Senior Bowl Practice Begins Today

The 2008 Senior Bowl will be played this coming Saturday at 4:00 ET on the NFL Network, and really starts draft coverage here on Pride of Detroit.  Although the Lions aren't in control of one of the top picks this year, I would say that having a mid-first round pick is actually more important.  The flashy picks grab most of the attention, especially towards the top of the draft, but for the Lions, it's time to start building a solid offense and defense rather than worry about another receiver or someone like that.

For the Senior Bowl, practice begins today at 4:00 ET and will be shown on the NFL Network. For those of you out there that have the NFL Network, you will be able to watch quite a bit of coverage of the Senior Bowl.  Here is the schedule of coverage on the NFL Network:

Now that you know when you will be able to watch Senior Bowl related things, let's move on to who you will be watching.  Full rosters of both teams can be found here and here, but I'm going to look at some specific positions of need that the Lions have.

The way I see it, the offense's biggest need without a doubt is the offensive line.  You can go from LT to RT and pick out any player that needs to be replaced, which really shows how bad the o-line really is.  

Shifting to the defense, I would say that there are three major needs for the Lions.  The first is cornerback.  Considering the Lions' pass defense was near at the very bottom in the NFL, the Lions have a big need for getting a cornerback, and the first round very well may be when a CB is added to the Lions' roster.  Staying on the defensive side of things, the Lions also need a true middle linebacker and probably will need another outside linebacker as well if rumors that Boss Bailey is done with Detroit are true.  The final need on defense that I see comes from the defensive line.  Detroit needs a defensive end to compliment Dewayne White, and then also may need to look at getting a defensive tackle depending on what happens with Shaun Rogers.

As you can see, the Lions have many needs, and most are on defense.  There is no doubt that free agency will have to be used to address some of these needs, but just looking ahead to the draft, here are players to keep an eye on in the Senior Bowl:

NORTH

SOUTH

OL Roy Schuening OL Chad Rinehart OL Carl Nicks OL Kirk Barton OL Drew Radovich OL Mike Pollak OL Gosder Cherilus OL John Sullivan OL Sam Baker DL Cliff Avril DL Sedrick Ellis DL Chris Ellis DL Jason Jones DL Kentwan Balmer DL DeMario Pressley DL Lawrence Jackson DL Trevor Laws DE/LB Bruce Davis LB Dan Connor LB Jordon Dizon LB Shawn Crable LB Xavier Adibi LB Beau Bell LB Keith Rivers DB Thomas DeCoud DB Charles Godfrey DB Tracy Porter DB Terrence Wheatley DB DeJuan Tribble DB Terrell Thomas

OL Kory Lichtensteiger OL Robert Felton OL Cody Wallace OL Barry Richardson OL Steve Justice OL Mike McGlynn OL Chris Williams OL Heath Benedict OL Oniel Cousins DL Kendall Langford DL Marcus Harrison DL Red Bryant DL 91 Darrell Robertson DL Wallace Gilberry DL Dre Moore DL Andre Fluellen DL Jeremy Thompson LB Ali Highsmith LB Philip Wheeler LB Wesley Woodyard LB Tavares Gooden LB Titus Brown LB Ben Moffitt DB Simeon Castille DB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie DB Patrick Lee DB Chevis Jackson DB Quintin Demps DB D.J. Wolfe DB Marcus Griffin DB Leodis McKelvin

Check back here at Pride of Detroit for continuing updates on the Senior Bowl throughout the rest of the week.