Lions Weekly Progress Report: Looking at Where Detroit Might Draft in 2013

With just one game left in the 2012 season, the Lions can now start to get a sense of where they're picking in the upcoming NFL draft.

It appears that Detroit is going to be picking somewhere between the third and ninth picks in April.

Right now, we know that Kansas City and Jacksonville are locked into the first and second picks. At this point, if Sunday's games were cancelled due to alien invasion, the Lions would be in the fifth spot.

They'll pick in the fifth spot or better if they lose the the Chicago Bears this Sunday and could move up if the Eagles and/or Raiders win.

I don't expect the Eagles to beat the New York Giants, though as streaky as the Giants have been playing, it's not impossible to imagine. The Raiders will play the San Diego Chargers and those games are always a toss-up.

Right now, I am leaning towards the Chargers winning, but like the Giants, the Chargers are really unreliable week to week.

If the Lions beat the Bears—something that all Vikings fans are praying for as well—then they will slip down the ladder a little bit as they have a pretty tough strength of schedule.

The worst it could get, though, is that ninth pick.

While the Lions clearly have many issues, they do have a solid core for the team. I would imagine, despite a shaky year, that the team is still "all in" on Matt Stafford. They also still have Calvin Johnson, and I believe Ryan Broyles will develop into a very good player if he can stay healthy.

And, of course, they have talent in the defensive front.

While they lack solid options in multiple other areas (again we'll go over this at a later date) it's a good base to build upon.

There will be plenty of talent at the ninth spot in the draft.

While there's no real way to feel good about a losing season, the team and its fans should know that they have the base to bounce back and have a much better 2013.

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