Due to a busy end of the week at work, I was a little late with my Lions Congregation answers, but here they are:
1. Where does Jon Jansen fit in with the Lions?
Jon Jansen will be fighting with Salaam, Cook, and everyone not named Gosder Cherilus and Jeff Backus to be the backup swing tackle for the Lions. They may try him at OG as well, since versatility in backup linemen is key. Don't get me wrong, the coaches will use him to push Cherilus just as they will use Salaam to push Backus but those two guys will keep their jobs and be better for the competition.
2. What is the best move Martin Mayhew has made thus far as GM?
The trading of Roy Williams still stands out as his best personnel move -- but I am going to go with realigning the Lions into a consistent, coherent organization this ifseason. While I may not he jumping with joy at every decision, they have all followed along with his stated plans and methodology. This is a far cry from the Millen-led Lions lurching around like a drunken sailr from one aging fad, or must-have player, to the next. That alone will help bring more success to Mayhew than Millen had.
3. What is the worst move Mayhew has made thus far as GM?
I still would have liked to see a bit more of a shakeup in the scouting department, but it appears he decided to wait until after the draft to implement more changes there (such as having the scouts live in their assigned regions, adding some additional scouts, etc.)
6 comments:
Glad you back DETFAN1979 hope all is well.
Mark in AZ
1. I think injuries will dictate where Jansen finds a home. He is still very talented and can play all five positions. Can he go inside? Yes. Next to Backus at LG-who knows. Maybe RT, Gosder to LT and Backus to LG-probably not. Even though Gosder to LT may eventually come, I don't think you experiment with that, AND Backus at LG at the same time. I think it will be incrementally in successive seasons. BUT, by looking at some of my draft picks, I've been wrong before. Maybe even Jansen at RG and switch Peterman to LG. Camp will tell.
2. The Roy Williams trade you had give and take. The best move Mayhew has made is Jon Kitna to Dallas for CB Anthony Henry. At least they got relief from Kitna's cutting by getting SOMETHING for him. I would've never guessed that the Lions could get anything for Kitna.
3. Keeping Stan Kwan. I know Stan didn't have anything to work with on special teams. Marinelli would never provide a roster spot for a designated return person. I get that. But Stan's inability to change-up within a game is horrible. When you watch Chicago return the crap out of the ball with the same blocking scheme three plays in a row-shameful! When (for three years) you run no trick plays and have no creative expression with your special teams, come on! I am a traditionalist, I am conservative, but I don't like vanilla EVERY time I eat ice cream. Keeping Stan was a very wierd decision.
I still blame Marinelli for Kwan's lack of success. When Marinelli butted-out of special a teams a little bit, Kwan did reasonably well.
Remember, Marinelli didn't consistently give him even close to the same players -- not even his core. He wouldn't allow him to do anything on punt/kick returns other than essentially fair catch it, or run til there is opossition and take a knee.
That killed half the game. There were also hints that Rod didn't like devoting a lot of time to the coverage team practices -- hard to get creative when guys are trying to remember what to do on the vanilla plays.
Also, Marinelli was not big on creativity in scheming -- it was all about players. He didn't WANT Kwan or anyone else to get all "fancy" -- he wanted Vanilla plays that, he believed, if executed with passion would stop anything.
Kind of like the Maginot line, when faced with something they weren't designed for not so much.
This season will be make or break for Kwan in his career. I just don't see how he could have stayed as Preifer's assistant, and be so well like by Preifer, if he was this bad. I guess you never know.
We will find out if that decision, like many others, was good or bad this season.
BTW - Agree, I really like the Kitna for Henry trade.
And now that I think about it, I wasn't too crazy about ditching Orlovsky, and keeping Cpepp. We'll see...
Welcome back 1979. Wow I am impressed someone actually brought the Maginot line into a football conversation, impressive. However as far as Jensen is concerned I hope they pit him at LG. Gosder had problems on college when they moved him to LT and he really improved at RT as the season went on leave him there. Backus, although not dominant, is a decent LT, and with a little help at LG from Jensen, I believe he (Backus)could be even better. As for keeping Kwan they were looking at other options but nothing ever materialized so they stuck with what they had. Special Teams should be better with D. Williams but lets be honest this team is all about baby steps. 10 wins would be earth shattering, however with the upgrades they have made throughout the team I believe 5-7 wins is very realistic. Thats a huge improvement from 0-16 and not anything to be ashamed of. Take the high draft picks and look at 7-9 wins in 2010-11. I like the moves this regieme has made except the Stafford pick but I am willing to hope and pray he becomes the player Mayhew and co believes he can be. ~ibjackiemoon
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Andrew
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