NFL Draft 2011: Why the Detroit Lions Should Not Draft an Offensive Tackle

April 11, 2011   ·   Dean Holden   ·   Jump to comments

Look far and wide across the internet. There are mock drafts aplenty, and the picks are as random and varied as the whims of Al Davis.
That said, it’s hard to find a mock draft out there that doesn’t send Tyron Smith, the young offensive tackle out of USC, to the Detroit Lions at pick 13.
The reasoning usually goes along the lines of, “The Lions need to draft an offensive tackle to keep Matthew Stafford healthy,” even though they’re talking about drafting an offensive tackle, not a doctor.
But is that really the case? Do the Lions need, first and foremost, to pick up an offensive tackle over other team needs? And was the offensive line really so atrocious as to need a major shakeup?
The statistics say “absolutely not.”
This is a difficult determination for me to make. Exactly two years ago, I was absolutely raging about the idea of taking a young quarterback from Georgia first overall. Oddly enough, the reason...

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