The Detroit Lions are on part two of their three part plan to rebuild and that second part involves adding a "house of spears."
After last season's, largely successful, draft the team has a franchise quarterback, a decent set of wide receivers, a solid linebacking corps and a play making member of the secondary. With the offseason acquisition's of Kyle Vanden-Bosch and Corey Williams, the defensive line, and defense, is almost complete. The final part of that line is Ndamukong Suh.
He is hands down the best player in the draft and Detroit can't afford to pass on him. Suh has a quick release out of his stance and the strength to move NFL lineman. ESPN's Sports Science program examined what made his the best player on the board and lets just say they said he hit with the force of 1,200 pounds.
The Lions had an awful secondary last year. While it could be said that they had subpar players, which some of them were, they also had a terrible pass rush. If you look at a team like the Baltimore Ravens, their secondary thrived off of a great pass rush in the 2008-2009 season. Last season, their pass rush was less impressive and so was their secondary.
There may be questions about whether they want to drat left tackle Russell Okung, but their acquisition of Rob Sims should answer them. Head Coach Jim Schwartz said he thought Jeff Backus deserved Pro Bowl votes and that left guard was their real problem last season. When looking at the trade of Sims and Schwartz's comments together, its clear they think tackle is not what needs to be fixed.
For a team with so many holes, taking the best player on the board is never a bad idea. Detroit should be a respectable team next year, not a great one, but one that should be able to win between four and six games. Experts have said it is defense that wins championships and in Lions land, it looks like the team will follow that philosophy.
Pick 2 - Detroit Lions: Ndamukong Suh - Defensive Tackle, Nebraska
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You can never go wrong with taking the best player on the board, but with so few franchise quarterbacks that are drafted highly actually panning out I could definitely see the Lions upgrading at OT and ensuring that Stafford stays upright for years to come. He's the future of anything good to come from the Lions offense. He's the catalyst to deliver the ball to Johnson and by delivering the ball deep should back off the safeties from the line of scrimmage for the running game.
If the Lions do go the path of protecting Stafford with Okung, it would alter the draft board for the next four teams to follow.