Detroit Lions: 10 Players Who Have Fallen out of Favor with Jim Schwartz
Jim Schwartz is well-known for the way he handles information about his team.
His philosophy boils down to "keep it to yourself." Be it injury information, starters, cuts, draft picks, free agents, or who's in the dog house, Schwartz maintains an absolutely Belichickian radio silence regarding any information not explicitly required by the media.
So, how do I know who's out of favor with him?
I don't, of course. Not for sure, anyway. And it's not like he would tell anyone who asked him.
But it's not hard to read between the lines when it comes to things like roster moves, playing time and overall player performance.
For example...
C.C. Brown
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So you're C.C. Brown.
After one year with the Detroit Lions, with much of it spent in a starting role across from Louis Delmas, a fixture on defense, you begin to see a number of up-and-coming young safeties start nipping at your playing time.
Amari Spievey.
Randy Phillips.
John Wendling.
They're all pretty good. Uh-oh.
Now the season is over. You ended the season on the bench.
You're a restricted free agent and you haven't been tendered.
Uh-oh.
Kevin Smith
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It's unlikely to surprise anyone that C.C. Brown didn't receive a qualifying offer from the Lions and was therefore thrust into free agency at large (whenever that's going to be).
It might surprise quite a few people to find that Kevin Smith was given the same treatment.
Smith followed up an encouraging rookie campaign with a modestly disappointing sophomore season that ended with an ACL tear and injured reserve.
He followed that slightly disappointing sophomore season with a despondently bad third season that ended with a thumb injury and injured reserve.
Smith played in six games in 2010, to the tune of 34 carries for 133 yards, before going back on the shelf for the season.
With Jahvid Best poised as the top back for 2011 and Maurice Morris filling in admirably for (read: outperforming) the underachieving Smith, it seems that Smith's "make-or-break" season won't have a chance to get off the ground.
Zack Follett
3 of 10
There's no doubt Zack Follett is a fan favorite in Detroit, and anything he may have done to "fall out of favor" with coach Jim Schwartz has nothing to do with his on-field performance.
It has everything to do with Follett being an upstanding young man who Schwartz doesn't want to see get paralyzed or killed on the field.
Follett had a history of back and neck injuries (he does a lot of leading with the crown of his helmet) before he ever landed in Detroit.
He was a special teams ace in 2009, posting a number of giant hits on kick and punt coverage. His passion and fire (and a lack of better options) earned him a shot at the starting weakside linebacker role in 2010, which he took on in addition to special teams.
Then, on October 17, 2010, Follett became the subject of one of the scariest moments of the 2010 NFL season.
After colliding (accidentally) helmet-to-helmet with Jason Pierre-Paul of the New York Giants, Follett remained still on the turf for a very long time. He was eventually stabilized and carted off the field, whereupon he was taken to a local hospital.
While there was no evidence of serious spinal damage and though Follett regained feeling in all his extremities, there is still some doubt as to whether a return to football in 2011 would be dangerous to his long-term health.
His particular style of play just seems so conducive to neck and spinal injuries.
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Andre Fluellen
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I think we can all agree that a defensive lineman who can't sack Jon Kitna has some issues.
I think we can also agree that a defensive lineman who has 35 career tackles in 38 career games has some room to improve.
Now this may be a bit misleading, because I'm not convinced that Andre Fluellen was ever in favor with Schwartz. He was just a big young guy who was never quite bad enough to get cut.
For a while, he got in under the "beggars can't be choosers" philosophy. But now, the Detroit Lions' defensive tackle position is among the most formidable in football, with starters Ndamukong Suh and Corey Williams joined by super-backup Sammie Hill.
Doesn't it seem like the Lions could pick up a spare part somewhere with either more skill or more upside than Fluellen?
Daunte Culpepper
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Just in case you were wondering.
Isaiah Ekejiuba
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This one might be more the NFL's fault than either Schwartz or Ekejiuba's.
See, while Ekejiuba played some emergency fill-in at linebacker during the season, his primary value is as a special teams mauler.
And don't get me wrong, he's very good on special teams. In 2009, he was a Pro Bowl alternate for his special teams work with the Raiders.
The problem is, with the NFL moving kickoffs up five yards to encourage more touchbacks, Ekejiuba's effectiveness on special teams will be limited. To make matters worse, he's turning 30 this season, so there are also kick coverage specialists with more youth and upside than Ekejiuba. Many of them are also more effective at linebacker.
Ekejiuba hasn't done anything wrong, it's just that the Lions are at a point where they need to start looking for players who can contribute both on special teams and defense (especially with the kickoff rule change) I'm not convinced Ekejiuba is part of that.
Bryant Johnson
7 of 10
Remember how exciting it was thinking about the Lions' new receiving duo, Johnson & Johnson? What ever happened to the other one, Bryant Johnson?
What? He's still with the team?
I don't believe it. I don't think I saw him one time all last season. Was he hurt?
He played in 14 games? Are you sure?
Ah, he posted career worsts in 2010 for every statistical category and could have been covered by a hand towel. That's why he seemed to disappear for months at a time.
Glad we cleared that up. So, after he gets cut, who is the Lions' third receiver going to be?
Aaron Brown
8 of 10
This is the image I will have in my mind, forever, when someone refers to carrying the football "like a loaf of bread."
But ball handling skills aside, the problem with Aaron Brown is that he's a poor man's Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush is an older man's Jahvid Best. Jahvid Best could turn out to be a young, rich man's version of Reggie Bush.
And I can't continue the analogy from there. I started to confuse myself.
The point is that Brown and Best are the same person, only Best actually cracks the playbook once in a while and is a lot more talented.
Brown found some work in 2009 as a scat back and return man and he looked okay. In 2010, both those roles were taken by better, more committed players.
If anything, Brown could have filled in for Best while Best was battling turf toe (i.e. at any point all season). If Schwartz had expanded Brown's role to spell the ailing Best, it would have been a vote of confidence.
Brown's 2010 numbers: Six games played, 17 carries, 58 yards, eight receptions, 45 yards.
Those numbers inspire something other than confidence.
On the Bubble: Jordon Dizon
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At one point, defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham praised Jordon Dizon by comparing him to Julian Peterson.
This, of course, is the same Julian Peterson that just got cut after two seasons of being a non-factor.
More importantly, Dizon absolutely shredded his knee during the 2010 preseason and missed the entire regular season on IR.
That makes it even more difficult for Dizon, a Millen-era holdover, trying to convince Schwartz that he belongs in a scheme where, frankly, he doesn't belong.
Even when he was drafted for a Tampa-Two defense in 2008, Dizon's size and strength were an issue. And that was in a scheme where size and strength were secondary attributes to speed and versatility.
Schwartz's rallying cry when he took over the team in 2009 was "Get bigger and stronger at every position." That was bad news for a guy who was too small and weak (12 reps of 225 lbs. at his pro day) in the first place.
Somehow, he managed to avoid the chopping block in the Lions' first two seasons and he even impressed Lions linebackers coach Matt Burke, who once called Dizon "one of [his] hardest workers."
But as the Lions' roster continues to round into shape, it is increasingly likely that he will find himself unable to secure a roster spot with more scheme-appropriate players coming in.
On the Bubble: Derrick Williams
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The man who could become the first draft bust of the Schwartz/Mayhew era has a big season ahead of him.
Derrick Williams was drafted in 2009 to be a combination receiver/return specialist, and thus far he has excelled at neither.
Stefan Logan has the return man thing locked down, so that's not going to be Williams' angle anymore. But there is a huge gap in the roster entitled "third wide receiver."
Williams, a speedy, agile receiver standing 5'11", could fit the role perfectly. Except that he's an average route-runner and seems to exhibit hands of stone.
The lockout will ultimately show more about what Williams is made of than anything. As we continue through the spring, when teams would start organizing OTA's, Williams is going to be responsible for keeping himself in shape and training himself up to make an impact next year.
If he doesn't, it will show that he is below average in both skills and mentality. It's not likely that he gets another chance after that.
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