Who’s Number One?

The Detroit Lions have been on the clock since last season started. We all knew they would be a mess before it got underway, but no one could have put their money on them being 0-16 bad, because even the worst of teams that have passed through the years have slipped into at least one win during the season. So as a reward for being so terrible and an unbearable team to watch (minus Calvin Johnson), the Lions were given the loser's spoils: number one overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

As an NFL franchise, the mark of picking first overall signifies a couple of things. It shows that you've been god-awful for some time and probably getting progressively worse as time passes and it gives you a ray of hope that the young man who will walk on the stage first on draft day and don the silver and blue cap will lead your team back to respectability someday. I mean, who else on the draft board can have a full spectrum of choices? You can also liken the team with the number one pick to the kid at school with the brand new game console, or the great lunchbox item. Everyone else at school (the NFL) wants to nice up to you or even trade for something.

Over the next month as the draft gets closer, be sure the Lions will get their fair share of offers of pick or packages with players with everything short of a team owner's first-born. The Lions would be foolish not to listen to and consider every reasonable offer that is placed on the table. I mean, any deal can't possibly make them any worse, can it?

Let's assume that the Lions do keep the number one pick. They do have a number of options and anyone that they explore would fill a huge need. They could go with what seems to be the popular choice and go with Georgia QB Matt Stafford, who has all the physical tools to be a successful signal caller in the NFL. It's safe to say that Daunte Culpepper is not the long-term answer at QB in Detroit.

Given, if the Lions take Stafford, there could be a high probability that he is clobbered within inches of his life due to the lack of protection given by Lions offensive line this past season, which is why they are also considering taking Jason Smith, tackle from Baylor with the top pick. Smith has risen up the charts of the draft since workouts have started and if (phrase upcoming used for all offensive lineman taken this high in the draft) he lives up to his potential, could provide the Lions a linchpin at the glorious position of left tackle.

Then again, the Lions did hire Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, and he is probably lobbying for Detroit to take Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry. Curry, the 2008 Butkus Award winner and the clear-cut winner as most coveted defensive player in the draft, would give the Lions the perfect compliment with young linebacker Ernie Sims and newly-acquired Julian Peterson to give the Lions a formidable linebacking corps.

Of course, if you are Detroit, you have to be careful. If history proves anything to us, it's that nothing is a sure thing, especially when dealing with high draft picks. If you pick Matthew Stafford, you would hope he turns out like John Elway, Eli Manning (minus all the whining and trade talks), Peyton Manning, or Carson Palmer, and not like Tim Couch, David Carr, or Alex Smith. Remember how Robert Gallery, Leonard Davis, and Mike Williams were before their drafts? You have to hope Jason Smith doesn't turn out the same way. And for every great linebacker that has panned out, you don't want Aaron Curry to become another Andy Katzenmoyer, Mike Mamula, or LaVar Arrington.

What you really want to do is avoid being the Bengals, who stubbed on two consecutive top overall draft picks with Dan Wilkinson and Ki-Jana Carter in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Even more importantly, you want to avoid making the same mistakes of yesteryear, with the Lions becoming Wide Receiver Refuge, with four first-round picks on receivers. Maybe it was all done in the hope of making Joey Harrington a better quarterback, yet another snafu perpetuated by the Matt Millen years. After the seemingly brainless Marty Morningweg, the failed tenure of Steve Mariucci, and change of pace to Rod Marinelli, the Lions seemed to have gotten the job to the right man in Jim Schwartz.

Ahead for Schwartz, new GM Martin Mayhew, and the Lions organization is the task of making the right decision with the first overall pick in the draft. Climbing from rock-bottom won't be easy, but to figure out the direction the franchise wants to go in isn't exactly rocket science. As the old adage says, "The only way to go is up." Rest assured, however, if the Lions front office screws this one up either with a bad choice or an idiotic draft deal, it could take years for them to recover from what is already a mess in the Motor City. I guess they could look on the bright side. At least they don't work for Ford.

Then again...