2010 NFL Draft: Detroit Lions in a Win-Win Situation with No. 2 Pick

The Lions are in a real good spot with the No. 2 pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

In my honest opinion, if Ndamukong Suh is there, they have to take him. 

Walter Football is one of my favorite sites regarding the draft. The site judges talent fairly well and shows a realistic view of all 32 NFL team needs.

In addition to their own mock draft, Walter Football also gives access to 348 other NFL mock drafts from around the Internet.

Of those 348 mock drafts, 131 sites have Suh being drafted No. 1, which means the St. Louis Rams would have the opportunity to have Suh. 

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen has been identified by 132 sites as going first.

Sam Bradford of Oklahoma garnered only 61 votes as going No. 1.

Gerald McCoy, who has been getting a lot of praise of late, has only six sites ranking him No. 1.

Let's talk about the options the Lions have at No. 2.

I don't think they should trade away the pick. The Lions' defense over the last five years has never ranked any higher than 20th, ranking last over the last three years.

While the No. 2 pick could get you an established veteran player with an additional pick in the later rounds, probably a fifth round at best, what would be the true gain? The player will still be expensive, and unless you draft an offensive lineman, the likelihood of a later round pick making the cut is spotty at best.

The St. Louis Rams are another team in dire straits. Yes, their defense needs a ton of help. But an even bigger need for them is quarterback. 

Walter Football has the Rams taking a quarterback, either Bradford or Clausen. The analyst makes some sound points:

Despite the Clausen-Bradford argument, one thing is clear—the Rams are making the smart decision by taking a quarterback. No matter how awesome Ndamukong Suh is, he can't be the pick. Defensive tackle is not that important when you compare it to the quarterback position.

If the Rams don't take a quarterback, what are their options for the most important position in professional sports?

There have been rumors that the Rams will trade for QB Dog Killer. The last time QB Dog Killer started a game was 2006. That season, he led the Falcons to a 7-9 record with a 52.6 completion percentage. He wasn't even a good quarterback three seasons ago. The Rams would have to be absolutely insane to trade for him. Then again, there's a reason this franchise has lost $250 million and won just six games in the last three years.

And let's erase all speculation that the Rams can just simply wait until Round 2 to grab a quarterback. First of all, that position is way too important for St. Louis to just idly wait around. And second, there are no promising second-round candidates. Colt McCoy is a poor man's version of Kyle Orton; Tony Pike is a system guy with a sub-par arm; and Jevan Snead's passes are just as accurate as Shayne Graham's kicks.

Also, second-round quarterbacks have a 90.9-percent bust rate (I'll be exploring this soon). Excluding Drew Brees and possibly Chad Henne, name one successful Round 2 quarterback in the past decade. Don't try, because there are none. Believe it or not, the next best guy is Tarvaris Jackson (Kevin Kolb and Chad Henne being unknowns right now).

So for us Lions fans, we have the possibility of the No. 1 and No. 2-rated defensive tackles available for the draft.

Indications are that Suh had better Combine results than McCoy. Suh ran faster and compiled more bench press repetitions, and overall scouts were leaning toward Suh as the better pick than McCoy.

For once, the Lions have a good dilemma facing them. Rather than trade away the pick for additional draft choices, if the Rams take a QB, the Lions have to take Ndamukong Suh. He will be a force in the middle they haven't had since the days of Shaun Rogers on the days he felt compelled to play.

What Suh will give you on a consistent basis is effort. There have been comparisons to the great Reggie White, but White was a defensive end. A better player to compare him to would be Cortez Kennedy, who played 11 years in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. He finished with a total of 58 sacks in his career—production Lions fans would be very happy with.

Gerald McCoy will give you perhaps the same effort, but there will be a drop in talent level. However, he is more versatile than Suh since he can play in either a 3-4 or 4-3 defense.

Suh brings instant credibility to a defensive line that sorely needs it.

My vote is to draft Ndamukong Suh and let him run wild for the Lions for the next 10 years.