Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions Fielding Trade Offers?

The Lions have been, and will be, fielding a number of trade offers, which are contingent upon the availability of WR Calvin Johnson at Number 2 overall.   The sheer number of suitors for Johnson, if teams are being honest, should give the Lions cause to consider selecting him for themselves, irregardless of past team draft failures at the wide receiver position and higher organizational needs that have to be filled in this year’s draft.

The Lions have potential suitors in the Vikings, Redskins, Bucs, Broncos and Falcons.   The Vikings and Lions will not make an intra-divisional deal.   The Redskins have no picks to offer but their first round this year.   That is likely two teams off of the list of potential suitors who are removed from the get go.   The Broncos pick at 21, and can provide a raft of other picks to complement such a move, but the Lions can ill-afford to drop so far back in a draft that is very top heavy (most of the mid- to late first round selections are considered on par with a second round selection this year).

The infamous, and often referenced, “draft trade chart” prescribes values to draft pick exchanges, but in lieu of the salary cap era, makes it nearly impossible for teams who are interested in trading upwards in the draft to commit so much value towards a player who may or may not help the organization in the long run.

The consensus seems to be that the Lions will take DE Gaines Adams somewhere in the top 5, just like LB Derrick Johnson and S Michael Huff were also considered the players the team will most likely draft in other recent drafts.   With the fact being that the Lions actually drafted Mike Williams and Ernie Sims with those picks, you have to take a lot of the pre-draft ballyhoo with a large grain of salt, possibly the kind that gets rubbed across the rim of a large margarita glass, if the Mike Williams draft pick serves as any sort of indicator.

In my eyes, OT Joe Thomas and WR Calvin Johnson are the safe picks for the Lions.   The Lions desperately need help at DE, MLB, and less critically at CB.   Adams makes far too much sense for the Lions to select, but it is debatable how sure the Lions can be that he can contribute immediately, or at all.  

Thomas and Johnson also possess the football character that Marinelli desires from his players.   My dream is that the Lions are able to select Thomas or Johnson and manage to find the means to trade back up into the mid-first round and select MLB Patrick Willis.    Whether they have the means to exercise such a bold move remains to be seen.