Profilers Peterman Post

Although, I think we may see a change or two during the regular season. I would like to see more of Culbreath this year. Unfortunately he was IRed due to “medical” reasons [not an injury from what was reported] and did not work out with the team very much due to the lock out.

I think it is going to be extremely difficult to project what the Lions will do with their first round pick. At # 23 a lot of positions will be in play for the Lions which in previous years would have been unthinkable that early. This reminds me of the 2009 draft when the Lions had the Cowboys first round pick [#20?] and took Pettigrew. They could have went O Line, LB, DB, DT, even WR. Mayhew will have a lot of flexibility here too. It really depends on how the Lions structure their draft board. And they guard that information better than any government can.

Moving him to guard would also work, he has one hell of a mean streak…

In the end I agree with North, probably be the same group in 2012 as in 2011

I can’t find the article because it looks like the Detroit News changed their site, but I remember a couple seasons ago when Schwartz was asked about putting Gosder at guard. I only found the quote somewhere else:

He’s a tall rangy guy and I think he’s a tackle … I think he’s good right tackle. He’s still a little bit of a developing player, but I don’t think we’re at the point where we’re looking at him as anything other than a tackle.

I think the problem with putting Gosder at guard is twofold: he’s so tall that he could lose leverage against DT’s that are the same size as him but shorter. His long arms are good for controlling edge rushers, but guards are usually a little bit shorter than tackles for a reason. Also, Stafford is only 6’2", so it might be a problem to put a 6’7" interior lineman in front of a 6’2" quarterback.

That’s not to say he can’t play guard, but I like Gosder at right tackle more than guard.

For the past few years we have drafted according to talent and not position, do you think that will change this year? Will we focus immediately on CB/O-line or will we take the best player from where we draft?

Because there are only two positions that are pretty much closed up: QB and WR (maybe LB too) but other than that I believe we can take any other position. D-Line we prolly wont go for in the first unless we lose a player in FA.

how bad I want Konz. And it seems that Swartz and Mayhew have almost intentionally made it a point to not draft who the masses are clamoring for, so odds are that the guys saying it will be the same 5 are right because of all the demand for line upgrades. And as Profiler said, there is always the talk about consistency and the chemistry of an Oline.

Goofy as it sounds, I wish they would consider drafting both Konz and Zeitler. This would reduce the chemistry issue to 2 gaps only, while upgrading 2 interior line positions and reducing the age of our Oline by nearly 20 years, which would bode well for Staffords future as well as the run game. As noted, it would also give us a superior backup in Peterman. It won’t happen, but is a viable option I felt was overlooked.

An average O-line in this day and age is a perfectly good O-line. Peterman is an average lineman. If we get an average Center in this years draft, I think we’ll have an average line. That’s fine with me.

The key to performance on the offensive line is often not about talent. It is more likely that the best offensive lines are good because of communication and proper play calling. What I am about to say now may be unpopular around there parts…

Dominic Raiola is not easy to replace. In fact, he is going to be damnably hard to replace. I am not talking about his talent or his physical attributes. I am talking about his experience in reading defenses and making the proper line blocking calls. No rookie is going to just step in and do that as well as Dom does.

A number of people have talked about how it is important to keep an offensive line together, and that is the truth. The communication and teamwork of an offensive line are built over time by having players get used to each other and knowing how to work together.

In the past two seasons we have seen the Lions offensive line improve in run blocking as the season progressed. Early in the year, the line had trouble blocking for inside runs. As the line play got better the inside runs began to be more effective. The same players were out there. They just got their timing and techniques refined to be more effective as the season wore on. The more this line stays together, the quicker they will gel each season.

I am one of the people that feels we need to start making moves to get some new offensive linemen. I am also one of the people that feels that those players are perfectly fine coming from rounds 2-5 of the draft. I have not seen any solid evidence that first round picks make your offensive line appreciably better. In fact, some of the worst offensive lines in the NFL are filled with highly touted first round picks, while some of the best lines in football have hardly any first rounders.

Playing offensive line is all about technique and teamwork. While you need enough talent to execute, not player is going to dominate battles on the offensive line strictly on talent. The defensive linemen in the NFL are too good for that.

I feel the Lions front office understands these facts ad they are going to draft appropriately. The only way we see an offensive lineman get drafted in the first round is if they are a clear BPA when the Lions pick. For that to happen, a top ten offensive line talent will probably have to fall to the Lions at #23. Otherwise, they are likely to take a skill position player over a lineman if all else is equal.

When you wade though all of that, it is possible the Lions would draft somebody like Konz or DeCastro if they had them ranked as high as the “experts” and they dropped to the Lions at #23. There are probably not very many other offensive linemen that would rank that high ion the Lions board though.