Detroit Lions Draft Preview DE Barkevious Mingo

LSU Junior DE Mingo

Mingo is a project at DE. I broke three films (Clemson, Texas A&M, South Carolina). He has some raw tools but does not make the impact an elite player should. His play reminds me of a quick Willie Young.

He has upside because of his length and quickness. I also liked his motor. He pursued the ball even after being knocked down. Mingo tried to flash a spin move though it really was not effective.

He is not a good tackler. I attribute that to a lack of upper body strength. A couple years in an NFL strength program and this should improve and add to his value

Bottom Line: A project player in a 4-3 scheme. Could make a splash a rotational player with upside to develop down the road. He is not a impact player fulltime next year. Looks like third day draftable player for the Lions.

Detroit Lions Draft Preview OLB Dion Jordan

Oregon DE/OLB Dion Jordan is an intriguing player. I broke down 2 films (USC, Stanford) He has great length and quickness. His motor is real good, he makes plays in pursuit. A weakness is a he has a knack to run by the QB on the rush. He is only average vs. the run as he does not have real heavy hands.

Bottom Line: I see him as a 3-4 OLB. A Aldon Smith type without as much strength. I do not think he could play fulltime at DE for a 4-3 team. 3-4 teams will likely covet him in the 10-20 range in this draft.

Detroit Lions Draft Preview DE Corey Lemonier

Auburn Junior DE Corey Lemonier is a good player. I broke down two films from this season (LSU and Georgia) along with two 2011 films. He is a relentless player with good quickness and strength. His burst is good but not elite. He can turn the corner and does have counter moves in the pass rush. Against the run he plays with good leverage and uses his arms. His weakness is he is not super long.

Bottom Line: A see him being a player the Lions would be interested in. He has upfield rush ability and a great motor. I think he would be a solid stater or rotational player in a 4-3 defense. His value will be around pick #25-#40. His quickness gives him a slight nod over Okafor in my early rankings.

Detroit Lions Draft Preview DE Alex Okafor

DE Alex Okafor

Texas DE Alex Okafor is good solid player. I watched two game films (Oklahoma State and West Virginia) plus the senior bowl and 2 practices. He has good but not great first step with active hands. Has a penchant to cause fumbles. Okafor is adequate against the run and has a good motor. I see him as a player the Lions would look at in the 2nd round. I do not think he will fall that far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExvDtq8Whq0 Film link.

Detroit Lions Draft Preview DE Bjoern Werner

Werner is a junior from Germany

I broken down 4 films on Werner ( Va Tech, Miami, NC State, Wake) I saw a few themes in his play.

#1 He does have a good burst off the ball. He has an explosive 1st 2 steps and can get the edge against tackles.

#2 He has a very static upper body. He does not get a lot separation with his hands and lacks secondary moves on the pass rush.

#3 I question his motor. He did not finish a lot of plays. I saw him stand around a lot.

#4 I question his football awarenss. He does not make a lot of plays.

# 5 He was awful vs. Miami. He was very effective against Wake and NC State.


Bottom Line:

He is a scheme fit for the Lions. He can burst off the ball and get the edge. He does not make plays in the run game and does not cause fumbles. I do not rate him a sure fire starter in the NFL, I cannot call him an impact player in the NFL.

Detroit Lions Draft Preview DE Damontre Moore

Moore is a possible top 5 pick.

Texas A&M DE Damontre Moore has drawn interest as a possible top 5 draft pick. I watched three films on him Alabama, Arkansas and Florida. Here are my thoughts:

He has good awareness and motor. Will pursue and does not give up. Much better playing over the guard than trying to speed rush a tackle. I never saw him beat a tackle around the end. His sacks were on hustle plays or beating a guard. A see him as a good 3-4 tackle or a base DE that slides down over a guard on pass downs. He is good on slants and angles.

Bottom Line: I do not think he is a good fit for the Lions 4-3. He lacks the initial burst to beat NFL tackles up field. He has strong arms but does not have the knock back burst. He can lock out and make plays inside. He will be a bear in the 3-4.

Draft Prospect Ziggy Ansah Detroit Lions breakdown

Took some time to breakdown prospect BY DE Ziggy Ansah. Ansah is a half year starter with limited experience. However, his play at the senior bowl and the films I watched, I rate him as a rare prospect.

Ziggy Ansah

Senior Bowl Practices:

Ansah at the Senior Bowl
South MVP

I saw two practices for the South and he did not impress me. He was handled in the one on ones and did little in the team drills.

In the game he was the best player on the field. He had great pursuit and ability to make impact plays.

The two films I watched were Boise and Utah. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-JxQlaxBHU

He was great in both films. He lined up all over the place, 1 3 5 and 9 technique. The things that stood out include violent arms. He knocked back blockers with hands everytime. This made him able to control blockers and make tackles. He had a knack to block passes at the line. His pursuit was excellent. He made plays against the run and the pass.

I went back and broke down the Notre Dame film. I saw much of the same I saw in his other games. Explosive upper body, the ability to separate from lineman and make tackles. He played mostly inside in this game and was easily the best player on BYU.

Martin Mayhew has a big choice to make at # 5. He had a whole week with Ansah at the Senior Bowl. Ansah is a tough projection because of his limited experience but his ability is rare. I think he needs to be in the conversation at # 5.

Detroit Lions mascot Roary and Suh at the Pro Bowl

Two Detroit Lions play at the Pro bowl tonight:

DT Suh- 2nd Pro Bowl 2012, 2010. 2nd team All-Pro in 2012.

Long Snapper Don Muhlbach 1st pro bowl


Calvin Johnson was selected but preferred not to play.


Here is a link to the Lions pro Bowl history from December
http://detroitlions34515.blogspot.com/2012/12/detroit-lions-pro-bowl-and-all-pro_16.html

Detroit Lions sign WR Devin Thomas and TE Nathan Overbay

Lions added WR Devin Thomas to the 90 man roster. A 6th year man out of MSU. He was a 2nd round pick in 2008.

Here is a tribute

Thomas played 20 games for the Giants
Won a ring

For the Skins, he played 24 games 11 starts
30 catches 445 yards 3 td

At State , 85 rec  1350 yards   9td
He played 23 games for Sparty

Welcome to Detroit

Lions re-sign TE Nathan Overbay. He was on the practice squad in the 2011, he also was in camp in 2012 until an injury in the preseason.

Overbay had 1 catch for 4 yards in 2012.
He was injured vs. the Ravens

Was on the Bucs roster in 2010

He played at Eastern Washington

Welcome back to Detroit

Detroit Lions off-season plan 2013

Mayhew, Schwartz, Lewand
22-43 together

Cut

Cut Dom

Dom Raoila C $4.5 million cap savings.
Dom struggled the last half of the season. He ranked # 13 at Center on PFF. He ranked # 24 in 2011, #30 in 2010, #14 in 2009 and # 10 in 2008.

Replace him with a compeition between Bill Nagy, Rodney Austin and resign Dylan Gandy ($1 mil).

Kyle Vanden Bosch DE Cap Savings #5 mil
Is is well documented by the blog that Kyle has to go. He ranked #62 out of 62 in the NFL at DE by PFF. He had only 3.5 sacks and struggled vs. the run.

Defensive End has to be a priority in the draft. The enitre defense revolves around how these guys play. The group caused 1 turnover in 2012.  I would resign LoJack ($1.5 mil) and tender Willie Young. Ronnell Lewis is a camp project.

Jeff Backus OT $5 mil cap savings

A good pass blocking year for Backus. He only allowed 3 sacks by my count. He was awful as a run blocker, his days as a starter are over.

Riley Reiff will have to start at left tackle and I would hope to re-sign Corey Hillard ($1.25 mil) as a back up or right tackle.

Titus Young Team killer. $800,000 dead Money hit.




Free agents to let walk

Cliff Avril DE Rank# 55 PFF #59 vs the run. replaced by the draft.

DeAndre Levy LB #41 ranked out of 43. #42 vs. the run. Replaced by Ashlee Palmer or Tahir Whitehead

Drayton Florence #84 rated Cornerback Replaced by Bill Bentley

Gosder Cherlius #7 Tackle. Replaced by Jason Fox or a re-signed Corey Hillard.

Stefan Logan Replaced by Mike Thomas or draft.

Nick Harris and Jason Hanson Replaced by tryout players.

Jacob Lacey #62 ranked CB.

Kevin Smith RB

Amari Spievey Head injuries

Kassim Osgood WR

Pat Lee CB
Retire:

Jahvid Best $2.1 mil dead cap space.

Re-sign at the right price

Chris Houston CB. $5 mil cap hit. I do not think we will be able to re-sign him.

Louis Delmas S $3 mil cap hit Incentive laden deal.

Sammie Hill  DT $ 1.5 mil cap hit

Will Heller TE vet min. Stays healthy. Does his job.

Lawrence Jackson DE $1.5 mil not a starter by a good rotational guy.

Andre Fluellen DT Vet min Give a chance in camp.

Dylan Gandy $1 mil

Corey Hilliard OT ($1 mil)

DT Corey Williams $ 1.5 mil I do not think he sign for this

Justin Durant OLB 2 years $ 4.5 mill.


Bring Back at reduced rate.

Nate Burleson Like to take about $ 2mil off his cap hit.
Next years team at this point:

QB Stafford, Hill, Moore
RB LeShoure, Bell, #3 RB?
TE Grew, Scheffler, Heller?
LT Reiff, Hilliard?
LG Sims, Gandy?
OC Nagy, Austin
RG Peterman
RT Fox
WR Johnson, Robiskie
WR Burleson, Thomas
WR Broyles (PUP) #5 WR ?

RDE #1DE?, LoJack?
LDE # 1DE? Young, R. Lewis
DT Suh, Hill? Nwagbuo
DT Fairley Williams? Fluellen?
MLB Tulloch, T Lewis
SLB Durant? #2SLB?
WLB Whitehead, Palmer
CB #1CB?, Green, Greenwood
CB Bartell, Bentley
S #1S?, Carey
S #1 S?, Wendling

P?
K?
Snap Muhlbach

Detroit Lions 2012 special teams advanced stats

K Jason Hanson # 13 Kicker
P Nick Harris # 31 Punter

Next season:
Both free agents., Hanson back but with salary reduction. Harris on the couch.

Don Muhlbach

Next season:
Free agent, bring him back

Stefan Logan # 31 Kick Returner 3 fumbles lost

Next season;

Free agent, not coming back

Kassim Osgood

Special Teams Tackles

Ashlee Palmer 16
Don Carey  12
John Wendling 9
Tahir Whitehead 7
Kassim Osgood 6
Amari Spievey 4
Stefan Logan 4
Ronnell Lewis 3
Ricardo Silva 3
Erik Coleman 3
Joique Bell 3
DeAndre Levy 2
Travis Lewis 2
Will Heller 2
Pat Lee 2
Doug Hogue 2
Jason Hanson 1
Jacob Lacey 1
Nick Harris 1
Keiland WIlliams 1
Chris Houston 1

Detroit Lions sign 12 to future contracts including Rodney Austin and Conroy Black

Detroit Lions sign 12 players

WR Lance Long

C Rodney Austin

LB Carmen Messina

WR Dom Curry

CB Ross Weaver

WR Troy Burrell

CB Conroy Black

CB Lionel Smith

 

RB Devin Moore





Chastin West
12 games 13/163/2 td
2011 Jags



Terrence Austin
18 games 15 rec 184 yards
Redskins

Patrick Edwards