2010 Lions (Speculated) Starting Roster: Fun Facts

by ChicoWong on Apr 28, 2010 5:03 PM EDT

Hey gang - hope you all enjoyed the draft as much as I did. Having seen both of these guys live for a few years, I'm stoked to see Jahvid Best joining back up with the Pain Train Zack Follett in Detroit. Maybe my favorite moment with those two players was the 2008 Emerald Bowl (check out at 3:39 of that video for some good vibes).

With the draft over, there have been a couple of articles (Detroit News, Free Press) that have begun to speculate about the Lions' starting roster for 2010. Looking at those lineups got me thinking.

The two papers have slight differences in the starting lineups, but I went ahead and went with the Freep's for this exercise since I agreed with that one a bit more. For the purpose of generating some fun facts (tm) I added some extra info: the GM involved in bringing that player to the Lions, the year he joined the team, how he was acquired, his original draft round, and when the player entered the league.

	GM	Year	Aquired	Original Round	Entered League
Offense
QB Matthew Stafford	Mayhew	2009	Draft	1	2009
RB Jahvid Best	Mayhew	2010	Draft	1	2010
WR Calvin Johnson	Millen	2007	Draft	1	2007
WR / PR Nate Burleson	Mayhew	2010	FA	3	2003
TE Brandon Pettigrew	Mayhew	2009	Draft	1	2009
TE Tony Scheffler	Mayhew	2010	Trade	2	2006
LT Jeff Backus	Millen	2001	Draft	1	2001
LG Rob Sims	Mayhew	2010	Trade	4	2006
C Dominic Raiola	Millen	2001	Draft	2	2001
RG Stephen Peterman	Millen	2006	Waiver	3	2004
RT Gosder Cherilus	Millen	2008	Draft	1	2008

Defense
DE Cliff Avril	Millen	2008	Draft	3	2008
DT Ndamukong Suh	Mayhew	2010	Draft	1	2010
DT Corey Williams	Mayhew	2010	Trade	6	2004
DE Kyle Vanden Bosch	Mayhew	2010	FA	2	2001
OLB Zack Follett	Mayhew	2009	Draft	7	2009
MLB DeAndre Levy	Mayhew	2009	Draft	3	2009
OLB Julian Peterson	Mayhew	2009	Trade	1	2000
CB Chris Houston	Mayhew	2010	Trade	2	2007
S Louis Delmas	Mayhew	2009	Draft	2	2009
S Ko Simpson	Mayhew	2009	Trade	4	2006
CB Amari Spievey	Mayhew	2010	Draft	3	2010

Specialists
K Jason Hanson	Schmidt	1992	Draft	2	1992
P Nick Harris	Millen	2003	Waiver	4	2001
LS Don Muhlbach	Millen	2004	FA	undrafted	2004
KR Aaron Brown	Mayhew	2009	Draft	6	2009

If this holds up, did you know:

On offense, we have five players acquired by Millen and six by Mayhew.
On defense, we have one Millen player (Avril) and ten Mayhew players.
65% (17 of 26 players) of the starting roster has been acquired by Mayhew, in the last two years.
91% of the starting defense has been acquired by Mayhew.
One starting player (Hanson) was acquired by Chuck Schmidt back in 1992.
35% (9 of 26 players) of the starting roster was acquired in 2010.
31% (8 of 26 players) of the starting roster was acquired in 2009.
58% (15 of 26 players) of the starting roster were drafted by the Lions.
Only five players drafted by Millen are starting for the Lions, compared to ten drafted by Mayhew.
23% (6 of 26 players) of the starting roster were acquired by trade, all by Mayhew, and all in 2010 except two (Peterson, Simpson) in 2009.
Ko is short for Yukota.
The Lions have eight former 1st round picks starting (31% of the starting roster).
Only three of the eight starting former 1st round picks were made by Millen (Calvin, Cherilus, Backus).
No player on the offense was drafted later than the 4th round (Sims).
Our kicker was a 2nd round pick and our punter was a 4th round pick.
The Lions have a starter from every round in the draft except the 5th round.
50% (13 of 26 players) have been in the league three years or less going into the 2010 season.

Things will surely change between now and the start of the season, but thought you all might enjoy in the meanwhile.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride of Detroit or its writers. FanPosts are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable fans.

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Comments

As always Chico

Great write up, very interesting. Can’t wait to see Blue Steel match up against our NFC North opponents…!

Rec’d

by Nate D. on Apr 28, 2010 5:31 PM EDT reply actions

Yukota?

Interesting… good post chico.

by motown313 on Apr 28, 2010 5:48 PM EDT reply actions

good post

I like the lineup I think we may add another player or 2 soon but it looks like a solid lineup. Staff has a good chance of making huge strides this year with all the weapons he has.

Louis Delmas is gonna lay the MAC down on your candyass.
"Your city was burnt down by a fucking COW! That takes a whole epic collective of stupid" Jazzy @ bears fan

by The Profiler on Apr 28, 2010 7:28 PM EDT reply actions

x2

GO LIONS in 2010! the transformation starts now.. they have much to do.

by DINORDO on May 3, 2010 1:58 AM EDT up reply actions

100% REC'D

by Motown_Soldier on Apr 28, 2010 8:00 PM EDT reply actions

starting roster

i can agree. the only thing that jumps out at me as areas of concern are avril’s ability to hold up against the run, and right guard. i think this is the first time in a long time that the lions projected starting roster actually looks competitive. good job!!!

i can’t wait to see the “pain train” unleashed!!

by big smoove on Apr 28, 2010 8:50 PM EDT reply actions

Number Geeks rule ! Thank-you !

" I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this. " " What are you doin' here? You oughta be out in a convertible bird-doggin' chicks and bangin' beaver. " " Medication time. Medication time. " ( One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 1975 )

by Keevatron on Apr 28, 2010 9:22 PM EDT reply actions

Awesome facts

Thanks for the good post.

"Zack Follett: he will hurt your mind." - Pride Leader, Sean Yuille, wielder of the Ban Hammer.
2010 Wests Tigers : Current record - 4-2 : Current Position - 7th : Last game - Defeated by Canterbury Bulldogs 24 - 4

by Hyperion Ecta on Apr 28, 2010 10:09 PM EDT reply actions

Good post, Chico!

Lots of great info!

Two thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Eric Berry.
Honorary Driver of the Kyle Wilson Bus and Keeper of the Dreadlocks!
The 313 Missile Squadron: Delmas, Berry, Wilson, Houston......seek and destroy!

by GRLion on Apr 28, 2010 10:29 PM EDT reply actions

lb

linebacker is our biggest weakness. We have almost no rotation. How old is Peterson?
Levy a second

by toledogolf on Apr 28, 2010 10:43 PM EDT reply actions

were, not was

Not to bring you down…Anywho love the post great thinking!
So how long does it really take to rebuild a TEAM? Man, I’m have Kool-Aid dreams right now.

by DSamwich on Apr 28, 2010 11:10 PM EDT reply actions

cool percentages

besides those i think we all could of figured the starters unless they make more moves

by Daniel Simonelli on Apr 28, 2010 11:42 PM EDT reply actions

I think that Jason Hunter might have a better chance of starting on the left side and vanden bosch on the right. Not sure though. The Lions have been merciless in getting out the players of Millen. The offensive line will be next to get an overhaul. When Cherilus is viable for a trade or release.

by momentumchange on Apr 29, 2010 2:53 AM EDT reply actions

Nice Chico!

“some fun facts™”… That made me chuckle…lol.

Who is this Chuck Schmidt that you speak of? 1992 is a little fuzzy to me :)~

Lions fan down in LA (lower Alabama)

by FusterMT on Apr 29, 2010 8:12 AM EDT reply actions

Ah yes, Chuck Schmidt the man who pissed off Barry Sanders

when he refused to get creative with the new salary cap like San Fran and Dallas did and let Barry’s favorite road graders Lomas Brown and Kevin Glover leave though free agency and expedited his retirement. The way the defense stacks up we have one side that is awesome and one side shakey at best in need of a few more solid players if we can pick up those players before the season starts we could be a top 20 defense maybe in the top 15 our offense is dependent on Stafford making quick reads and not holding on to the ball to long.

by Wayne Fontes on Apr 29, 2010 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

The sad thing of the NFC north is that Cherilus was probably the best RT in the divison.

by Evilsmurf on Apr 29, 2010 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Cherilus was much better with Peterman by his side

Before Peterman went down they opened up some pretty big holes to run through
I think Cherilus is adequate nothing special but good enough if we can keep the OL
healthy we will be much better running the ball., of course Best will help in that area too.

by Wayne Fontes on Apr 29, 2010 12:55 PM EDT reply actions

Goz

I think he’s ready to develop in better. Got all the tools. 3rd year. Time to show it.

by dylan415 on Apr 29, 2010 9:39 PM EDT up reply actions

You the man,

Chico

by CLF on Apr 29, 2010 4:40 PM EDT reply actions

+1

Chico, you write great posts

In life, a man is either the hammer or the anvil. Ndamukong Suh is both

by JazzyBBP on Apr 29, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Great post Chico!

Like always.

by coolbreeze42 on Apr 29, 2010 9:04 PM EDT reply actions

I can't wait for two things

1.) A Mayhew O-line.

2.) Another Chico Post.

by FMFDOC8404 on Apr 30, 2010 1:48 AM EDT reply actions

+1

by Millen_Free on Apr 30, 2010 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions

interesting post

It scares me that 80% of the offensive line was drafted by Millen

by AZ-LionsFan on May 1, 2010 12:20 AM EDT reply actions

Nice post Chico-

2 defensive holes still loom over the Lions.
Zack Follet as a starter (I think Dizon has a better chance of starting)
Ko Simpson as a starter ( I think I would take my chances with Caleb Campbell being off two years, being too big, than watch Ko again)

I hope that Mayhew is working on finding another LB or S that is of starting caliber.

I still think our D is still another draft away from being there. Let’s hope the upgrades to the Dline will translate into improved play as LB and in the Secondary. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised to see the Lions D jump into the top15 against the run. With our secondary and LB, I still think we will be in the bottom half of the league against the pass.

by Kirt-LionFaninGR! on May 1, 2010 7:37 AM EDT reply actions

The Offense

I am excited to see the starters for offense.

Biggest question mark? Matthew Stafford.

With an improved line I would love to see his completion percentage go up to 60%.
If his rating could go up from 61.0 to 85.0, the Lions will have a great year offensively. Even if he could reduce the INTs from 20 to say 12, that would be a big improvement.
If not, you would have to wonder if Stafford has the accuracy to ever be a probowl QB.

The other player I think weakest on O is Gosdar Cherilus. With an improved line around him, he’s going to have to play well. If he can’t get it done this year let’s hope that the kid from Miami, Jason Fox, will develop quickly and be able to take his place. If Gosdar isn’t getting it done this year, it’s time to send him packing.

Go LIONS!

by Kirt-LionFaninGR! on May 1, 2010 7:59 AM EDT reply actions

Kudos to Chico on this one

That was a very entertaining post, and it really reflects on how hard Mayhew is working. He is showing a passion for the job that is unmatched in Detroit since the 1950’s. I think we are still one more offseason away from being considered playoff contenders, but this year will at least be exciting to watch, and give Detroit fans all over the world a reason to be optimistic for the future.

by LionTarHeel on May 1, 2010 12:10 PM EDT reply actions

-agree-

Especially when you look at their schedule this year. It is brutal. I hope they can get to 7 or 8 wins!

by Kirt-LionFaninGR! on May 1, 2010 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

It appears that...

The only thing Millen has any ounce of football sence on is the offensive line.

by MonteCarlo7888 on May 1, 2010 1:11 PM EDT reply actions

You're giving him too much credit

In life, a man is either the hammer or the anvil. Ndamukong Suh is both

by JazzyBBP on May 1, 2010 9:37 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

Remember, we’re talking about the guy that drafted Man-Ram and the guy who took Gosder in the first, he had far from a golden touch with Offensive Linemen.

by motown313 on May 2, 2010 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

how hard is it to see talent in lineman? Why bring Millen back into the convo? JK Monte

I bleed gatorade and poop pigskins

by Yardpenalty.com on May 2, 2010 6:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I just hope we keep up the strong drafts, if that happens everything will fall into place

by Evilsmurf on May 1, 2010 3:31 PM EDT reply actions

Amen, Brother Smurf

I’m sorry I don’t remember the link, but I think it was on espn.com where one of their writers gave Detroit an A- for this past draft. Detroit was one of 3 teams to receive an A grade. Oh, I know draft grades are usually ridiculous, since it takes 2 or three years to truely evaluate talent, but it showed me that at least we are gaining some respect by the media. Oh, and the other 2 teams that he gave A grades to for the draft were the Seahawks and the 49ers. Based on potential, I would have to agree with the guy. By the way, special thanks to ChicoWong again on this fantastic post. I read it to my wife and even she was not only impressed, but intrigued as well. Evilsmurf, I want to thank you too for all the recent posts you have made. You’ve been very busy lately, and I appreciate your effort.

by LionTarHeel on May 2, 2010 10:42 AM EDT reply actions