Well, Cherilus didn’t have a great rookie season by any stretch, but he had a few solid games. He’s got the measureables, but he doesn’t have the mental game yet. Too many false starts and he had a couple of critical holds called on him. It could have gone much better, but I think that he’ll end up being a good right tackle for the team in the future.

As for Redding and Sims, both had terrible years. Sims was just plain off this year. He was out of position too often and made relatively few big plays. I think he was trying too hard and simply didn’t play well within the Tampa 2 system. Hopefully, our new head coach will install a defense that plays to his strengths. Redding on the other hand is starting to show that his one good season when he had 8 sacks was just an abberation. He has been mediocre at best and is proving that he is just your average Lions bust. He’s got a great motor and attitude, but he is average at best talent-wise – better suited as a rotational player.

As for the core talent to build on in Detroit, there’s not a lot. It’s going to take at least 2 solid drafts to get this roster in shape. Our (sort of) new GM Martin Mayhew will have his work cut out for him. He can’t miss on many picks and still be successful.

On offense, I like WR Calvin Johnson (of course), but also RB Kevin Smith, FB Jerome Felton and QB Drew Stanton still has some upside. I’ll take a little heat on this, but I think that T Jeff Backus, C Dominic Raiola, T Gosder Cherilus, WR Mike Furrey and TE Michael Gaines are still serviceable and are not the most pressing needs to be replaced right now. The biggest needs are a quality quarterback, offensive line help and a solid number two wide-out and a back-up running back.

On defense, this whole thing is a mess. I still like Sims and in the right defense, I think he’ll thrive. DE Cliff Avril was the only rookie that played well. He showed some real potential. I also think that S Daniel Bullocks has some upside. Other than that, we should keep DE Redding, DE Dewayne White (who was probably the best player this year – although he was hurt a lot) and LB Jordan Dizon who still has some upside. Our needs are a solid right defensive end, 2 quality run stopping DTs, a middle linebacker, a bunch of cornerbacks and possibly a safety (depending on whether or not Gerald Alexander comes back from injury and builds on a solid rookie season – he didn’t play well this year).

All in all, this teams needs a ton of help. With the first overall pick, I’m on board for a quarterback, offensive tackle or best defensive player on the board. I get a lot of flack for wanting to draft a QB, but at some point we need to get someone that can play.

WAY too many penalies, but I think that’s coaching more than anything (and he’s a mental midget) but he certainly has the physical tools. I hope the Lions draft a OT in the first round and maybe move Backus (who is NOT an NFL left tackle) to guard and keep Railo and find another guard. That will give us a stud LT, a decent LG, average center, rookie RG and Gosder at RT. Then build up the defense as much as possible. Keep Orlovsky at QB for now and have him fight it out with Duante to see which is worse…..

Just my opinion