Report: Stafford Looms As Lions Choice
The Lions - owners of the first choice in this year's draft - "plan" to take Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, according to Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.
Florio couches the assertion by saying that it may still be a smokescreen, but he sounds pretty sold on the fact it isn't.
While Florio may be dead-on today, there are myriad things that can pop up between now and April 25 that could submarine that plan.
The cost to get Stafford under contract before Halloween 2009 would be the most obvious one.
An agent with experience repping top 10 players says negotiations between prospects and the team at No. 1 normally begin "10 to 12 days" before the draft. Last year, the Dolphins and Michigan tackle Jake Long struck the deal to make Long the No. 1 on the Tuesday before the draft. Long, represented by Tom Condon, signed for five years and $57 million with $30 million guaranteed.
Stafford's represented by Condon as well and the cost to do a deal with a quarterback is going to be greater than it was for an offensive tackle, regardless of them both going at No. 1.
Since 2000, six quarterbacks have been the No. 1 overall pick - Michael Vick (2001), David Carr (2002), Carson Palmer (2003), Eli Manning (2004), Alex Smith (2005) and JaMarcus Russell (2007).
Meanwhile, Jason Smith, a tackle from Baylor and Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry are presumed to be the other players Detroit is considering.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Report: Stafford Looms As Lions Choice.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.nbcsports.com/system/mt-tb.cgi/11323
5 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
Drilling deeply into the mantle layer of America's Passion, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran offers up quick hits and insights on all things NFL.
I would think after all the years we draft QB ,that we would learn. We need to protect them-maybe OT
Well as a Lions fan I hope they don't draft Stafford especially when there are 8 to 10 better football players available in this draft. But then these are the Lions and they never learn. They always go for the so called skilled position players. They really need to stop listening to the press and take a queue from legendary coaches Bill Walsh and Bill Parcells who both stated the if you have a top ten draft pick you should pick the best football player, not pick the best athlete or pick for need just get the best football player available. I personally think that person is Aaron Curry and yes you can build a good defense around a good LB. I know that the reports on Stafford say that he has a strong arm and quick feet and that he's smart but if you followed Georgia football last season there is plenty of proof that when he gets pressure he panics and makes bad decisions and if he was doing that in college then it will be even worse in the NFL where the defenses are faster. So I think the Lions would be better off acquiring a proven veteran like Leftwich for example (who by the way looked pretty good filling in for Rothlesberger when he got hurt last year) and either developing Stanton from last years draft. Personally I think letting Kitna get away a mistake, he may not be an elite QB but he wasn't a bad one either.
Kitna, are you kidding me, All talk, we will win 10 kitna?
For many years I had dreamed of playing for the Lions untill a motorcycle accident removed that possibility. Whoever runs the Lions seems to only think about ticket sales.
They had an excellant QB in Greg Landry and
gave him one of the worst offensive lines to
work with. They had the best running back in
Barry Sanders who also was a great reciever.
They seldom threw him the ball,wouldn't spend
the money to get a quality QB. Ticket sales
were great for ten years so why spend the money to have a great team? The owner, coach, and gm MUST agree on which players to
keep, draft, etc. They need to understand a team that wins instead of going 0-16 is a team made up of skilled players with heart at
ALL positions and not 21 so so players with one golden boy to sell tickets and keep the stadium filled.
I'm not a Lion fan but it might be a good idea to trade down and get multiple picks. There are too many holes for Stafford to fill.