Note: I do not advocate replacing Stafford. Please read post before making comment.

This is obviously not to replace Stafford but I think drafting a 4th or 5th round QB to be our primary backup could be a solid move. It seems that every year a 1st or 2nd round QB seems to free fall into a later round ('10: Ryan Mallett, '09 Colt McCoy, etc.). Now granted my examples only fell to the third but this year the guy I am looking at is Nick Foles.

Dude is 6' 5" 240lbs and entered the season as the #1 senior QB. Now he obviously had a down year and his stock took a hit, but with measurables and the ability that he displayed in college he is at worst a solid backup in the NFL and in the 4th round he would be a steal along with being far cheaper then Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton.

Thoughts?

I don't know how many were interested in this but the final of the American Football World Championship is gong on right now (started at 1pm EDT on 7/16) between Canada and the USA.

The stream is only in German but it can be found here:

This is one of those events that can help promote real football worldwide and supporting it is important for us so that we can hopefully someday see Football become an international game.

You can read my summery of the event in my previous fan post here:

Link 2

I know its not the NFL but how many of you have dreamed of cheering on Team USA in an international football competition.  Well my friends that day has come.

Not sure how many of you are aware but the International Federation of American Football's World Cup is going on right now in Austria.  Team USA is in Group A with Mexico, Germany and Australia.  Our first game was a blowout of Australia 61-0 and we play Germany today. and Mexico on Tuesday.

I have not found good streams yet but you can watch highlights of the games on youtube and hopefully with enough interest in the future these games will be on ESPN.  I don't know about you but I don't understand why this cannot be shown over the bowling or pool that always seem to plague ESPN and ESPN2 this time of year.

Update (7/10): US beat Germany 48-7 meaning a win over Mexico will put us in the Finals against likely either Japan or Canada.

Update (7/12): The US beat Mexico 17-7 to finish 3-0 in Group play sending them to the Gold Medal game against the winner of tomorrow's Canada-Japan game.

I know that these do not com out for another week or two but do we even have a chance at getting any compensatory picks? 

The only people we signed that I would think would qualify are Kyle Vanden Bosch and Nate Burleson and it is hard for me to remember who we lost as Free Agents last year vs. those who were traded/ released, etc. I know  that there has been in the past a blog that has been pretty accurate at predicting the picks but so far I cannot find it.

Thanks for any help.

So after the unexpected release of the former Michigan State standout Devin Thomas should the Lions make a waiver claim for him?

He has not been a huge contributor so far in his career on offense but he is a big receiver who is at least as talented as Derrick Williams and Has been a solid contributor on special teams as well I think the Lions would be fools not to at least try to grab him as he is a physically gifted player who has not been given the chance to develop in Washington.

With this week having so many interesting questions surrounding it.  I have one of my own.  Obviously a win over the Vikings would be a huge thing for us but would you feel better if the Lions won or if the defense made Brett Favre look so bad that he was benched for the rest of the season and retired for good?  Personally never seeing Brett again is something that I hoped for when he retired from the Packers and it would almost feel better then a win in my book.

Note: I do not intend this to be thought of as a "I hope Brett gets hurt" post I respect the man and wish him the best in the future but I am sick and tired of the "will he, won't he" every off season.

Ndamukong Suh on ESPN sports science

One of the most badass videos I have seen of Suh.  Shows his acceleration and tackling power.  My favorite quote although I am not sure if it is a complement is that Suh runs faster at his top end then Tony Romo.  Defiantly worth a watch even if you do not want to draft him

I for one defiantly want to see Suh in the Honolulu Blue and this video is a good reason why.

bumped to front page from fan posts - irish1611

According to ESPN the PAC-10 is considering expanding to 12 teams with Colorado and Utah at the top of the list:

Utah might be headed to the Pac-10. A report from ABC4 in Salt Lake City says Utah will be invited to the Pac-10 conference, while BYU was left out of the guest list.

But there's a long way to go before any of this happens. The Pac-10 has to first decide that they are expanding, like the Big Ten. Then they might invite two schools to their conference to allow for a conference championship and a better scheduling format. ABC4 speculates that Utah and Colorado might be the two additions.

The TV station adds: "The Pac-10 TV deal is about to expire, and a new TV partner would want the league to have a football championship game, which requires the league to have 12 teams."

Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott told the San Jose Mercury News that he'll be "very cautious" with expansion. "It?s always tempting to go for short-term economic gain, but it?s very hard to go backwards. You run the risk of potentially harming something that is so special."

What are your thoughts on the possible move?  Probably not the best from a prestige stand point but maybe we could be more competitive in that league.  Plus we would have a natural rivalry (at least for now) with UCLA.

Update:

I talked to a former administrator who worked for Colorado in 1994 when the discussion last came up he brought up the major issues he remembers from the time were that the Pac- 10 wanted CU to add a number of non- revenue or expensive sports that they did not have such as swimming and baseball. I feel like this would be a major issue still although he said that whether or not it went down was completely dependent on who the regents are at the time of the offer.

So in the relatively likely scenario that Suh is gone by the time we pick which is the better choice for us Eric Berry or Gerald McCoy?  While DT might be a bigger need in many peoples mind safety is a need as well and many say that Berry is the best player in the draft and drafting him would be a solution to our safety position for quite some time.

Personally I always felt that Berry was the safer pick and think that his body of work trumps McCoy's body of work.

I know that he is still currently serving active duty but what is the deal with Caleb Campbell?  He obviously has not had a chance to play too much recently but I believe that the Lions still hold his rights and with the revolving door we had in the secondary I am curious if they give him a chance since I believe he is able to play starting this year.  Does anyone have any news about what the Lions are thinking with him or when he can begin to play for us?

Demaryius Thomas was quoted after the ACC championship as saying that he was "Coming back" so there is a high profile receiver off the board.

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/7525/jackets-clinch-bcs-bowl-bid-under-johnson

Perhaps this is a response to his recent  drops but all I know is that it is good news for the Jackets and bad news for teams looking for a big time play maker at wide receiver.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter Micheal Crabtree will sit out this year in the hope of being a higher darft pick next year.  This raises the question for me of wheather or not this is going to benefit him or if  he will as I believe not even be the number 1 reciever next year.

What are your thoughts?  Will Crabtree be a higher pick then this year and/or will he be the number 1 reciever taken?

NFL network has the Lions picking at 1 and 10 with the Jags picking 20 does anyone know if there was a trade?

I am not sure where the  49ers are picking (since they held the 10th pick) but I assume it is at 8 anyone know whats  going on?  I cannot find any information on a trade anywhere and NFL network is saying nothing about it.  Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.

I have always felt that the most important thing that a early pick can have is a strong work ethic and after reading the following article on ESPN I do not see how the Lions a can afford to past on this guy:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft09/news/story?id=4012959

In the past the NFL has constantly looked past players caracter flaws and as a result more often then not teams got burned just look at Pacman Jones, Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens.  The Lions specifcly have gotten burned by picks like Charles Rogers and Shaun Rogers.  Yes having the flashy players is important but not at the expense of caracter.  Calvin Johnson was a great pick up for that very reason.

So please Lions skip the Matt Staffords and Jay Cutlers of the world and pick up those guys who worked hard to get where they are and will continue to even if its for a sadly sub-par team.