Can Detroit financially sustain another high draft pick?

Much less started, in three weeks.

but the way the owners are talking, they sound very committed to having it their way, BK style. They seem very ready and willing to dig their heels in the dirt and wait for the Players to come to their terms.

NFL owners will receive TV revenue regardless of whether games are played or not, and are billionaires with other major money-making ventures. The players, for the most part, don’t have any income outside of their salary, and for every player sitting on millions in their bank account there are ten who don’t command a high salary and will struggle going a long period of time with no income.

Sean gave us the go-ahead

Every year there is a certain point when fans start to give up on the Lions. This is when the draft becomes a hot topic and the phrase “wait until next year” becomes a common theme to discussions. Well, I think we’ve officially hit that point.

My personal favorite scenario, at this point (outside of getting AJ Green—how sick would AJ+CJ be?), would be a couple of trade-downs into the middle or bottom-middle of the first round, picking up a third and fourth, or two thirds.

With our new lower-middle first-rounder and our original upper-second rounder (which we can trade up a bit like we did for Javhvid Best), we can get two impact guys for our back 7 on defense: I think there will be plenty of worthy first-round CB’s, like Brandon Harris (Miami) or Aaron Williams (Texas), and I wouldn’t be disappointed with any of the three OLB’s you mention, NorthLeft—Lewis, Jones, or Carter.

Then, with three or four picks in rounds 3-4 (depending how far we traded down in the first, and whether we traded up from the second), we can get some combination of BPA to fill needs we have at OLB (even if we just drafted an OLB, we could use at least two of them with Julian Peterson gone soon, and Zack Follett still being a question-mark), WR (to replace Bryant Johnson—the third round could be a good place to get a decent #3 WR), and OG (I know Peterman is on a longer-term contract, but our interior just isn’t getting the job done in run-blocking and we could always use more young depth that can challenge for the starting job). So, some combination of three or four guys like Mason Foster OLB (Washington) 6’2-245, Leonard Hankerson WR (Miami) 6’3-215, Austin Pettis WR (Boise State) 6’3-202, Ben Ijalana OG (Villanova) 6’4-320, John Moffitt OG (Wisconsin) 6’5-320.

So, we get two (hopefully) immediate-impact first-rounders for our back 7 on defense—a cornerback and a linebacker. Then, we get three more big guys in the third round or so, at other positions that could use competition and long-term starting potential (interior o-line, linebacker, receiver).

I’m sure I’m falling into the trap of projecting which positions they’ll draft when the mantra is BPA, but if we did come away from the first four rounds with some combination of CB-OLB-WR-OLB-OG, I don’t see any major holes left on our roster.

Also, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all to see us trade away a third or fourth in 2011 for a second or third in 2012. I agree with the consensus that there doesn’t appear to be a top-tier Left Tackle talent this year, and I think Jeff Backus will hold that job for at least one more year while the coaches continue to develop and evaluate the long-term potential of Jason Fox. But if we start winning in 2011, and we need to draft a blindside protector for Stafford in 2012, it could really help having an extra second- or third-rounder to help trade up if there appears to be a Russell Okung-caliber tackle near the top of that draft. We’ll also be looking at having to replace our other 10+ year vets, Vanden Bosch and Raiola sooner or later too.

but now I’m rambling and thinking too far ahead.