Monday Notes: Coast Guard Steps Up Search for Missing Boaters

by Sean Yuille on Mar 2, 2009 9:43 AM EST in Notes Comment 5 comments

With the 20th pick of the Football Burrito mock draft, I selected Mississippi defensive tackle Peria Jerry for the Lions. Jerry can be a starter from day one and fills a gaping hole at defensive tackle. He is the second defensive player I have selected in the draft (Aaron Curry is the other).

The reason I decided to draft Jerry is mainly based on the depth of other positions in the draft. For example, I considered drafting cornerback Vontae Davis, but more than likely there will still be a solid CB available when the Lions go on the clock again to start the second round. The same goes for positions like OT, OG, TE, and LB. I thought about drafting players from each of those positions, but in the end I just felt like there wasn't enough depth at DT to wait any longer. I would have loved to be able to pick Jerry and another player at the same time, but we will just have to wait and see how this strategy pays off. As long as not everyone at the top of my draft board gets selected before pick #33, I should be in good shape.
Quarterback Dan Orlovsky signed with the Houston Texans on Sunday. Orlovsky will be Matt Schaub's backup and fill the role previously occupied by new Vikings QB Sage Rosenfels. If you're a backup QB, there probably isn't a better team out there to sign with. It seems like Schaub is injured quite frequently, meaning Orlovsky will probably get a chance to play. The same can't be said for the situation in Detroit in the sense that Orlovsky would be able to compete. Daunte Culpepper already has been named the starter, which is why Orlovsky wanted to play for a new team. He didn't like that Culpepper was essentially handed the job, especially considering the on-the-field results. Orlovsky felt like he performed better than Culpepper, and I can't disagree with him.
Cornerback Chris Carr visited the Lions on Sunday.
Another cornerback, Jabari Greer, visited with the Lions over the weekend as well. For a brief time it looked like he was close to signing based on a report from Nicholas Cotsonika, but nothing has developed and nothing appears imminent right now.
Despite poor conditions, the U.S. Coast Guard has stepped up its search for the four men missing off the coast of Florida. Two of them, as we already know, are NFL players -- former Lions defensive end Corey Smith and Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper. The other two people on board are former South Florida players Will Bleakley and Nick Shuyler.

The story on ESPN.com has the most details about the search and what possibly could have happened, so I would check it out.
One thing I want to clarify from yesterday is that Corey Smith is technically not a member of the Lions anymore. He became an unrestricted free agent on Friday, and the Lions were not likely going to re-sign him. According to his agent, Smith was going to take free agent visits this week. Even so, the Lions are obviously concerned for his whereabouts considering he has been a member of the team for the last three seasons. Even if he wasn't going to return for the 2009 season, he was a member of the team up until Friday.

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What does Peria Jerry bring that we don't have?

Jerry sure seems like a talented DT who would be worth a mid-lower 1st round pick for a lot of NFL teams, and there is a lot of drop-off to the next tier of DT’s, but if I can challenge the pick a little & offer my view…what does he bring to Detroit that we don’t have already?

It seems like on the spectrum of defensive tackles, you have the quick, aggressive, athletic guys in the 290-pound range who often have experience at DE and DT and excel at getting to the QB…and then you have the thick, stout run-pluggers in the 320+ pound range who excel at taking up blockers so the other DT and the LB’s can make plays.

Detroit already has enough of the first group for the next few years. We have Cory Redding, a converted DE, on a big-money contract, and we have Andre Fluellen and Landon Cohen picked in the draft last year. All these guys are athletic, quick DT’s who are under 300 pounds, similar to Peria Jerry.

Our run defense was a disaster last year. I can’t count how many games were competitive at first and then I thought to myself, “okay, this is the part of the game where they just start running up the middle against Detroit all day long”…and they did.

I guess what I’m saying is that if we draft a DT, he should be, first & foremost, a big, strong, block-eating run-stuffer. A big dude who makes us not miss Shaun Rogers. We already have all the athletic “three technique” guys we need. If we don’t take B.J. Raji at #1 overall (probably a bit too high for him, but he’ll certainly be gone by #20), we should look for somebody like Ron Brace later on in the draft.

by n4ry4 on Mar 2, 2009 10:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Great Post n4ry4

I agree with you about our DT’s in detroit

by msivits on Mar 2, 2009 9:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jerry?

I like the kid a lot, but he’s pretty undersized (275# I believe), and fits right in with our logjam of ‘undersized high motor under tackles’ (Redding, Fluellen, Cohen, Moore, etc.), and IMO doesn’t address the real need at DT: a big-bodied dude who demands double teams and stops the run.

Not a ‘bad’ pick, though, I like the kid a lot.

Peace
Ty

http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com

by ty@thelionsinwinter on Mar 2, 2009 12:48 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I should repeat myself more often

and also be more redundant.

I like the kid a lot.

Peace
Ty

http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com

by ty@thelionsinwinter on Mar 2, 2009 12:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

BREAKING NEWS

U.S. coast guards have found the missing boat overturned 30 miles off the coast of Floriida with one lone survivor clinging to the boat. the survivor is former UCF player Nick Skyler.

OH! STEWIE!! GET OUT THE WAY BOY! GET OUT THE WAY!
-Stacey King

by ifuwannacrownem on Mar 2, 2009 1:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs