Lions Taking OT Jason Smith With First Pick?
 

So says KFFL by way of PFT...

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/...tled-on-smith/

I guess they're going to ride Daunte Culpepper to the moon and back.

You don't get to 0-16 by being competent.

That info is early, and I agree with what Florio was writing - it shouldn't surprise that they're speaking with Jason Smith's agent, but to have nailed the decision to the floor just doesn't make sense.

They'll do what anyone in that spot does, and try to negotiate a deal against the other candidates. However, it also wouldn't surprise me if they've made their decision behind closed doors (meaning quite literally that 2-3 people know that answer).

I think it's a smart move if they aren't in love with Stafford or Sanchez. They may also think that Sanchez may fall to them at #20. Freeman will definitely be there at #20 and may be there at #33.

They drafted Gosder Cherilus last year who's playing the right side. They'd have bookend tackles for the next decade.

They're shoring up the line for Cutler since they might not have another pick until the 2nd day.

There's no way they give up the #20 AND the #33 for Cutler.

I think they just might. They are the Detroit Lions.

I would love to see it happen. That would mean Simms the starter and Freeman backing him up for 2009. Oh gawd how the implosion in Denver makes me giddy.

I think it's plausible

Dungver drafting Freeman in the first would complete this offseason. It'd go down as the greatest ever for Chiefs fans.

I don't.

The Chiefs just gave up #34 for two players, including Matt Cassel. Cutler hasn't had a winning season since high school and while he's got a great arm, he's certainly not at the point in his career where he's worth two picks in the top 34.

Detroit Lions in contract talks with several first draft pick prospects

by Tom Kowalski Monday March 23, 2009, 4:12 AM


AP File PhotoBoston College's B.J. Raji, left, may be one of the players the Lions are in talks with.
DANA POINT, Calif. -- The Detroit Lions still are not saying who they might select with the first overall draft pick, but they are getting closer to putting that player's name on the dotted line.
Lions president Tom Lewand, who is attending the annual owners' meetings with several members of the team's front office, said the team already have started initial contract negotiations with several No. 1 prospects.
Because the Lions have the first pick, they are allowed to begin negotiating before the April 25 draft.
"By the rules, we could agree to terms with somebody tomorrow if we wanted to," Lewand said.
The top four prospects for that first pick are believed to be Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, Baylor left tackle Jason Smith, Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry and Virginia left tackle Eugene Monroe.
Lewand indicated he has been in contact with the agents of other players as well. One of those might be Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji who made a visit to Allen Park last week to interview with Lions officials.
The Lions want to begin negotiations early because contract language will be different than previous years because the 2010 season does not have a salary cap.
"We have to have robust dialogue with the agents of the players we're interested in. We've started that process, and we've made it very clear to all of them that we have to have that as this month draws to a close," Lewand said. "Because of the complexity of the rules, we've already started discussions. I don't see any reason we can't advance those discussions with multiple parties as we're narrowing the decision-making."
The Lions have indicated they want their No. 1 pick to be signed before they officially select him, but Lewand said there's no timetable on when that will happen.
The first order of business is the Lions making the decision; coach Jim Schwartz will have heavy input, but the final say will come down to general manager Martin Mayhew.
"There's no timetable one way or the other. If we make the decision, and Martin and Jim and everybody else is comfortable with it and we can come to a contract with the guy, there's no reason we can't do that tomorrow," Lewand said. "If we can't -- and any one of those pieces isn't in place -- and it doesn't get done until the night before the draft, that's fine, too."
The Lions want the draft pick signed prior to the draft because it eliminates any possibility of a holdout in training camp. If the Lions select a player who is unsigned, the leverage immediately shifts to the player, because he can withhold his services, much like LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell did with the Oakland Raiders two years ago. Russell missed all of training camp in a contract dispute.
The Lions have the leverage by negotiating with several players before the draft. Last season, the Miami Dolphins were in talks with four players and eventually signed Michigan tackle Jake Long before officially selecting him at No. 1. The Lions want to put themselves in the same position -- as soon as possible.


http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf...ract_talk.html

SOOO do we trade down once Stafford falls to #3? :shrug:

While Cutler doesn't have the record, many teams view him as a legit future franchise QB. Those don't come cheap, and it only takes 2 teams to drive up the price.

Well here it is folks. Just got this from KFFL.com:

Lions | To take J. Smith with first pick?
Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:38:30 -0700

KFFL has learned the Detroit Lions WILL take Baylor OT Jason Smith with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

Yep. I'm sure they saw what the Dolphins did last year and, right or wrong, taking Smith puts them in "win now" mode.

This.

And another opinion from the other thread(Peter King FWIW):

"Say you're the Broncos, and Tampa Bay offers you two ones [two first-round picks] plus [second-year quarterback] Josh Johnson for Cutler,'' one NFC coach told me. "Denver makes the deal and picks a quarterback with one of the ones. You've traded the best young quarterback in football for two guys who might have a chance, but might be washouts too. Denver's problem is they could never get fair value for him.''

The Chiefs could have their choice of any non-tackle of the draft

1. Lions - OT Jason Smith
2. Rams - OT Eugene Monroe
3. Chiefs - ???

It's Peter King. He has to take time off from sucking Denver dick to write his columns. Cutler has a huge arm and a losing record as a starter. He's far more valuable to Denver than anybody else. Furthermore, he wants a new deal. Despite the draftees being unproven, it's still less costly to take a chance on one of them when Cutler himself is largely unproven and has baggage to boot.

It's going to sting a little if we end up having a shot at both QB's...

Ya, its definitely a hyperbole to claim they could never get fair value, but like I said it only takes two teams to value Cutler highly for Denver to get a good deal.

Dis. But hopefully that means that people will be wanting to trade up for Stafford.

I like Cassel, but we shouldn't be wed to him. If we can get some real value for him by trading (even if Cassel lands in Denver) AND get Stafford I think it could be great draft. The more of Stafford I see the more I think he will be successful. Don't have the same feeling about Sanchez.

Besides, we can always fall back on Thigpen if we have to... ;)

Hmmm, I'm in a different boat. The more I think about Stafford, the more I think he reminds me of Cutler, and that's not the kind of QB I want.

Give me Cassel or Sanchez.

When has Matt Stafford ever showed the kind of petulance that Jay Cutler has?

He hasn't.

But he has shown the same propensity to do completely reeruned things on the field on Saturdays.

I've been down on Cutler since he came out. It really has nothing to do with the latest sideshow act...

Its my opinion here, but I think Matthew Stafford will be a star in the league in a couple years. He's got everything and he's extremely bright. He knows football, and he does a lot of film work.

If we do have the choice of any non tackle, does any team value one QB highly enough over the other to trade up? I think probably not, but who knows.

We absolutely do not draft a QB in the first rd this season, that would be abso-****ing-lutely reeruned.

I'm SURE there are teams that will put a much higher grade on one of them.

Considering that Cassell still hasn't signed a long term contract.....it's not so stupid.

Yes, but high enough to pull the trigger on the trade?

We absolutely draft a QB in the 1st round just to piss off the butt-monkey contingent at Chiefs Planet.
Absolutely.


Be ready, it's coming:
http://adelaideoutlaws.com/blogg/wp-...he_kitchen.jpg

That's pretty hyperbolic to say the least.

FWIW, QB wonderlic scores:

Stafford: 38
Sanchez: 28
Freeman: 27

Wow, from all the talk about Freeman being a dummy, I expected his score to be in the 6-10 range.

I'm betting some team jumps on him in the first round. Justified or not.

Whats with everyone using hyperbolic today? Is there a CP word of the day thread I missed?

They're just being hyperbolic.

You can tell pretty quickly that he's not an idiot if you've ever heard one of his interviews. He comes off as a good kid.

I've always thought claims to the contrary were totally unfounded.

Crabtree scored a 15, DHB a 14, Harvin a 12, and Hakeem Nicks an 11. Maclin scored a 25.

Andre Smith: 17
Michael Oher: 19
Jason Smith 23
Eugene Monroe: 24

AQ Shipley got a 40

Clay Matthews scored a 27, Rey scored a 15, and I think Cushing scored a 23.

A little bit.

But it's still a concern I have with Stafford. Does he have the patience, humility, and intestinal fortitude to learn when heaving the ball 100mph is NOT appropriate? Or will he always bank on his million dollar arm to get him out of trouble?

Like I said earlier, he's a very smart kid and that will translate onto the field. He just needs to mature a little more.

Of course it's impossible to know for sure, but he's another one that sounds great in an interview. Sure seems like he'd be a very coachable player.

Confident, yet humble. Nice combo.

I'd bank on a guy who is intelligent outside of football, blew teams away with his board work, great intangibles, and has phenomenal physical attributes, but that's just me.

This. The kid is going to be amazing.

This. The kid is going to be amazing.

It's not about "smart". Jay Cutler scored a 26.

Alot of these guys can't and won't admit that they're fallible. Especially the guys that are gifted to the point that they don't have to work very hard if they don't want to. Stafford did alot of things at Georgia to make me question whether or not he's going to be one of those guys.

He's in a very similar position to what Cutler was and we're seeing that play out now. He does need to mature a bit more, the big question is "can he?"

I see where you're coming from. I'm not suggesting the guy isn't worth the #3 pick, nor am I suggesting that he's going to be a bust.

I'm just saying why I'm not as high on him as some.

I wasn't trying to infer that you were saying he was going to be a bust.

At the same time, you won't find someone higher on Stafford than me. I think he's the best prospect since Palmer.

He's one guy I'm conflicted on.

I'd love to have him.

But him dropping to #3 presents the best chance for us to trade down, and unless we're going to move Cassel, that's what I'd like most for us to do.

Absolutely. When I was saying he's smart, I was meaning football smart. He blew people away with his board work. The kid knows football and seems to be very coachable. If you have the right coach in place, he should be able to mature rapidly.

To me, if you pick Stafford, the worst you'll get is a Farve type that throws lots of INT's but can carry his team to win the game regardless. I also believe he will grow out of the INT problems early and will be a top 5 QB in the league for years.

*trying to contain mancrush on Stafford....

try harder

Not me, mines out there on full display.

Fair enough.

Contain nothing of the sort, and let it FLOW.

If this is the case we are in a great position. We have the choice of the top QB if we want and have a team drafting right behind us with a 34 year old QB on the decline. So any team that wants Stafford needs to leap the Seahawks.

That's funny because instead of "Ya, its definitely a hyperbole" I had originally written hyperbolic.

So add another one to the list. Funny, don't know that I've ever seen that word on here before.