Stafford? Sanchez? No surefire No. 1 pick for Lions
Just the Lions' luck, right?
They're trying to rebuild after the NFL's first 0-16 season. They hold the No. 1 pick in the draft for the first time since 1980, when they took running back Billy Sims.
And as the NFL Scouting Combine began Wednesday, there was no consensus, gotta-have, can't-miss prospect. Of course, only time will tell.
Although he said quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez are "not super-elite prospects"
and neither would be the top choice for a lot of teams, ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. thinks they give the Lions hope.
"To say that the Lions are in a bad spot here, it's not necessarily the case,"
Kiper said. "Matthew Stafford is worthy of being the first pick overall, based on his physical gifts. Very few quarterbacks have ever come out in the draft -- outside of two or three or four -- who can throw the football like Matthew Stafford. That's something you can hang your hat on."
"Sanchez, if he would have gone back to USC for next year, he would have been probably lock, stock and barrel the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft. That means something. So what I'm saying is, these two kids are worthy of being in the discussion for the No. 1 pick overall."
The Lions have gone 31-97 since 2001 largely because of their draft failures. They must make better selections from top to bottom, and they have three of the top 33 picks and five picks in the first three rounds this year.
But the top pick will dominate discussion at the Combine and leading up to the April 25-26 draft because of the unique opportunity and challenge it presents.
The Lions can have anyone they want. Get it right, and they have a cornerstone for their future. Get it wrong, and they continue to hamper the franchise. They have no excuses.
The positive spin about the lack of a consensus, gotta-have, can't-miss prospect: The Lions, a team with many needs to address, aren't necessarily compelled to go in any particular direction.
If they don't trade the pick, they could go with a quarterback such as Stafford or Sanchez. They could go with an offensive tackle such as Eugene Monroe, Andre Smith or Jason Smith or a defensive tackle such as B.J. Raji. They could go with a linebacker such as Aaron Curry. They can take whomever they like best.
"I think the mistakes I've seen made in the NFL have been saying, 'Hey, we have to draft a running back here,' or, 'We have to draft a offensive lineman or a quarterback or whatever other position,' "
coach Jim Schwartz said. "I think a better philosophy is probably to let your hand play out and sort of work that way, try to get the right player, not necessarily the right position."
Finding the right player is as much -- or more -- about researching and interviewing prospects than it is about watching them work out. General manager Martin Mayhew has talked about increased emphasis on psychological testing. Schwartz said he will focus more on interviews at the Combine now than he did as Tennessee's defensive coordinator the past eight years.
"The drill work is all taped,"
Schwartz said. "We can watch that a thousand times, over and over, in the offices upstairs. But the chance to be able to meet players face-to-face, to able to sort of get behind the physical attributes, so to speak, I think that's probably a little bit different from a head-coaching standpoint."
The Lions must project how the No. 1 pick will perform under immense pressure with millions of dollars in his pocket.
"Like I said before, it comes from getting the right player there, getting the right person,"
Schwartz said. "Some guys can handle that, some guys can't."
