Five Teams That Could Fall To The Top Of The 2014 Draft

Detroit Lions – Why it could occur:

The Detroit Lions live in a rough part of the NFL. No one plays nice in the NFC North, not Chicago, not Green Bay, and now the Vikings are emerging.  Detroit has no easy time of it anyway, but here is what you need to know; they lost their last 8 games in a row. They lost the entire back half of the schedule despite being 4-4. They lost to Tennessee and Arizona last year and their only proud win was against the Seahawks and that was with 20 seconds left.

It wasn’t because of Matt Stafford. Matt has a wonderful arm and keeps the Lions in every game. It was the defense that fell apart. The Lions went DE then CB in the draft, but by the second round, 4 CBs had been taken. Their chance of secondary help from the draft is not very bright. Where the Jaguars picked up 5 guys in the defensive backfield, Detroit took 1. The Lions gave up almost 5 yards per run in 2012. When a team can run on you, then they can throw on you. The Lions couldn’t hang in the games until the end.

Do I believe they will be at the bottom? Probably not, but if you are in a tough division and you just posted an 8 game losing streak to finish the previous season, what will make it different? With 4.5 yards per run, you have to ask… Suh, where are you? Kyle Love graded out better as a run stopping defensive tackle. Of course Ndamukong is the premier rushing tackle along with Bengal Geno Atkins. So why draft Ziggy Ansah if your rush is good?  Maybe Ziggy brings the missing piece. Detroit should worry about Matt Stafford going down. If he does, the NFL bottom is a real possibility.

– Terry O’Brien