What should the Detroit Lions do with the second overall pick in 2010?
Should the Lions select the best player— Ndamukong Suh— or should the Lions pick the player with the most positional value— offensive tackle Russell Okung?
WalterFootball.com has placed themselves firmly in the second camp with an article making the rounds on Detroit Lions' blogs and message boards. Although it is a persuasive article, and has confirmed the already-held beliefs of many, it is incomplete— leaving out pertinent pieces of both information and logic.
The original article is both false and misleading and yet, is being taken as gospel by many.
Here is a response.
Protecting the Franchise Investment:
Matthew Stafford is the most important Detroit Lion. The success or failure of the Lions is linked to the success and failure of Matthew Stafford.
So what is the best way to help him succeed?
The basest, least intuitive answer is: upgrade the left tackle position.
But, football is a complex game, and there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
What are some other ways to protect Matthew Stafford? Improve the run game, improve the defense, improve special teams, improve the other four positions on the offensive line, improve the receiving corps, improve the timing of the offense, improve his decision making, improve the play calling, etc. etc. etc.
How do all of those things help?
Because the one factor that will get a QB killed is the amount of times he is asked or forced to throw.
Stafford dropped back to throw 413 times in 10 games in 2009—more than 40 times a game, and more ofter than quarterbacks in high octane offenses like New Orleans, Indianapolis, Houston, San Diego and Green Bay.
Want to help protect Stafford? There are plenty of ways to do it besides drafting a left tackle.
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