Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions reportedly still coveting WR Bradford, the Tedford QB Tree

MLive Lions football Insider Tom “Killer” Kowalski reports that the Lions are still in Roscoe P. Coltrane-like “hot pursuit” of the services of WR Corey Bradford. Bradford, a former Packer (of course) and Texan, would be very valuable in stretching the field with deep passes, an element of theLions passing attack the team officials reportedly want to explore and utilize. Still, besides Bradford’s previous experience with the West Coast offense, Bradford does little to excite me performance-wise. He is very prone to dropping passes and has been very inconsistent throughout his career. Ultimately, I think it would be in the Lions best interest to pursue a sure-handed slot receiver who will find the sticks on third down and is unafraid to catch balls in the middle of the field. Of potential receivers, Troy Brown and David Givens of the Patriots, would be the tops of my list. Brown, is nearing the end of his career, so ultimately the most desirable option would be to offer a contract to restricted Free Agent David Givens. Unfortunately, I am not entirely sure what the cost would be for the Lions to attempt to sign Givens.

Much has been made of late of the failure of Jeff Tedford coached QB’s to thrive in the NFL. The reason the topic is of so much interest is their is a growing debate over whether or not Aaron Rodgers will succeed in the NFL. If you view the list of Tedford coached QB’s, Trent Dilfer and David Carr have been mildly succesful, Kyle Boller and Joey Harrington have been disappointing to bad, and Akili Smith has been,well a has-been. Not to get too deeply in a tail-wagging the dog debate, it is interesting to ponder whether a player is the overwhelming beneficiary of a brilliant coaching system or whether their sublime talents are what makes the aforementioned system flourish. It would appear with the track records of the 5 Tedford coached draft picks, that these players were beneficiaries of Tedford’s talents as a coach and designer of a system that allows players to perform at high levels in college. Carr still shows signs of becoming a better player, the picture is far murkier for Harrington and Boller.