Detroit Lions Weblog

Daniel Bullocks/Secondary, Schwartzingham, and Daunte Culpepper

The Lions placed embattled safety, and former second round pick, Daniel Bullocks on the waiver/injured reserve list, ending his season, and more likely his career as a Lion. If Bullocks passes through waivers unclaimed, he can be placed on the team’s injured reserve list. The Lions safeties, once considered a position of relative luxury on the thin Lions roster, are now a little strapped, considering the trade of Gerald Alexander and the fact that Bullocks will be unavailable to the team for at least, one season.

Beyond rookie Louis Delmas, veteran backups Marquand Manuel, Kalvin Pearson and Stuart Schweigert, the Lions are likely going to be featuring mostly inexperienced players at those positions, unless another unexpectedly dependable corner emerges and Anthony Henry can shift back to safety?

One thing is for certain, the Lions second round draft picks have become analogous to Spinal Tap drummers or Grateful Dead keyboardists, they are an endangered species:

Lions Second Round Draft Picks 2000-2008
2000 LB Barrett Green
2001 Dominic Raiola/Shaun Rogers
2002 Kalimba “The Ghost” Edwards
2003 Boss Bailey
2004 Teddy “China Doll” Lehman
2005 Shaun Cody
2006 Daniel Bullocks
2007 Gerald Alexander/Ikaika Alama-Francis/Drew Stanton
2008 Jordan Dizon

Alex, the answer is, What are perennial draft busts for $300! Hopefully, Martin Mayhew can stem this tide of horrible failures, and has potentially found a valuable player in S Louis Delmas, who already has garnered a lot of early praise for his aggressive and fearless play, which need to be reined in yesterday after blowing up his Lions rookie teammate, RB Aaron Brown:

“I’ve been out for a week and a half,” said Delmas, who also missed the exhibition opener last weekend, “so putting on the pads and going full speed out there, I just wanted to hit anybody, just to get back in game-type situations.”

And while the defense roared its approval after Delmas separated a stunned Brown from the football — knocking his facemask askew — coach Jim Schwartz immediately scolded his second-round pick for an “unnecessary” hit.

“He was motoring to get there,” Schwartz said. “And I appreciate the effort, but we need to be smarter about that. We’re all on the same team. I respect him for how much he’s been itching to get out there to practice. But I thought that one crossed the line.

“I know that he could’ve made that play, and he had a couple (Tuesday) that he really did a good job of flying by. Our rule is, first level we want to make contact. But if we ever have a hit on an unprotected player, we want to pass that one by. … When a guy’s not expecting it, when a guy’s in a vulnerable position, we’ve gotta just be smarter than that.”

I think it is interesting that Schwartz can even keep a straight face while providing his comments to the press. Given Schwartz’s experience as a defensive coorrdinator, where players gain a significant edge in performance through their unchecked aggressiveness, he had to be filled with joy to see his rookie’s abandon, despite it’s potential negative outcome. Gunther Cunningham certainly was:

Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, however, couldn’t hide his glee.

“We’ve really been working hard to become a physical team,” Cunningham said. “And having Louis Delmas back out (there) — he shouldn’t do that in practice — but I turned around, smiled, and I loved every second of it, boy. He blew him up, and that’s the type of tackling we hope to get out of him.”

Amen brother. The Lions have missed having some bravado and chippiness during recent seasons, in my opinion. If Ernie Sims and Louis Delmas can fly around and find the ball like they are seemingly capable, the Lions may be on the verge of establishing a defense worthy of some respect from their NFL peers.

Gunther Cunningham is a particularly interesting variable to the Lions season. He is an energy-charged, rah-rah kind of guy, while Schwartz seems to be more mild-mannered and subdued, it remains to be seen if Cunningham’s volatility is a seamless match with Schwartz’s style, or not. As a Lions fan, I want to see an energized, aggressive defense in Cunningham’s image, not a placid, beaten-down bunch like they have been during recent seasons.

The Lions are clearly still attempting to find their way with their defensive line after the injury sustained by Jared DeVries, and roles are still being sorted out:

While the Lions might not be in desperation mode yet, the defensive line is a work in progress — and progress has been slow.

“It’s getting a little better,” Cunningham said.” We’re going to go into (the regular) season with things we’re probably not going to ever use in preseason.

“They got a little confused (Tuesday), so (defensive line coach Bob Karmelowicz) kept them out and they ran gassers. … He ran them pretty hard, and they got the message.”

Cunningham is expected to have the defense blitz a lot during the regular season to help manufacture a pass rush. He had the defense blitz only 19 times (during Atlanta’s 55 offensive plays) and said the Lions played it safe down the stretch when they knew they had a chance to win the game with zone coverages, which are less prone to big plays.

Another interesting element to the Lions season will be how the quarterback situation sorts itself out and whether Stafford or Culpepper eventually wins the starting job? I actually believe that the Lions are now in a win-win scenario with this situation, since if Culpepper starts and plays well, and if the team still loses, they may actually be able to trade Culpepper to another team, especially if a playoff contender suffers a significant injury at the position. The Lions will turn to Stafford during the bye week, regardless, unless somehow they are improbably winning games with Culpepper.

In some ways, I think it is to their benefit if Culpepper starts and plays well, even if it means delaying handing the team over to Stafford for a few weeks. With the ridiculous rumors that the Lions could eventually be players in the acquisition of Tavaris Jackson, according to Charley Walters from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Lions might actually benefit (acquiring picks/players) from using Culpepper as a stop-gap, and are clearly not as bad off at the Qb position as it is still commonly believed, at least by one idiot sports writer.