Now that the Draft is over and done with I feel as though we can discuss this year’s picks somewhat rationally. Despite no free agency to help shape this team, I’m just going to comment on what I thought of the Mayhew/ Schwartz/ Lewand choices for the re-build of this team.

As stated earlier I really like the pick of Nick Fairley. It was a pleasant surprise because quite honestly I didn’t think a player of his caliber would drop down to us. I’m sure the brain trust was drooling seeing him still on the board- and quite frankly he was just too good to pass up. He, alongside Suh and some of the other young defensive linemen will give this team something to build upon for years to come. That being said, the VandenBosch acquisition for character, work ethic and mentoring can’t be so easily overlooked now. I can easily see VandenBosch taking charge of that line and molding them to being the premiere defense in the NFL, much less the NFC Central. Imagine those two stunting on some poor team’s offensive line; they’re going to be a handful. Some had even compared Fairley to Suh and to have the both of them on our team is going to be amazing next season [[or whenever they decide to play again).

Now I was in the car driving when I had heard the Lions picking Titus Young- a wide receiver for our second pick. I nearly swerved into oncoming traffic and yelled “Who?” in the same breath. I realized that it was all of my years of Millen torture had bubbled to the surface again. Hearing the Lions drafting a wide out early always scares me. But then I remembered a few years back when I had heard “With their next pick, the Detroit Lions pick Brandon Pettigrew”; I also spit and wondered “Who?”. Since then Brandon Pettigrew has turned out to be a pretty decent pick; he’s progressed well and I think will be within a whisker of making the Pro Bowl. But back to Titus Young- a wide receiver who played on the blue turf. I had never heard of this guy but knew of Boise State’s near dubious claim to the national championship so I knew he was at least a part of a national powerhouse. I still question the Lions’ need for a legitimate third receiver because I still like the two tight end formation [[and we have huge ones in Pettigrew and Scheffler) with any one of them breaking out to a flat to catch short yardage. But I do understand the logic of having a speed burner to the outside to compliment Calvin. As opposed to the short yardage gained from tossing to tight ends, we’ll definitely be able to go more vertical now. How this is going to impact Nate Burleson is going to be interesting- is he going to move to the slot? It could be interesting to see because he does have some size. I had also heard earlier that Titus Young could also spell Stefan Logan from doing double duty on kick and punt returns. I’m not completely sold on this pick just yet but then I wasn’t exactly sold on the Pettigrew pick years ago either. I hope that the Lions saw something in Young, caught lightning in a bottle and feel as though he can crack the line-up [[I hate seeing skill players taken this early and not starting).

Mikel Leshoure is hopefully going to be the back that Kevin Smith never could be. Being a Big Ten product I saw him play a few times and I think he’s going to be the thunder to Jahvid Best’s lightning. From what I could recall seeing, this is one guy that likes to run between the tackles. Short yardage bruising yards were his forte and I think this team needs some of that. I just hope that the offensive line can give him enough of a surge to run into though. Based upon the last few seasons I’m not one to believe that this line has the size, bulk & muscle to do that just yet, even with the addition of Rob Sims- they seem to pass protect much better than they can run block. Maybe somewhere down the line we can start getting players that can do so to go along with Leshoure & Best’s running skills. I’m not asking for a jumbo line just yet [[please no more Aaron Gibson or Juan Roque types). Having a potent run game will also help protect Stafford and keep the other teams’ defenses guessing.

Doug Hogue is a curious pick to me. He seems undersized to play linebacker so I’m curious didn’t draft him to be exclusively a back-up, a project or a special teams player. Yes, they addressed the issue of not having a better group there but is he the one to step in alongside DeAndre Levy to help that group out? Can this guy start ahead of Landon Johnson, Bobby Carpenter and some of the entrenched veterans? I’m not so sure for this year so not unless we really have faith in the group we have now [[I’m hesitant), we’ll be shopping for free agents at this position to start the season with.

Johnny Culbreath is obviously going to be a project. From what I’ve read he was talented enough to go to a much vaunted Florida State program and chose to go to South Carolina State instead. At 6’5”, 322- he’s no shrinking violet. Pro Football Weekly has him being the 47th best tackle in this year’s draft- well below some other tackles, but obviously Detroit saw something in this kid. Let’s hope he pans out somehow and somewhere down the line. We sure could use some sort of development for the offensive line; Backus isn’t getting any younger.

Other observations of this draft were that Mayhew stuck to his philosophy of drafting talent and not necessarily by need. I have faith in his early draft picks and they’ve seemed to have paid off so far. I can see Fairley in the rotation and Young stepping in immediately to being an every down receiver. Having not picked up a CB in this year’s Draft makes me wonder if we’re going to be in the deep pocketed bid for Nnamdi Asomugha. Having not signed Chris Houston still scares me. I’m so glad we didn’t jump on the Jimmy Smith tour [[good luck Baltimore!) nor the Da’Quan Bowers bus [[he admitted the day before the Draft that none of the teams he visited even took additional x-rays of his knee- maybe they already knew something ahead of time.

Bleacherreport.com has already graded the Lions an A+ for their early drafts. CBSSports.com’s Pete Prisco gives us a B- and questions the lack of defensive help with the early picks. Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com gave us an A- and would’ve gave us higher grades if we had more solid picks this year. So nationally we’ve somehow impressed the pundits with our picks.

So now that the hoopla over this new class is done, let’s get back to the nitty gritty and have the agreement in place to get some free agents. Let’s start shoring up this team with some additional needed talent and get it going between the chalk lines.