 11-21 in the last 2 years. We couldn't win the NFC North when Chicago and Green Bay were without their starting QBs for extended periods of time.

I love the Lions, but we lack depth at pretty much every position, but RB and DT. We need every draft pick we have to fill holes at multiple positions and DE isn't one of them. We need a safety, OLB, TE, 2 WRs and a CB. Adding an elite DE would make the defense fun to watch, but trading away multiple draft picks would kill this team if they have any type of injury to a starter.

I think with the overrated coaching staff gone this team is already better than 500. Fill some holes and add 1 difference maker on either side of the ball and this team wins the division.

Shwartz & co pretty much lost a lot of games with thier idiocy. Stafford being undisciplined cost a lot too. We will see none of that next year. Addition by subtraction.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Something to consider on the whole drafting Clowney thing- if we move up to draft Clowney that would essentially mean that Ansah is a goner in three years. No way we can afford both guys once their rookie deals are up...

I think we just need to re-sign (the seemingly very under-rated around here) Willie Young and we're set with our starting D-line. Willie's sack numbers weren't great last year, but he was amongst the league leaders at DE in total QB pressures.

 

[RobBase]

Really? Look at Green Bay, New Orleans and New England as recent Super Bowl teams with secondaries that were worse than what we currently have.

No way man. The Lions secondary is the pits. 2 INT all year. That's a joke. New Orleans had more than that in the Super Bowl.

SB Pats and SB Pack WAY better than current Lions secondary, which is patch work at best right now.

 

[RobBase]

If the Lions front office believes they are one player from a trip to the Super Bowl, unless that one player is Peyton Manning -- they are delusional.

Come on guys -- I'm not trying to be Mr. Negative, but this is a team that is 11-21 in the last 2 years. We couldn't win the NFC North when Chicago and Green Bay were without their starting QBs for extended periods of time.

Then they're lying to us.

Which is worse, being delusional or being a liar?

They said the goal was to win the North in 2014. Period. Makes all the sense in the world as Mayhew is clearly on his last leg with Caldwell. If this coach doesn't work out, Mayhew is getting fired with him.

So if you are Martin Mayhew, and your job is on the line this year where you have publicly stated that your goal is to win the North -- what are you going to do?

Like I said, if the Ford's give him the green light, look out.

Martin Mayhew is going to empty every resource he has to win this year - including future draft picks. After all, if he doesn't win, he doesn't care that the next guy won't have any picks to work with, will he? And if the Lions do win, he looks like a genius.

It's literally a no lose situation for him to trade up for Clowney.

I just wonder if the Rams are willing to deal with the Lions. Might be some bad blood there with Schwartz being Fisher's bff and all.

 

[jdwills126]

Way to much money spent on the defensive line! It would cost way to much to trade up, remember other teams would be interested like Oakland that would only drop the Rams 3 spots.

Plus as good as Clowney has the potential to be he probably has the most red flags of any projected 1st round pick. Detroit is not in position to gamble a high first round pick. I think the more likely scenario is Detroit trades down.

 

[tpaulus_2]

No way man. The Lions secondary is the pits. 2 INT all year. That's a joke. New Orleans had more than that in the Super Bowl.

SB Pats and SB Pack WAY better than current Lions secondary, which is patch work at best right now.

You're biased against the Lions secondary, because you saw them suck first-hand. But the truth is that all 3 of those team's passing defense in the year they went to the Super Bowl was god-awful. They each set (then broke) the record for worse passing defense to ever make it to the big game.

Our secondary was bad, no doubt about it, but we weren't even the worst in the league this year, let alone one of the worst of all time like these teams.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Then they're lying to us.

Which is worse, being delusional or being a liar?

They said the goal was to win the North in 2014. Period. Makes all the sense in the world as Mayhew is clearly on his last leg with Caldwell. If this coach doesn't work out, Mayhew is getting fired with him.

So if you are Martin Mayhew, and your job is on the line this year where you have publicly stated that your goal is to win the North -- what are you going to do?

Winning the NFC North and playing in the Super Bowl is two completely different things. As far as 'win now mode' -- every GM is going to tell their fans what they want to hear. An intelligent fan can look at the product on the field and come to the conclusion that the Lions are not one player from the Super Bowl. Hell -- they couldn't win the NFC North with Rodgers missing 2 months and Cutler missing 6, among other injuries.

As much as I hate to say it -- Detroit is a middle of the road team. Unless the one player is someone like Peyton Manning or a guy like Richard Sherman -- Detroit will continue to hover in the middle of the pack.

They have multiple holes to fill. They some elite talent on the team without question, but they have to get better at multiple positions to be in the same breath as a team like Seattle.

As far as how I would attack this draft. I guess it depends on who falls to me. If Mack falls -- I would take him at #10, as long as Watkins is gone and then upgrade WR in the 2nd round with all the talent at that position. In the 3rd, I would look for help at the safety position or if a slot guy who is too good to pass up is available, I would go with that, as Detroit doesn't need just one WR, they need two.

BPA is a great strategy when you don't have many holes to fill. I would be willing to bet Detroit drafts an OLB, WR or two, Safety and possibly another CB in the 1st 4 rounds of the draft. Not because they were the BPA, but they were the BPA to fill holes on the team.