FanPost

Most irreplaceable Lion?




This morning I was listening to ESPN radio on my phone (as I do every day) and Collin Cowherd was talking about some team having an irreplaceable player. This got me thinking, who on our team is the most irreplaceable player. Anyways I would like to discuss this after the jump. So come join the party and be a part of my first fanpost here on POD.

OFFENSE

Ok we all know the QB is the most important player on the team, and Matthew has had his injury problems in the past, but can we call him our most irreplaceable Lion? In all honesty I believe Shaun Hill can take the Lions to the playoffs so it would be hard for me to consider Stafford our most irreplaceable player.

Our O-line is sort of underwhelming and many of our backups are available to play multiple positions. Backus or Raiola may get some talk but I just don't think either of them would be the biggest loss for our team.

The TE's are one area I find losing our #1 could put us behind. Pettigrew is an essential part of the team and works well as a passing target and as a blocker. If we were left with Schef and Heller and maybe pull up Overbay I would not like the condition of our tight ends.

Running back stable is already hurting so it is hard for me to say losing any of those guys would be a huge loss.

Now we get to the wide recievers. Having the best WR in football in CJ should make him our most irreplaceable Lion but even here I find it hard for myself to admit that. We all know we have 20,000 WR's on our roster right now and again I have confidence that if they are all healthy we wouldn't miss out that much on losing CJ. Young, Burleson, Broyles, Edwards, Stovall, Logan and co. could fill in as suitable targets for Matt Stafford and keep our passing attack lethal.

DEFENSE

Lets start with the D-line. Arguably the deepest positions on our roster. Many of us have already talked about a season without one of our best pass rushers in Cliff Avril, and don't seem to worried. Suh is one of our most noted players and has huge expectations. Again if we were to lose him I see plenty of talent at DT that could more than fill in for him.

Linebackers are another deep crew. Tulloch was a great improvement to our team but our ex-MLB is still here and could jump back in fairly quickly. With our young talent at LB I wouldn't be that worried to have our rookies or 2nd year LB in the mix.

Now we come to our thinnest spots on our roster, the secondary.

Chris Houston may be the only real starting caliber CB on the team. Losing him would be a major blow to our coverage team. With so many young guns in the mix they very well may be able to step up and get it done but I am not so confident in that.

Also our safety depth is extremely thin. The only S I really care for on the team is Louis Delmas and I think we all know how healthy he has been over his career. When I see Spivey, Wendling, or Coleman back there I tend to get a little nervous. The addition of Sean Jones does not help my conscious either.

SPECIAL TEAMS

We have the greatest kicker of all time (IMO) in Hanson and would hate to lose him but he is only a kicker after all.

Ben Graham did a pretty good job for us last year after Donahue went out so either of those guys is fine by me.

Of course we cannot have this argument without mention of our other ST stud Mulbach. I am not sure who our backup long snapper is but I prefer seeing the Mulbeast out there.

SO WHO IS THE MOST IRREPLACEABLE????

At first glance it would be easy to say Stafford or CJ but I tend to lean away from that due to the other players at those positions. To me our safety depth is worse than our corner depth but again I can't put Delmas up as most irreplaceable. For me it would have to be either Pettigrew or Houston. Pettigrew isn't a finished product yet but he is the best TE we have and if we lose him I do not like our backups. Houston is easily our best corner but with all the youth we have back there I wouldn't mind seeing some of the fresh faces get a chance to learn and get better.

I guess after all that Brandon Pettigrew would be considered my most irreplaceable Lion. Who is yours?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.