Archive for the ‘Detroit Lions’ Category

Draft Preview: 5. Detroit Lions

Posted by Sean Tomlinson under 2013 NFL draft, Detroit Lions on Apr 19, 2013

stafford-draft2

Protect this man

Draft tumbles can lead to difficult — and in hindsight, sometimes poor — decisions. Often what can result is that the temptation to draft a prospect is far too overwhelming, and other greater needs are disregarded.

This could happen with Dee Milliner and the Detroit Lions. While Milliner is the best cornerback in the draft, if the top five follows the pattern that’s widely expected and one of the top tackles is available for the Lions at fifth overall, Milliner may not be the best pick.

He may be the best player, and he may then fit the classic strategy of drafting the best player available. But sometimes, need has to trump temptation. And in Detroit after the retirement of Jeff Backus and the departure of Gosder Cherilus, this draft could be one of those times.

I talked to Sean Yuille from Pride of Detroit, and he thinks that if either Luke Joeckel or Eric Fisher are still on the board, the pick will be automatic, even with Milliner available.

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Louis Delmas returns to Detroit

Posted by Archi Zuber under Detroit Lions, Free agency on Mar 15, 2013

Detroit Lions v Arizona Cardinals

 

The Lions re-signed veteran safety Louis Delmas to a two-year, $9.465M deal. The Lions acquired safety Glover Quinn earlier this off-season, which led to doubt Delmas would return to the Lions, but the 2009 2nd round pick will return the the Detroit secondary.

Delmas had 28 tackles in the 8 games he appeared in last season.

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Lions continue spending spree with Glover Quin signing

Posted by Joseph Casciaro under Detroit Lions, Free agency on Mar 13, 2013

Houston Texans v Chicago Bears

The Lions continue to make a significant splash in the free agent market, with the signing of safety Glover Quin making it four signings on the day after Chris Houston (re-signing), Jason Jones and Reggie Bush.

The 27-year-old Quin has spent the last four seasons with the Texans after being drafted in the fourth round by Houston in 2009.  Quin recorded 64 tackles, two interceptions and a sack in 16 games with the Texans last season, piling up 250 total tackles over his four-year NFL career.

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Lions sign Bush to four-year deal

Posted by Sean Tomlinson under Detroit Lions, Free agency, Reggie Bush on Mar 13, 2013

Miami Dolphins v New England Patriots

In one of the least surprising developments of free agency so far, the Lions have reportedly signed Reggie Bush to a four-year deal, according to Lions writer Tim Twentyman.

This is only slightly less expected than the Dolphins’ signing Mike Wallace yesterday, only because for a time the Cardinals were in the Bush hunt, and then they backed out and went for the cheaper option in Rashard Mendenhall. The result is a backfield in Detroit that will resemble the backfield Bush left in Miami.

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Jahvid Best likely won’t play football again

Posted by Sean Tomlinson under Detroit Lions, News-ish on Jan 25, 2013

After a morning filled with other pleasant and uplifting Detroit Lions news, here’s another quick little diddy which isn’t exactly shocking, but that doesn’t make it any less awful. Jahvid Best’s career is likely over.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press noted that after his failure to get clearance to play this season following two concussions in 2011, Best isn’t expected to play again. In total Best has suffered four concussions, the most severe of which occurred during his final college game when he landed on his head. Lions general manager Martin Mayhew spent senior bowl week scouting running backs, as it’s a position that needs to be addressed in the draft yet again after the Detroit spent high picks on Best and Mikel LeShoure in recent years.

When another RB is selected in late April, that will almost surely cement Best’s status as a former player, even if he hasn’t made his retirement official at that point. He’ll then fade away, becoming the reference point for the league’s growing concussion problem, which robbed us of seeing this much, much more often…

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The Tape Never Lies: The genius of Calvin Johnson

Posted by Alen Dumonjic under Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions on Dec 24, 2012

How does one fully appreciate genius? I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time because I never feel like I’ve seen enough football intelligence.

Whether it’s Tom Brady or Peyton Manning navigating through puny defenses on prime-time television or J.J. Watt tearing through supposed blocking schemes that are geared to stop him, I feel like I’m missing out on something tasty every second that I’m not watching. I also feel this way about Calvin Johnson, the Detroit Lions’ star wide receiver.

In case you missed it on Saturday night, Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s longtime — 17 years to be exact — record for receiving yards in a season. Rice set the record in 1995 when he amassed a then-unfathomable 1,848 yards in 16 weeks of play. With 225 yards against the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson brought his record breaking total to 1,892 yards and he has a game in hand.

For a second of nostalgia, my first exposure to the Lions’ receiver was when he was at Georgia Tech. He had a rather hopeless quarterback throwing to him and his head coach was Chan Gailey — who is now probably the least popular guy in the pipeline connecting Buffalo and Toronto.  Johnson wore No. 21, which was rather odd but typical of studly college players, and he made tons of circus catches that were simply unfair to his competition. His diving reception at midfield against the Miami Hurricanes, a favorite team of mine, in 2005 was simply ridiculous. The touchdown that has always stood out to me the most, however, was his double move against, I think, Georgia near the end of his collegiate career. He baited the cornerback into what I recall to be a curl route before he exploded up the field again and caught a wide open touchdown.

It was then and only then when I thought he was the best draft prospect I’d ever seen, which I still believe to be true today.

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The Tape Never Lies: Analyzing how Aaron Rodgers manipulated the Lions

Posted by Alen Dumonjic under Aaron Rodgers, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers on Dec 13, 2012

The regular season is expiring, meaning we are a step closer to the playoffs as well as the awarding the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. Aaron Rodgers figures to be a contender for both, with his team having a 9-4 record while sitting atop their division as he puts up elite passing numbers once again.

He’s recorded a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 29:8 thus far while completing nearly 67 percent of his passes, and he has a quarterback rating of 103.7 through 14 weeks. Interestingly enough, these numbers are down from a year ago, when the end zone was the size of a foreign continent and his receivers were always wide open regardless of the coverage, and the Cal alum was simply on fire.

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