OT: Draft philosophy (can apply to all sports w/a draft)

[joeleolebo]

(Draft philosophy: No matter where a player is projected to go, if you think he has the chance of being one of the best impact players for that draft, why not take him even considering the number 1 pick contract. wouldnt he likely be worth it anyway in the long run?)

If the Lions make the wise decision and avoid drafting a QB this year and goes for the OL or Defense, what makes a player worthy for that #1 pick? Can a player projected to go anywhere from 9-15 be justified in taking #1 over a lot of the other highly touted lineman/QB's??

I really have a good feeling about Rey Maualuga. I think he has the potential to end up being an impact player putting any teams defense over the top. He could be that impact player like shawn Merriman.

Knowing that he will most likely be snatched up before the lions 20th pick would the lions be justified in drafting him over all the other players rated in the top 5??

You gotta go with the hawaiian named players with crazy hair!!!

I looked at the 2005 draft and Shawn Merriman was picked 12th overall. Turns out you can say he has been probably top 3 - 5 within that draft class. Polomalu was drafted 16 overall in 2003. A ton of great players from that draft but looking back you could make a case for the bengals or lions taking him in the top 2 wouldnt you agree?

So considering that, why not take Maualuga at #1 if they can't trade down or up to get him knowing he's got as good of a shot as any of these other guys rated top ten? Doing that the lions still probably stand a good chance at a good trench player at the 20th pick...

[GJense4181]

IB4ThisGetsMoved

[Muzzleshot]

The Lions are in no position to make a reach and draft a player ahead of where he's expected to go.
The lions have so many needs they need to take the best player available. If it's a LB then so be it, but they better get a player that's going to solidify a position for the next 10 years and is pretty much a perennial pro bowler.

As far as moving this thread it'll be moved to the NFL forum where very few people will see it.
The NFL, NHL, and MLB forums on this message board are absolute failures. No one pays much attention to them. I just looked at the Wings forum and the last post was on Christmas day.
RealGM should just give up the hope of expanding beyond an NBA forum because it's not working.

In my opinion it would be nice to have a Lions, Wings, Tigers thread on this board especially when there's not much going on with the Pistons. Instead those threads get moved to basically a black hole and this board gets inundated with ridiculous trade proposals.

[coolness]

To make it on-topic....I hope the Pistons trade 2nd rounders for 1st rounders. They might get 2 or 3 late 1st rounders if they are willing to dump all their coming 2nd rounders (6 over next 3 drafts + Plaisted and Washington.) Get guys who you wouldn't mind having on the team for 4 years even if they never cracked the rotation. (Good attitude, I think Max and Afflalo fit that description at the time, and they just happen to become contributers as could 2 of 4 late 1st rounders of 2009.) It would be nice to have some roster spots already filled and filled cheaply. A revolving door of 2nd rounders and marginal free agents is the other option, I guess, and they are gone too fast while the marginal free agents (FlipM, Herrmann, Jarvis, Narzy, Kwame) cost more than a late 1st rounder before leaving for greener pastures.

[Bosanac]

The Lions should trade the 1st for a bunch of picks because they surely need a bunch of help.

[#1stunna]

comparing the nba to the nfl is a tricky 1 for me.

imo

nba - superstar league that has rookie contracts that are reasonable for the franchise. drafting the likes of a howard or cp3 & your franchise is competitive for a decade+. Unless of course your a mchale or danny aige(before garnett trade, **** mchale). If you draft a kwame, livingston, or darko it sucks bad cuz its a missed opportunity but it has little negative impact for the future. you can always trade the pick to another gm thinking he has untapped potential.

nfl - team focused league that has ridiculous rookie contracts making the top3 picks almost the highest paid in their position. a carson palmer, mario willaims, or jake long & you got a great building block but its still only 1 position on 1 side of the field. if you draft a mike williams, charles rogers, joey harrington, jeff backus, or stocker mcdougle(if our picks werent so sad they'd be funny) & your **** cuz of the salary cap hits & time wasted trying to rebuild that position(mostly qb).

to sum up my thoughts...

if I was a nba gm i would love to have a top3 pick(duh) & with that pick choose the player with the most superstar potential regardless of position

if I was a nfl gm I would try my hardest to trade a top3 for more picks or a already proven talented player. If I couldnt trade it I would choose the safest choice & not the potential best player available. Stick to probably a ol or dl choice

[Liqourish]

I think the wisest move for the Lions is to draft a QB and then work on their lines. What's the point of protecting your QB when he can't make plays anyway? The linemen at the end of the 1st and in the 2nd and 3rd rounds are, imo, of the same quality of those at the start of the 1st round.

Why waste a top pick when you can get equal value at a lower pick? How many games did we lose as a direct result of bad plays by Kitna/Orlovsky? almost all of them. Put a Matt Stafford in there throwing to Calvin Johnson, setting up Kevin Smith and watch the wins start to pile up.

I know people love Andre Smith, I'd love him on the Lions. But the drop off from QBs is much steeper than the drop off from other positions. It's like the NBA drafting a PG, if you don't have a stellar playmaker, why pass one up who is 100x better than anything else you have at that spot?

[Master Shake]

We just have too strong of a history of not putting the necessary pieces around a good quarterback. We're not making the playoffs next year, I'm sure we can another top 10 pick and snag a QB then. We need to have the places in piece first, because all we do is ask too much of our QB's and then they are ruined, just look at good ole Joey.

[ajaX82]

I moved this here, the Lions forum is way more relevant.

To the OP, Rey? Really? 1st overall? Maybe at 20, but at 1 is crazy. The scouts arent even that high on him.

[joeleolebo]

Forget that I said Rey Maualuga, because I used him as more of an example than anything. My question is this ( i try not to be long winded this time):

If there is a player that is projected to go around 10-15th pick and your team has the #1 pick, but of all the players available, they like that particular player because they think he can end up having as good a chance as anyone to be the best player from the draft?

Example, Pistons picked stuckey around the 15th pick, if they had the #1 pick and took him there'd be an outrage, but at this point he does seem to be the best player from that whole draft, so why wouldnt he be worth the #1 pick contract? This is just my opinion but I'd rather have stuckey than rose, beasely or mayo... In my original post I was using maualuga as a stuckey type... (hope that clarifies my intent on the original post)

[chrbal]

If the Lions draft a QB on day one, I'll be pissed.
Especially Sanchez, I don't care if he falls into the 2nd round. For the love of god, build an offensive line and build a defense.

I'll take the Orlovsky VS Culpepper battle for one more year. I'll watch Calvin Johnson and WR 2, WR 3, etc.

[ajaX82]

Forget that I said Rey Maualuga, because I used him as more of an example than anything. My question is this ( i try not to be long winded this time):

If there is a player that is projected to go around 10-15th pick and your team has the #1 pick, but of all the players available, they like that particular player because they think he can end up having as good a chance as anyone to be the best player from the draft?

Example, Pistons picked stuckey around the 15th pick, if they had the #1 pick and took him there'd be an outrage, but at this point he does seem to be the best player from that whole draft, so why wouldnt he be worth the #1 pick contract? This is just my opinion but I'd rather have stuckey than rose, beasely or mayo... In my original post I was using maualuga as a stuckey type... (hope that clarifies my intent on the original post)

alright, i got ya. I agree theoretically, because i hate when teams get swayed by the popular opinion. If the player you want and feel is deserving is on the board, take him. Of course i doubt the fans and/or owners would ever allow it but hey

If the Lions draft a QB on day one, I'll be pissed.
Especially Sanchez, I don't care if he falls into the 2nd round. For the love of god, build an offensive line and build a defense.

I'll take the Orlovsky VS Culpepper battle for one more year. I'll watch Calvin Johnson and WR 2, WR 3, etc.

word. We drafted Stanton in the early second. we played Danny all year practically. Why grab a QB now? Build the lines like you said. We could have Tom Brady but when he has no time to throw it wouldn't matter.

[Liqourish]

Word was that the Lions were interested in Bradford/Stafford at #1, then Bradford stayed and now word is Lions are interested in Sanchez at #20. Which means they could take Andre Smith at #1. It's obvious that the Lions need a QB and know they need a QB... missing out on a sure QB could end up hurting them more than they think. Although if they have no hopes of winning, I guess it really doesn't matter.

[Liqourish]

Word around football insiders is that Jim Schwartz is a big fan of Matt Stafford. Could be interesting listening to all the rumblings between now and draft day.