Every year after the NFL draft there is a reaction to the selections a team makes. Even though it is far to early to make any kind of informed judgement, draft grades and criticism are measured out by pundits and fans alike. Because the Detroit Lions have not selected this low in the draft with their own pick since 1992, when they selected Robert Porcher 26th overall, many of the Lions faithful may need a bit of perspective on the 23rd pick.

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I am sure most people are aware of the six degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon. Basically it goes something like this. Person X knows Kevin Bacon who knows person Y who knows so on and so forth that by the time you get to the sixth person down the line pretty much everyone in the world, yes that was a slight exaggeration, has six degrees of separation from actually knowing Kevin Bacon. All because they know someone who knows someone on down the line.

Well I decided to apply something similar to the Detroit Lions Kyle Vanden Bosch. Because there is a domino effect of similar sorts there. I have seen popular fan sentiment to replace a player like Kyle, much like I have with Tim Tebow, another guy who has intangibles off the charts, another guy whom Jim Schwartz would not bet against. In fact, with Kyle, Jim Schwartz took it a step further when he decided to bet with him and show up on his doorstep, bottle of wine in hand, on midnight of the night free agency had opened up.

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I feel that the NFL sack numbers are a bit misleading, because they don't tell the whole story in a simple total. A team that passes more, may give up sacks more, but actually be more successful on pass protection on a per snap basis. Therefore I like to take a look at sack rate. For the offense this means that I take the number of pass attempts divided by the amount of sacks given up to come up with the amount of pass attempts that a team goes before giving up a sack. For comparison sake I have listed the sack totals and where that number ranks in the NFL as well. For the defense I take a look at pass attempts against versus sacks to come up with the number of attempts it takes the defense to sack an opposing quarterback. So for the offense a higher number is better, for the defense a lower number is better.

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This is the second part of the Two Bro's podcast covering the Lions upcoming contest with the Oakland Raiders. In this edition the Bro's talk about the the Lions offense and how it matches up against the Vikings defense. The discussion includes how Oakland is one of the few teams that are worse than the Lions in rushing defense, the possibility that Kevin Smith might play, and how the the Lions offensive line and game plan needs to do a better job in protecting Matthew Stafford.

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Normally I would fanshot this, but it was too good of a story to allow folks to miss it, as many do not use or view the fanshots. Therefore here is a little tidbit from the original article with a link to the original source.

December 14, 2011, 10:02 am

Honored in Green Bay this weekend, former Duck and Packer, Matt Brock, joined the Morning Sports Page to talk about being an honorary coach and discusses the real reason behind Ndamukong Suh's face slamming-stomping on Green Bay's Evan Dietrich-Smith.

Known recently for his bad boy antics and "dirty" style of play, Suh, a Portland native, was hit with a two game suspension after being ejected on Thanksgiving Day. Noticeably aggravated by something that was happening between himself and Dietrich-Smith, Suh retaliated with a blow to the head and an attempted stomp down on the Packer lineman. But why? What was the cause for such frustration? Matt Brock, who talked with Green Bay coaches this past weekend cues us in.

Original source link here, please note that you need to listen to the audio portion of the interview to find out the skinny.

Hello Dallas Fans,

My brother and I are two Lions fans but also fans of the NFL in general. We do a podcast for the Lions each week and one of our segments is a preview of the Lions upcoming game. I had posted this in a comment but thought maybe it would be better to just start a thread here so that we can talk back and forth about whatever. If any of you are interested in hearing our take on the game it is a bit over an hour and can be found here.

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I found this humorous, and thought you all might get a laugh out of it. Would be pretty sweet to see Calvin get multiple touchdowns in both Dallas and back home in Detroit against Chicago. I like Stafford's swagger here, going to bat for his boy. Very "Old School-ish". You're my boy Calvin!!!!! Anyhow enjoy the tidbit, normally a fan shot type of thing but meh, I clicked the wrong button and decided to roll with it ;)

Linky Here

Another Millen era draft pick gone wrong, big Gosder Cherilus seems to not have that light bulb going off. Perhaps it is time for him to move on from the Lions. I started to think about this after hearing how utterly pissed Jim Schwartz was after the Lions game. Then I heard via Jason Laconfora that the Lions are not set with their team yet. Word on the street is that Martin Mayhew is shopping around for a big back and offensive line help in order to make a playoff run. The Lions want to get more physical at the point of attack and upgrade the line. So I put two and two together and hashed out several scenarios that came to mind.

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via prod.static.lions.clubs.nfl.com

We have seen articles that grade, rate, and qualify Martin Mayhew's draft picks in a very subjective and debatable manner. Rather than offer an opinion, this writing is going to focus on some numbers in the effort to shed some light on just how well our beloved general manager is doing.

Lets start off by looking at the History. The Detroit Lions were 0-16 and quite possibly the worst team in the NFL when Martin took over as general manager. Perhaps more telling of the actual record is the fact that only a handful of starters remain on our current 6-10 roster. Think about that and let it sink in for a minute.

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So I said to heck with it, and decided to just jump in and run a PoD Keeper League. Tuff and I are in so far and we need 14 more members. Rather than go by PoD Seniority I am going to go by first come first serve in the comments section. Please do not commit to this unless you are genuinely interested. I would rather run it as a ghost league for a year and do it next year if the timeline is too short than have half the league drop out next year only to have to scrounge and search for people to fill already existing teams.

I will outline the structure and rules after the jump.

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Preseason is all but over now and we have had a fair amount of information to assimilate with each team in the black and blue division. In doing so we might be so bold as to leap to conclusions that we should not, but hey, what else is an armchair quarterback to do? In the spirit of this I am going to spill my take on the NFC North and how the season may play out.

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Last year I was hoping the Lions would pick him up, especially aver the Bills cut him. They have a talented backfield, much more talented than ours IMO and they almost kept him as a 4th RB. This was before they traded Lynch to Seattle. I was actually hoping the Lions would draft him, or sign him as an UDFA.

So I am preseason game surfing and I caught some of the Saints game. Lo and behold there is Bell, tearing it up, reminding me of everything he is that Kevin Smith could never be. The guy has good hands, is good in blitz pick up, has some seriously good vision and balance, not to mention that he runs through tackles. All of this and he used to be a ball boy for the Lions. Our very own Wayne State product from right in the heart of the D.

Shame on you Lions for not giving this guy a look. Just pisses me off when we let good talent from our own backyard go to other teams. If this guy was given a chance (20 touches a game) I believe he could easily net 1500 to 1600 yards.

I don't know if this has already been put up here or not, it probably has because everyone here is rabid, raving, crazy ass, nuts about the Detroit Lions. However since I am a fan of the Rich Eisen Podcast and since he had Barry as a guest this week, I thought I would link it here for you all to have something to listen to while we all scour the web for Lions Free Agency tidbits.

Enjoy.

http://richeisen.nfl.com/2011/07/29/the-unlocked-podcast-barry-sanders-marshall-faulk-dan-patrick-thomas-dimitroff-plus-lombardi-and-lacanfora/

The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that its "temporary stay" of the NFL lockout is no longer temporary.
It shouldn't be a surprise that the conservative Eighth Circuit sided with the owners. Make no mistake: There are major political implications involved in the lockout. The owners' side is now expecting a concessions proposal from the players' side by Tuesday, although whether that will come is far from certain. The NFL lockout is in full effect. No mediation or negotiation will occur before June 3, which is the next court date. May 16, 6:19 PM

http://nbc.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/591/drew-brees

via photos-a.ak.facebook.com

Since many here seem to have a concern over our offensive guard depth I have decided to make an effort to get to know Donald Thomas better. By doing so I hope to put some ease into the nervousness associated with our guard depth as it is my impression that he is a quality back up and possible future starter. I could be wrong, as I have little to go on but gut feel regarding this. Therefore this will be as educational and informative for me as it is for anyone else here.

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Rather than sort through the flurry of tenders that were going on before the CBA expired I am going to just list all of the guys that are eligible under the 2010 rules for restricted free agency. Some guys here are a virtual guarantee to be cut or traded away on the cheap. DeAngelo Williams from Carolina fits into this category. With Steward and Goodson behind him, it is projected that the Panthers will try to save some cash and let him go. Ahmad Bradshaw is another top tier running back that has fallen out of favor with his head coach due to fumbelitis. Many times when a team is interested in a guy like this, they can contact the club who has rites to the player and then that club may pass on the information that they will be traded if they sign their tender. This allows the two teams to work out an agreement outside of the tender offers. Tony Scheffler, Rob Sims, and Alphonso Smith all came to us this way last year.

Instead of searching through a mountain of internet hype and rumors I am going to pass the onus on to the comments section of this thread for speculation on individual players. This is a master list, to let people browse and use as a resource to see who may or may not be available for the Lions in 2011. Once again, if you guys see a name here that has been signed to a contract by a team just let me know and provide a verification link please. Just to be clear, I am not worried about removing tender offers at this point, only guys who have actually signed a tender or a contract.

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Since there is a lot of free agent talk going around now, and soon to be in the future, I am compiling a list of the guys that will fall under the 2010 unrestricted rules. This means 6 years or more of service in the NFL. It also means if the league reverts to old rules that there will be no salary cap this year.

Some of my sources are no doubt out of date, as I have removed a few names from lists, such as Nathan Vasher and Champ Bailey who have both signed deals, and Peyton Manning who is never going to be a free agent. If you guys see someone in this list that has signed a contract, or been franchise tagged, let me know and I will update it. Please provide me with a trustworthy source link to verify the signing as well.

I think when you guys look through this list you will realize that the pickings are slim and there will be heavy competition for any decent players. No matter who is signed by whom we can rest assured that they are very likely to be overpaid. Anyone not on this list is either under contract, or falls into the 3 or 5 year category of free agency, which is restricted and most likely those players, if decent, will be tendered.

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Time to see and outside perspective on the initial impressions the Lions made around the web.

Detroit Lions: A-

Analysis: The Lions made good use of their top-three selections. Fairley and Leshoure could start as rookies and Young gives them the badly needed speed they have been looking for at wide receiver.

Fox Sports Linky

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First off let me start this by saying that this is an extremely subjective viewpoint, from a fan, who loves the Lions. I do not have any inside information, nor do I profess to have any enlightened insight into the Lions front office or how they work. I have no inside knowledge of anything. I am just a guy with a brain that tends to over analyze the crap our of everything. Since I love football, and I love the Lions even more, it just so happens that I spend more brain cycles thinking about stuff like this than sex. Does anyone know a good therapist?

Well anyways, lets take a look at how my sick mind works, in regards to football that is! I have had a gut feeling for a while that the Lions may just be more in the market for Nnamdi than people realize. Below I will go through point by point on how I have arrived at this conclusion. I will also explore some branches in the road at the end that may lead away from Nnamdi. Hopefully you all find this entertaining possibly informative, for something that is nothing but pure speculation.

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Yeah just going to start this up, so we all have a place to hang and chill and talk about breaking news and whatnot.

Just heard that the Bengals are trying to trade down, they want Andy Dalton later in the draft, and they are willing to take less in trade value than the fourth pick is worth.

Washington is also still trying to trade up for Blane Gabbert.

Haha I can't wait, this is going to be crazy!