Detroit Lions 2011 Draft: The Most Important One for Martin Mayhew?

Ah yes, My Detroit Lions…and I have been and always will say that with a sense of pride. 

Despite the more recent poor seasons, we have had our moments of glory…unfortunately, any championships that are remembered are from people that are 60 years of age or older.

(I know the last one was in 1957, but do you really expect anyone to remember the Lions winning the NFL Championship at age 5 or lower?)

The Lions enjoyed success six years after they came to existence, beating the New York Giants 26-7 for their first title in 1935.

Their most prolific run, one where these days they would have been called a dynasty, was from 1952 to 1957, appearing in four NFL Championship games, winning three of them, all of them involving the Cleveland Browns.

Since then…nothing really to get excited about…10 playoff games, winning only one, the drubbing by the Dallas Cowboys in 1991.

From 1957 to 2010, Lions finished first in their conference just three times.

The point of this little trip down a painful memory lane?  While I have been stating in a few of my articles and the many comments in the articles of others that the past is the past, we do need to look back and remember.

We need to remember the most of the current Lions on the roster weren’t even born when Detroit lost to Dallas 5-0 in 1970.

We need to remember that most the current Lions were either in elementary or high school when the Lions made six playoff appearances in the 1990s.

We need to remember that the majority of these current Lions were not with the team during Matt Millen’s eight-year dismantlement of the organization.

It’s time to start looking forward.

Trust Martin Mayhew.  While he may have been hired by Matt Millen, he far exceeds him in football knowledge and knows what his team needs.  He talks with his coaches to find out what they need…he doesn’t dictate to them what player he is going to draft.

Trust Jim Schwartz.  In his first year ever of being a head coach, I’m sure posting a season of 2-14 wasn’t in the cards.  But you had to admire his consistency…he stayed calm throughout the maelstrom of sports writers and all of us “experts” that picked out every single damn fault that went on in 2009.

Did we really expect to become a contending team in 2009 with the talent we had?  Heck, I was hoping for four wins so I wasn’t all that disappointed with two.  But I did see improvement.  I began to see after the no-brainer pick of QB Matthew Stafford, taking TE Brandon Pettigrew with the second first-round pick despite having LT Micheal Oher available.  Oher was my choice, and I was very disappointed they went with Pettigrew.

Louis Delmas made quite an impact to a depleted secondary…Mayhew and company is working to build that secondary around him, with him as the leader.

DeAndre Levey has become an anchor at middle linebacker.  Sammie Lee Hill has made some great plays when Suh needs to take a breather. 

Even Aaron Brown gave the crowds a little bit of excitement as a running back. 

In that 2009 draft, the Lions have four starters: Stafford, Pettigrew, Delmas and Levy.  I think we can call this a successful draft.

In 2010, there were three camps as to who should have been the first pick: DT Ndamukong Suh, S Eric Berry or OT Russell Okung.  I have to admit, I was pulling for Okung because I wanted to get Stafford the best protection possible.  Instead, we took Suh, and in retrospect, it was the move to make. 

Berry had a great first year for the Kansas City Chiefs, making the Pro Bowl, the first Chief rookie to do so since the great Derrick Thomas in 1989.  Good company to be with.

Okung has battled ankle injuries the whole season but has shown flashes that he’ll be another Walter Jones for the Seahawks in the next six years.

Taking Suh and going out to get the never-quit Kyle Vanden Bosch from free agency was a stroke of genius.  The Lions now have a defensive line that can dictate the game and make the offense react to them.

I have to admit, with the secondary help needed, I was surprised as anyone the Lions took RB Jahvid Best out of California. As we all know, the key to a successful passing attack is to have a viable running game.  Otherwise, the linebackers will just drop in coverage and the defensive line takes care of any rushing game.   Best has shown he can be that viable running back, perhaps the biggest threat since Barry Sanders.  And Best fits in pretty nice with the passing game as well.

Amari Spievey was finally the secondary help the Lions needed.  He’s had a shaky first year and while drafted out of Iowa as a cornerback, Lions converted him to strong safety.  He played well down the stretch, but I think he’s better suited for cornerback or playing in the nickel.

Jason Fox, an offensive tackle from Miami, was drafted in the fourth round.  Some have said the reason why the Lions are holding off on taking an “elite” left tackle this draft is because they feel Fox will be the heir-apparent to Jeff Backus.

In the 2009 and 2010 drafts, Martin Mayhew, Jim Schwartz, Gunther Cunningham and Scott Linehan built a very solid foundation on both sides of the ball. 

In the next 60 days or so, there will be many, many, many articles; many, many, many mock drafts and many, many, many opinions on who should be drafted and who the Lions should go after in free agency.  I’ve taken an early shot (put link to draft story here), stating my view on who the Lions should draft. 

I’ll probably take another stab at it, once the CBA is over and as we get closer to the draft.

And here I show my mastery of the obvious: The 2011 draft for the Lions is going to be the most important one in the last three years.

Here is where Mayhew is really going to earn his money.  He now has a talented team and knows where he needs to strengthen up.  Will he break the mold of the drafting best player available or will he draft based on what his needs are? 

I think we can agree the team needs are, in order:

• Outside Linebacker (two if we can get them)
• Cornerback
• Left Tackle
• Center
• Power Running Back

I left Strong Safety out since the Lions have signed Erik Coleman.  Spievey is either going to go back to being a corner or he plays the nickel.

But I end with this:  As impressive as Mayhew has drafted in the past two years, it was really like shooting fish in a barrel.  He only had to make sure the player had talent since talent was missing. It would not have been difficult to improve the team from 2008.

I have my own reasons for thinking this is the most important draft in Mayhew's brief career…but I’d be interested in knowing what everyone else thinks.

Update 2/23/2011:  I have made several attempts to correct the first photo of this article.  Try as I might, the editing tool would not bring up other images nor would it allow me to upload one of my own.

My apologies for choosing the wrong one in the first place...when doing a search on Martin Mayhew, this is the third one listed as an option.  SLF