What Should the Detroit Lions Do With the No. 1 Pick?

The day is rapidly approaching, my friends.

The clock is ticking down.

T-minus four days and counting.

No, ladies and gentlemen, it’s not the apocalypse. It’s an event of far greater importance for many people.

We call it the 2009 NFL Draft, and it means the world to a lot of folks.

And one of the burning questions surrounding the event involves the Detroit Lions and their prize possession, the No. 1 overall pick.

Conventional wisdom, and more importantly, the past, says that the Lions will select a wide receiver, and there are a few great ones in this draft class.

However, Matt Millen a.k.a Doomsday Matt, is no longer at the helm of the Lions' ship, and new GM Martin Mayhew is not likely to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor.

There are five options, as far as I’m concerned, for the Lions to consider:

 

1. Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia

Stafford is a smart player, and that’s not too common these days. He’s got a cannon for an arm, and will be electric if he can get on track with the Lions receivers.

He put up very good numbers at Georgia last season, and respectable ones in 2007. He led the Bulldogs to a Capital One Bowl victory over Michigan State in January, and looked excellent in that affair. He’d be a welcome addition for the Lions.

 

2. Aaron Curry, LB, Wake Forest

I’m very high on Curry, as are a lot of teams. He’s easily the best defender in this draft, and has explosive speed, and a lot of football sense. He’s viewed as “the safest pick” in the draft, and no one would blame the Lions if they embraced that idea.

 

3. Jason Smith, OT, Baylor

Smith is great run-blocker, and decent protection wise. Scouts compare him to Denver’s Ryan Clady, not a bad comparison considering Clady was a stud for the Broncos last season, finishing third overall in the Rookie of the Year voting (behind Atlanta’s Matt Ryan and Tennessee’s Chris Johnson).

I doubt that Detroit will wander down this road, though he is going to be a great lineman in the NFL one day. The Rams will snatch him at pick number two; that’s almost a certainty.

 

4. Drew Henson, QB…

...oh, wait, he’s already fizzled several times. In two sports, no less.

And he’s also already on the Lions roster.

 

5. Trade the pick.

There are several teams who would salivate at the opportunity to select first in this draft. However, I don’t think that Mayhew is likely to trade away his first pick as GM.

If I were the Lions, I’d go with Stafford. I know, it’s a cliched pick, taking the high profile QB, but the Lions are in desperate need of a signal caller, and there’s few out there who are better than Stafford, at least in this draft class.

I think that Smith is extraordinarily talented, but hey, you’ve got to have a QB that needs protecting if you’re going to draft an OT.

Sorry, Daunte Culpepper.