Uh, no, we're not prepared yet to confer genius status on Detroit Lions president Matt Millen, because, let's be honest, you've got to win more than 10 games in three seasons to be transformed from a guy many people consider a meathead into a mastermind.
But in orchestrating a second consecutive solid draft over the weekend, Millen took yet another step toward having the imaginary dunce cap removed from his cranium, and the Lions may have taken a quantum leap toward respectability. Six choices, not exactly a bounty in terms of raw numbers, but probably three starters.
Roy Williams will give the Lions another young playmaker at receiver.
That's the quick-take analysis on the Lions' draft class and, in anyone's book, if you come out of any draft with three prospects who are going to get on the field immediately, well, you've done a pretty nice job. Sure, the fact Detroit figures to add three rookie starters to a roster that continues to get significantly greener and more Mooch-friendly, is due in part to the dubious talent pool on hand. But you keep raising the bar with a dose of fresh blood every year, suddenly the transfusions take hold, and a club is healthy again.
Over the weekend, Millen and coach Steve Mariucci added two more playmakers on the offensive side in wide receiver Roy Williams and tailback Kevin Jones. We're not as sold on Jones, who doesn't break very many tackles in the hole, as some. But after the collection of tailbacks with which the Lions lined up in 2003, the former Virginia Tech star looks like the second coming of Barry Sanders by comparison. Add Williams to last year's first-rounder, wideout Charles Rogers, who should be sound after missing all but five games in '03 because of a fractured collarbone, and that's the making of a viable tandem. And Tai Streets, signed as a free agent, is a competent No. 3 wide receiver.
It certainly improves the arsenal for third-year quarterback Joey Harrington, and, truth be told, that is Detroit's not-so-hidden agenda. Make no mistake, there are some Harrington skeptics in Motown, some of them cashing Lions paychecks, so the plan is to surround the quarterback with as much weaponry as possible. This weekend took care of a few of those spots.
The draft also added another piece to the defensive puzzle, in linebacker Teddy Lehman, who isn't quite as good as his press clippings, but who plays with the same fire Millen once exhibited. Cornerback Keith Smith from McNeese State was a mini-heist in the third round. Even the Lions' final choice of the lottery, Purdue left offensive tackle Kelly Butler, was a bargain.
OK, he was a bargain because, like the pair of underwear you just purchased at K-Mart and found to have no elastic in the band, Butler was marked "reject" by a lot of teams because of off-field issues. But the Lions, who already have a very good young left tackle in Jeff Backus, should be able to straighten Butler out and make something of a guy with second-round talent who they snatched in the sixth round.
The bottom line is that Detroit edges out Arizona, Atlanta and Oakland for the best draft. But know this: If we were doing the traditional draft report card again (and thanks, boss, for not foisting that exercise in tedium on us), there were be even fewer "A" grades than we normally distributed. It was a "C" draft for most teams, not a weekend in which many clubs distinguished themselves, not a lottery where, halfway through the fifth round, you said to yourself, "Wow, now that team is having a heck of a draft!"
