The Detroit Lions

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2009 NFL DRAFT
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1	Oakland	Jack English	QB
2	San Francisco	Rakeem Jordan	CB
3	Chicago	Joey Keller	RB
4	Washington	Raveon Hines	DE
5	Atlanta	Javon Jackson	LT
6	New York Jets	Jackson Hailes	DE
7	Miami	Alain Dixon	DT
8	Minnesota	Roscoe Pope	DB
9	Dallas	Erik Darcy	DT
10	Cleveland	Evan Mayo	RE
11	Carolina	Devin Mayo	OLB
12	Green Bay	DeMarcus Jackson	RB
13	Pittsburgh	Jordan Samuels	RB
14	Denver	DJ Crosby	WR
15	Baltimore	Biff Below	QB
16	Arizona	Antrel Duvall	TE
17	New England	Andy Mantle	CB
18	St. Louis	Mason Davis	WR
19	Baltimore	Scott Glazer	DT
20	Houston	Will Barkley	SS
21	Detroit	Jorge Abbott	LG
22	Cincinnati	Jeff Wilkins	LE
23	Jacksonville	Clay Nash	LE
24	San Diego	Darius Collier	FS
25	Tampa Bay	Dashon Barney	QB
26	New York Giants	Troy Martin	RB
27	Tennessee	Rolly Futch	LT
28	Philadelphia	Kyle Matchett	WR
29	New England	Alex Bassett	FS
30	Tampa Bay	Jade Stone	RB
31	Indianapolis	Juron Riley	CB
32	Cleveland	Mack Jackson	MLB

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Detroit Lions 2009 Draft
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1-22	Ole Miss	Jorge Abbott	LG
3-77	Tennessee	Patrick Lopez	DT
4-114	Toledo	TJ Hitchcock	C
4-119	Eastern Carolina	Triston Smith	CB
5-153	Valdosta State	Ivan Pope	QB
6-179	Michigan	Kendall Pounds	K
UDFA	Syracuse	Jamelle Mingo	DT
UDFA	Memphis	Aaron Wesley	OLB
UDFA	Middle Tennessee State	Hugh Reynolds	SS
UDFA	Texas Tech	Bobby Bird	WR
UDFA	St. John's	Nick Dillon	CB

A quick rundown of our picks:

Jorge Abbott - a powerful run blocker who can play either side. He'll probably compete with Scott Mruczkowski at RG to start with.

Patrick Lopez - a compact, but powerful, defensive tackle who was a beast stuffing the run at Tennessee. Hopefully he'll be a key piece in rebuilding our defensive interior.

TJ Hitchcock - We got blasted for this pick, but our GM truly believes this kid is going to be our center for years to come.

Tristan Smith - Our defensive backfield will always have competition, as we try to build a strong unit. While our starters are set, we planned on bringing in a couple guys to compete with our "pair of kings" and round out 5 corneback slots.

Ivan Pope - We just loved what this kid did, regardless of the fact he played at a tiny school like Valdosta State. He's got a great chance to learn from Brian and whoever else we keep.

Kendall Pounds - This guy's got a leg like a howitzer. I think his ability to control the long game, especially kickoffs, will be an X factor for us.

Jamelle Mingo - similar to Lopez, he's got this powerful, compact frame I think will be a difference maker for us. Off-the-field stuff seems to be more media-driven than anything else. We're ok with all that stuff.

Aaron Wesley - this kid can FLY from sideline to sideline. We're hoping he can help fill a pass-rushing niche for us, or at the very least, help make an impact on special teams while he develops.

Hugh Reynolds - He's got a good combination of size and speed, and our new Defensive Backs Coach requires us to keep 3 FS's and 3 SS's, so he's got a great shot to stick on the final 53.

Bobby Bird - A small, but skilled, route running receiver. He's a little different than our standard receiver, but if he can pick up some of the skills Eddie Drummond has at returner, he might find a career here.

Nick Dillon - Nick's got his work cut out for him, as we now have 7 corners for 5 spots; but he'll be given every chance to compete. We want our best 5 out there, and egos (and draft positions) don't matter when we hit the field.

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2009 Detroit Lions Depth Chart Depth Chart -
Regular Offense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
WR	Roy Williams	Garret Wolfe	Brad Bird
TE	Quinn Sypniewski	Scott Chandler	Brent Celek
LT	Jeff Backus	Richard Collier
LG	Vince Manuwai	Edwin Mulitalo
C	Chris Chestr	TJ Hitchcock
RG	Jorge Abbott (r)	Scott Mruczkowski
RT	Jonathan Scott	James Blair
WR	Bryant Johnson	James Hardy	Eddie Drummond
QB	Brian Griese	Patrick Ramsey	Ivan Pope (r)
FB	Jerome Felton	David Kirtman
HB	Shaun Alexander	Ryan Torain	Garrett Wolfe	Marcel Shipp
Base 4-3 Defense
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LDE	Matt Roth	Tyler Brayton
LDT	Darrell Longbottom	Jamelle Mingo (r)
RDT	Patrick Lopez (r)
RDE	Chris Kelsey	Brian Smith
WLB	Angelo Craig	Aaron Wesley (r)
MLB	Jarrett Johnson	Buster Davis	Landon Stills (r)
SLB	Ernie Sims	Landon Stills (r)
CB	Leigh Bodden	Justin King
SS	Jamar Adams	Hugh Reynolds	Greg Blue
FS	Gerald Alexander	Daniel Bullocks	Nehemiah Warrick
CB	Dominique Cromartie	Eric King	Tristan Smith (r)
Special Teams
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
K	Kendall Pounds (r)
P	Nick Harris
PR	Eddie Drummond	Brad Bird (r)
KR	Eddie Drummond	Brad Bird (r)	Tristan Smith (r)

Some new faces here, as some notable players such as Drew Stanton, DT's Shaun Cody and Mike Paterson, starting SS Kenoy Kennedy, etc. are gone and FA acquisitions like former first round pick Patrick Ramsey, running back Marcel Shipp, DE Chris Kelsey and DT Darrell Longbottom have come in to help fill key roles for us.

SS Jamar Adams will start, after a strong rookie season backing up Kenoy Kennedy. FS Nehemiah Warrick, drafted by the Lions in 2008 but didn't make the final roster. He's back to give it another shot this year after a season on the bench in Denver.


Time will tell if this offseason of fine-tuning pays off. It's time for the preseason games to start!

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2009 Detroit Lions Preseason Recap

The 2009 preseason kicked off with the Lions facing the Baltimore Ravens. Coach Billick stressed all week how this wasn't a "revenge" game or anything of the sort, especially as this was a "meaningless" preseason game.

Regardless, the Lions triumphed 21-20 behind a pair of Patrick Ramsey touchdowns: one to Bryant Johnson and one to Brad Bird. Ryan Torain added a touchdown run to help secure a nice opening victory.

In week 2, the Lions faced the Denver Broncos. This time Ramsey again hit Bryant Johnson for a touchdown and a nice "gotcha" moment vs his old team; however the Broncos prevailed 27-13. Rookie kicker Kendall Pounds made his lone field goal attempt and the defense had a couple sacks and an interception.

Week 3 brought the Jaguars to town. Bryant Johnson caught his third touchdown of the preseason, this time from starter Brian Griese, but the Jaguars defense was a monster. The Jags won 19-7. Overall the team played well, and last year's rookie cb Justin King has taken a lead over incumbent Eric King for the nickel corner spot.

Finally, as we entered the last week of the preseason, the Lions owner, Don Bored, put Coach Billick on the spot for a prediction this year. Coach had no trouble promising a return to the playoffs...

As if to put a stamp on the statement, the Lions took care of their week 4 opponent, the Miami Dolphins with a solid 17-6 win. Griese hit Roy Williams for a touchdown, and Garrett Wolfe added one from the ground. The defense notched 5 sacks as well, a promising number for a unit that's undergone a pretty major makeover up front.

Up next - our opening game of the 2009 regular season! We start the year against our division foes: The Green Bay Packers!

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Lions vs Packers preview

The 2009 Green Bay Packers are very similar to their 2008 selves; although they're are hoping for better results. They battled the Lions in the 2008 season finale with the NFC North on the line; but fell 7-6. An odd coincidence as they had earlier defeated the Lions by the exact same score.

Daunte Culpepper still leads the team, and part-time 2008 Lions backup Byron Leftwich is the #2. Last year's rookie Brian Brohm is the 3rd stringer. Another former Lion from 2008, MLB Paris Lenon, who lost his job to Jarrett Johnson midway through the season, is the backup middle linebacker.

As we get ready to welcome a new season of Lions football, here's some news and notes from around the league:

Chicago Bears have Brad Johnson (age 39!) starting over Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton.

The Bills are starting Trent Edwards over Josh McCown.

The Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers wished starting QB a happy retirement and handed the reigns over to Aaron Rodgers.

The Arizona Cardinals have yet another aging quarterback starting over first round (bust? I suppose the label fits here) Matt Leinart.

The Chiefs are still going with Damon Huard, while the Falcons have turned to last year's top pick Matt Ryan as their starter.

The 49ers appeared to have revived Joey Harrington's career, but have announced Dane Morrow will be starting, with Joey as the backup and Alex Smith 3rd. I'd say it's safe to say no team in NFL history has a #3 overall pick and #1 overall pick as their 2nd and 3rd string quarterbacks!

The Raiders have given up on their #1 overall pick from 2007 JaMarcus Russell, as he is the #3 QB behind starter Jack English and backup Andrew Walter.

Finally, Coach Billick's old team, the Ravens, are rolling with Jon Kitna while 1st rounder Biff Below learns the ropes.

We'll get into the NFC North Specifics as we face off against them throughout the season - gotta stay focused on the Pack!