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Hopeless team
John,
Thanks for your reply. We agree that it will be years before the latest WCF approved "plan" might prove effective and the Lions are really able to compete for a championship.
Inherent in this plan is fact that it is slow process-- drafting the best players available,then hoping the coaching staff can develop them. Perhaps "the plan" should at least for the next two years, involve raiding other teams practice squad members (staffed with last preseason cuts) and add young players that play positions that the Lions coaching staff feels are weak at then end of training camp? Don't fill those positions with retreads. The GM must require that coaching staff to play these guys during the season and see if the talent is really there. Wouldn't this tactic make a better plan long term rather than continuing to try to lure free agents at the end of their careers.?What can happen? at worse the Lions lose with different personnel and if they find a diamond in the rough or two, the team shortens the timetable to being competitive. I think fans would continue to attend games if only to see the new faces and if they turn out to be good players that bond will serve WCF well in the future. If they don't--well they are Lions Fans so they will just say wait until next year like they have done for over 50 years.
Comment?
Well, again, they had a chance at almost every one of those practice squad players at the start of the season, since they had first dibs on the waiver wire. And I think they're doing essentially what you've asked -- more than any other team in the league, really -- by all the work they've done on the waiver wire. (Jack Williams from Denver is the latest example.) Problem with in-season moves is its really much harder than it appears to get those players up to speed and understanding the scheme to actually contribute and be evaluated as an active player, not just a practice player. That's why the offseason is so important.
Hopeless team
John, You amd Mike O'hara picked the Lions to win the stinker bowl.Mike even said it was a lock. He should stay retired and you might want to be more objective. This game,played after a bye week, showed how bad this team really is. In my view, it will be very difficult for them to win any games in the remainder of the season. Looking beyond that.The Lions will not win a championship in the foreseable future. The other teams in the league have "plans" that are effective.Look at how many good players they have, many that the Lions passed over in previous drafts. WCF teams just have unsuccessful "plans". History shows the Lions can't win and be an elite team no matter who is the coach,or players. Even with a new G.M. using same poor talent selection staff, the best they can hope to do to build the team is to staff through the draft. IF they make good choices, they would need to find 3-4 upgraded players to replace those on the team each year. They have yet to prove they can do that. Every year, there are key injuries. Every year they bring in players that are in the last years of their playing career and are cast off by their former team. The Lions sign them and They add little improvement to the team. But that is all they can get. Significant free agents with years of playing time ahead of them do not want to play in the Detroit market. So the new G.M. turns over 31 players in his first year on the job but the replacement roster is made up of 26 or so similar players for the reasons cited and the remainder of new playewrs are a suspect draft of unproven players. So the patttern repeats, year after year. Isn't that the process? Your view?
I agree with your overall assessment: There hasn't been a consistent, long-term plan that anyone has bothered to stick to around here. But my view is this new group really will do just that; Stick to their plan. But we'll just have to wait and see if it works. For what it's worth, Mayhew did make a few changes in his scouting department, though he kept Scott McEwen in charge of the scouting -- he's a guy who is well thought of around the league. The other difference is Mayhew is out there scouting a lot, too, unlike his predecessor. Almost every Fri-Sat last fall, he was on college campuses -- USC (twice, I think), Ohio State, Wake Forest, etc.
And you have to be encouraged that this new staff is at least playing the young guys, no? Stafford, Pettigrew, Delmas, Levy, Hill and Williams/Brown are all starting essentially. The last coach just wanted to play veterans and make young guys wait on the practice field. It was an unrealistic view of where they were at as a team in terms of talent on the roster.
Now then, in free agency, you're right. Free agency is a tool to plug holes, not build a roster. And this year's results are middling, no doubt. But like you point out, it's not easy convincing top-tier free agents to come to an 0-16 team in Detroit, without wildly overpaying them (another mistake of the past). That's one reason why Mayhew acted preemptively with trades for Peterson and Northcutt and Henry. Peterson deal seems to have worked, the other two not so much. But again, it's about trying to field a competitive team while building long-term through the draft.
And again, that's where these guys will sink or swim -- do the draft future stars or do they draft players that don't cut it. And can the coach win when he's got legitimate talent to work with.
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