Christmas Eve Mock from Stylish

[stylish313]

Cut/Release
Lions allow DE Cliff Avril to leave on his own accord. They do not feel franchising Avril will be worth the gamble of seeking trade options.
Lions cut DE Kyle Vanden Boesch($5.6M cap hit; -$1M from 2012 cap hit)
Lion release WR Nate Burleson($2.03M cap hit)
Lions cut ties with LB Justin Durant, they intend on finding out what they have with LB Travis Lewis
Lions cut ties with RT Gosder Cherilus, they intend on going with the combination of Reiff and Backus
Lions release RB Jahvid Best($4M cap hit)

Free Agency
Lions re-sign CB Chris Houston, 4 years, $35M($20M guaranteed; $7.65M cap hit in 2013, -$3.5M from 2012 cap hit)
Lions sign WR, Dwayne Bowe, 5 years, $34M($15M guaranteed)
Lions re-sign LB DeAndre Levy, 4 years, $15M
Lions re-sign S Louis Delmas, 1 year, $2.75M
Lions re-sign DT SLH, 3 years, $12M
Lions re-sign DT Corey Williams, 2 years, $5M
Lions re-structure(extend) OT Jeff Backus, 2 years, $10M($4M cap hit in 2013)
Lions re-sign RB Joique Bell, 3 years, $6.75M
Lions re-sign DE Lawrence Jackson, 3 years, $8M
Lions re-sign DE Willie Young, 2 years, $4M
Lions sign F/A- WR Ted Ginn Jr, 3 years, $5M
Lions extend QB Matthew Stafford, 5 years, $100M($40M guaranteed; $37M signing bonus) 1st year cap hit of $10M(-$1.075M from 2012 cap hit).

Trades
Detroit trades #5 overall to St. Louis, for #16 overall, #46, and #78.

Detroit trades #16 overall, #99, and a 2014 3rd round pick- to Cincy, for #21 overall, #53, and their 5th round pick.

Draft
1st round(21st overall)- Lions select: Barrett Jones, C, Alabama- Listed at 6'5", 311 lbs- Jones has had a terrific collegiate career playing multiple positions along Alabama's OL- with great success at every stop.

2nd round- Lions select: Alex Okafor, DE, Texas- Listed at 6'4", 265 lbs- Okafor totaled 46 tackles, 8 sacks, 12 TFLs, 3 FFs, and had a blocked kick

2nd round- Lions select: Tony Jefferson, S, Oklahoma- Listed at 5'10", 212 lbs- Jefferson totaled 113 tackles, 2 INTs, and 3 PDs- Tony is a great all around safety, who will instantly upgrade the back end of the Lions defense.

2nd round- Lions select: Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State- Listed at 6'0", 190 lbs- Poyer totaled 46 tackles, 7 INTs, 4 TFLs, 1FF, and 4 PDs- A play-making corner with experience returning kicks.

3rd round- Lions select: John Simon, DE, Ohio State- Listed at 6'2", 263 lbs- Big 10 DL of the year, with 9 sacks, 44 tackles, 14.5 TFLs, 1FF, and 4 PDs in his Senior season

3rd round- Lions select: Dion Sims, TE, Michigan State- Listed at 6'5", 285 lbs- The Lions like throwing to big targets in the middle of the field. Dion is an established receiver with great hands.

5th round- Lions select: Trey Millard, FB, Oklahoma- Listed at 6'2", 249 lbs. Lions draft a true FB to fulfill the role Reiff provided, plus with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield as an added dimension.

5th round(Cincy)- Lions select: Quinn Sharp, P, Oklahoma State

6th round- Lions select: Roy Roundtree, WR, Michigan

Depth Chart
QB- Matthew Stafford, Shaun Hill
RB- Mikel Leshoure, Joique Bell, Trey Millard
WR- Calvin Johnson, Ted Ginn Jr, Roy Roundtree
WR- Dwayne Bowe, Mike Thomas, Ryan Broyles
TE- Brandon Pettigrew, Tony Scheffler, Dion Sims

LT- Riley Reiff
LG- Rob Sims
C- Dominick Raiola, Barrett Jones
RG- Barrett Jones, Stephen Peterman
RT- Jeff Backus, Jason Fox

DE- Willie Young, John Simon
DT- Ndamukong Suh, Sammy Lee Hill
DT- Nick Fairies, Corey Williams
DE- Lawrence Jackson, Alex Okafor

OLB- Travis Lewis, Ronnell Lewis
MLB- Stephen Tulloch, Travis Lewis
OLB- DeAndre Levy, Tahir Whitehead

CB- Chris Houston, Jonte Green
S- Louis Delmas
S- Tony Jefferson
CB- Bill Bently, Jordan Poyer

PR- Ted Ginn Jr
KR- Ted Ginn Jr

K- Jason Hanson(plays as long as he wants)
P- Quinn Sharp
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Are you getting Ziggy with it?

[SadLionFan00]

Stylish for GM!
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[DrRay11]

Eh, don't know if I could spring for Bowe at that price. Seems high for what we need.

For all the picks, I think we could come away with a little better haul in the draft, too. Don't think Okafor's worth that pick. Simon should be a solid addition. I like Tony Jefferson probably the most out of all the safeties in the draft, but that's not saying much because I'm not too high on any of them. This draft seems to target needs more than aim for the best players. I will have to comment on Poyer later, I've not done my research there yet.

I don't think we need a true FB either.

Overall grade is a B.
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Football is love, love is life.

[Jrugges]

I like it. People are going to hate for signing big money to Bowe, but he's a top 10 WR in this league easilly imo. He'll be so much better here than in KC, where he hasn't had a bad career just one plagued with medicour talent around him at WR/QB.

Adding Gin helps too. The offense won't have to drive 90-80 yards everytime a team punts/kicks. People are going to hate it because they'll feel like you've spent some money in the wrong places but what you did fits what our team is built to be, a highly explosive offense, a team built to out score you rather than play tough defense.

And I'm glad you also notice Quinn Sharpe, he's a really good punter, solid kicker, and really effective on kick-offs able to consistently kick through the end-zone.

[dmudd]

hmmmm get my mind going... just worried about our cbs didnt see enough of bently
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AAL-Jahivd Best Att-60 yds-190 td-1 rec-17 yds-205 td-1

[imyourGM]

If Jones was are 1st pick i'd probably be pretty mad. I like him but not like this. Would like to get a DE out of this draft. Like the trades i'd just have it lay out different. I'd of kept the 16th pick. I like Poyer. Not sure about a FB that high either but if they decide to actually run the ball then ya i guess.. MERRY XMAS my bad didn't see the DE you drafted...

[Nnivolcm]

Willie Young and LoJack as starters make me uncomfortable at DE.
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[DrRay11]

[Louis Friend]

I like it, especially the signing of Bowe. Watching Atlanta with White/Jones makes me long for a big time WR to play opposite Calvin.

Like the draft. Not thrilled with the secondary, but I think we added some good talent all over.

Not too shabby at all. Nice job Stylish.

[stylish313]

This is my last mock draft until the Senior Bowl as well. There's a lot more game tape to be viewed, and post-season workouts that will influence how I feel about the top #100 prospects- my primary interest. Thanks for the comments thus far.

Explanations:

I took prospects who I feel will be good/great NFL players, and fit what we currently have going on with our team. I kept Suh and Fairley at DT, and found some promising young DE's who I believe will grow into flourishing roles outside of our star DT's, and fairly quickly.

Okafor is a tremendous pass rusher, who I believe brings as much skill as the over-rated Werner in that department. Not as complete, but as a 2nd round selection, I believe he could provide an instant impact with plenty of room to grow before he hits his ceiling.

Jefferson is a solid all-around safety, who most importantly to the Lions has ball-hawking capability. Our forced TO's were way down, and we've been lacking a guy good in coverage forever it seems. Jefferson would be a great compliment to Delmas, if Delmas could ever stay on the field.

Poyer is a play-making CB who has been pretty good returning kicks as well in is time at Oregon State. We used to talk about wanting to play man coverage with our CB's, but we've recently been playing a ton of zone. Our CB's aren't great breaking on the ball so we've been one of the worst in the league at giving up the big play. Poyer is a threat that QB's will have to account for, and with our DL, there should be plenty of opportunities for him to take advantage of.

Simon is a physical DE who is strong against both the run, and pass. I like him enough to take him in the 2nd if the Lions feel that's what it would take to land him. He's NFL ready right now, and could take one of Young's or Lo-Jack's starting spots if they don't prove they deserve it in TC. He and Okafor make an intriguing and promising pair of young DE's for our defense.

Dion Sims is a tremendous receiving threat. In the mold of a young Alge Crumpler, but bigger/taller and more athletic.

Trey Millard was brought in to replace Reiff. Anyone who didn't notice that our rushing game improved with Reiff's insertion is blind. We need a true FB, especially with the RB's we currently have. Not so much when it was Jahvid Best and Kevin Smith, but our current RB group is more effective running in-between the tackles. Adding Millard is like improving our OL, without spending a top selection to do so.

Barrett Jones has been a fine offensive lineman for Alabama, performing well at OT, OG, and center. We'll eventually need him to take over for Raiola, but right now we need his pass-blocking skills to take over for our weakest pass-blocking OL- Peterman. He probably won't be as stout as Peterman was in the run game, but he's still no slouch. I expect him to compete early, and then take over at some point of the season at RG. The Lions never just hand over a starting position to a rookie, unless the Lions currently have nothing at the position.

@ Dwayne Bowe: Bowe is a solid WR and a tremendous over-the-top threat. When signing him, I basically used Nate Burleson's contract as the barometer and improved upon it slightly. Nate received 5 years, $26M. I didn't see giving Bowe $8M more a problem, he's much more accomplished in his career than Nate was.

Both Stafford and CJ really need a reliable target outside of Calvin, and we all know Detroit is gonna have to kick out the cash to bring in a legit option. Sure, we could probably find one in the 1st in the form of a Cordarrelle Patterson, but I'd much rather spend the money on a proven commodity in Bowe and build our depth in areas we're gonna have many more difficulties filling in F/A. As Jrugges stated, Bowe is underrated, due to the fact he's been stuck on a crap team for his entire career- with crap QB's. I didn't pay him #1 WR money, I gave him a solid #2 offer, a bit more than what Baltimore payed for Anquan Boldin.....which you'd expect, since we are the Detroit Lions.
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Are you getting Ziggy with it?

[stylish313]

[DrRay11]

[SuhPLEX]

What happened to Young Tit?
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[imyourGM]

[bigc421]

Not bad, not great. Always hard to properly judge these things without any knowledge of who's on the board and what not. Trading down is one of those things that always happens just not always where and with whom you think. At this point(very very early) i only see 1 player who even comes close what i would call an elite prospect in this entire draft and thats the big boy Star, so if we dont feel that we're coming away with an elite prospect at 5 then looking to trade down should be a must. However the same logic suggests it will be awfully hard to trade down. There is nothing close to an elite offensive skill position player which it seems are usually what teams fall in love with when trading up, that instant impact big play wr or rb or the franchise changing qb just arnt there this year so i dont see alot of movement, but who knows. The dline once again seems to be considered the strength of this class but im starting to think the dline is just getting more attention than ever because it seems to be the so called strength of every class now. I've only watched so much of these guys so far and while Moore's stat line and age seem very promising his film while good just misses the "it" factor for me, but again ive only seen a hand full of games.

My 1st question after reading your other mock. If Ezekial is still on the board at 16 would you still take that same value trade moving down a 2nd time or would you find him to good to pass at that point? Warmack?

I dont like the pick of Jones there at all. I just dont see him as much of a difference maker and that should be what your looking for in the 1st. This has nothing to do with position a dominating interior lineman can be a huge difference maker but i dont see Jones anywhere near that level. He has really struggled against good dt's this year and been dominated at times by nt's he doesnt seem to have the talent to hold up against them.

While having all those 2nd and 3rd round picks are nice im not sure the team is all that improved with the players selected but i havent seen enough of most of them to be to critical. Dion Simms is a complete waste of 3rd pick however. He is sluggish and slow and while his hands might not be a weakness they arnt anything special either.

I also dont invision any world where bowe signs for that cheap. He is no hidden gem or secret. The league knows he is a very talented player who has had bad qb play and probably dosnt have the greatest work ethic with a side of a.d.d. but his talents are known and some one will pay him more than that