The Detroit Lions Should Draft Jason Smith: Here's Two Reasons Why

With less than a week to go before the draft, Detroit Lions fans are anxious about who they will select. Many want quarterback Matthew Stafford. Others are smitten with linebacker Aaron Curry. I certainly like both of those guys, but I would go a different route. My choice is Baylor offensive lineman Jason Smith.

Here are my two reasons: Joe Thomas and Jake Long.

In the last two years, those guys started from day one as rookies and both made the Pro Bowl. More importantly, their teams went from dormant to winners. Clevleland finished 10-6 during Thomas's rookie year, and barely missed the playoffs. Miami went from one win to division champs.

Do you see a correlation? I do.

Now yes, there were other factors in both of these places, but the tackles were huge factors.

Looking historically at offensive lineman taken within the first five picks, there has been a lot of success stories. Tony Boseli and Orlando Pace were high draft picks. Robert Gallery is really the only example I can immediately think of as being a bust.

So why the success at this position while so many quarterbacks been busts? The reason is quite simple.

When evaluating an offensive lineman, you can use game film and combine workouts to determine one or two things. Either he can block, or he can't. If he is rated as the top lineman in the draft, he obviously can block.

Taking a quarterback is a much bigger risk. There are so many factors that can't be measured by game film: work ethic, leadership, ability to understand an NFL playbook inside and out, pocket presence, mental toughness, the ability to read NFL defenses.

To be fair, these things take time to learn, and many quarterbacks are forced in before they are ready. That ends up killing their career. I am afraid of that happening if Stafford is selected. All these fans that are on the Stafford bandwagon were probably the same ones on the Joey Harrington bandwagon. He was forced in way too early and was a bust.

Aaron Curry could be a good choice, as taking a linebacker is less of a risk. However, a linebacker is like the quarterback on the defense, in that they have to read offenses.  So there are intangibles here also, but to a lesser degree. Curry would be less of a risk than Stafford.

However, when a team goes 0-16 that means they have to start from scratch. You have to lay the foundation before you build the house. That is why my vote is for Jason Smith.