Jeremy Jarmon a Near-Miss for the Lions, and That's Okay

As a rule, the NFL Supplemental Draft doesn’t make any waves in the offseason. Maybe a few guys get picked up here and there and hit practice squads, nothing worth talking about.

This year, we have second-team All-SEC defensive end Jeremy Jarmon out of the University of Kentucky.

Jarmon declared for the supplemental draft after testing positive for banned substances, effectively ending his college career, and ever since, Lions fans have been buzzing about whether the team would pick up the prolific pass rusher.

In the end, the Washington Redskins picked him up, giving up a third-round selection in the 2010 NFL Draft in the process, beating out the Lions’ bid of a fourth-rounder.

Try not to yawn too hard, now.

What? You say you wish the Lions had gotten Jarmon? That they should have outbid the Redskins with their own 2010 third-rounder?

Sit down a moment, I have a very special, very snug jacket for you.

Okay, you’re not crazy, you’re just overreacting, because all this means is that the Lions have an extra draft pick next summer.

Will Jarmon be successful in the NFL? I don’t know. I assume he’ll make the Redskins’ roster (as any third-rounder should), but he has a lot to learn, and won’t be making any kind of immediate impact.

In terms of  his value to the Lions, consider it this way. Jarmon is effectively the Redskins’ 2010 third-round selection. The Lions would have had to their own third-rounder, which likely would have been a high third-rounder, to get him.

A third-rounder for a guy who posted 4.5 sacks last season, and weighs about 270 pounds. And let’s not forget the reason he’s in the supplemental draft in the first place: he tested positive for a banned (presumably performance-enhancing) substance, which got him the boot from Kentucky.

Granted, it seems enough like an honest mistake, so I’m not going to brand him a cheater. However, I will label him as careless, or even stupid, for putting something into his athlete’s body without knowing fully what it is.

Either way, he’s a guy the Lions can afford to miss out on.

To put it in concrete terms, consider the Lions’ recent third-round picks. Kevin Smith and Cliff Avril, the Lions’ 2008 third-round selections, went on to be very productive starters in their rookie seasons, something few are expecting out of Jarmon.

Now, there is always the chance that Jarmon turns out to be a stud, and the Lions’ 2010 third-round pick is a flop, in which case the ‘Skins come out looking like geniuses, and the Lions have another “we could have had” scenario.

If that happens, feel free to come back to this and call me a moron. But until then, everyone just calm down.

Jarmon is not the answer to the Lions’ problems. He’s not the difference between six wins and playoffs. He’s just a guy who made some mistakes, who was selected with a third round pick when he was projected by some for the fifth.

Haven’t the Lions had enough of those yet?