Oct 22, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) is sacked by Detroit Lions middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch (55) and outside linebacker Justin Durant (52) during the second quarter at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

With the NFL draft long gone and training camp still a couple of months away, don’t think for a minute that the NFL is going to slip into the background and let the NBA, hockey playoffs, and baseball hog the sports pages. No, the NFL is entering the “list” season where they compare and rank players like a meat market. There is a reason the NFL is king. Besides the greatness of the sport itself, the NFL excels at keeping its name on the sports pages year around. These lists also provide fodder for the sports talk radio hosts when they run out of baseball topics.

The NFL Network has been rolling out its annual list of top 100 players and it has Matthew Stafford listed as the 76th best player in the league. It also lists Lions middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch as the 63rd best player. HUH? I know the players are the ones that are polled and this is the result, but what tapes are they watching? Stafford’s rookie year? I know Tulloch is a very capable linebacker, but I watched every minute of the Lions last year and there are times you barely notice him. Sure he’s solid, but the dude must have a lot friends in the league.

Matthew Stafford is a hot topic around the league. Reggie Bush was quoted on NFL Network last week in a interview that he felt that Stafford would someday be in the Hall of Fame. Not everybody shares that opinion. Stafford was completely omitted from the Top 100 Rankings of CBS Sports.com’s Pete Prisco. Seriously Pete, There are a 100 players in the league you would rather have than Matt Stafford? It’s the Megatron factor. So many of Stafford’s critics devalue his contribution because he’s throwing the ball to the best receiver on the planet. I didn’t see too many people going gaga over Calvin Johnson when Jon Kitna was his quarterback.

The new and improved Nick Fairley was talking about how he and his linemate, Ndumakong Suh, are the best defensive tackle combo in the NFL. No sooner did he say that, NFL.com came out and agree with him. The fact that these two are in their second and third year is very exciting for Lions fans.

With Fairley seemingly poised to make his mark in the league and the always relentless Suh holding down the middle, it will be up to newcomers Ziggy Ansah and Jason Jones to bring back the roar to the defense. Once that happens, I think you’ll be seeing a lot more Lions defenders showing up on next year’s list.

September 22, 2012; Gainesville FL, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Larry Warford (67) and guard Zach West (75) block against the Florida Gators in the second quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

“This is an awesome Pick”, wrote WalterFootball.com. “This is one of my favorite football players in the entire draft”, shouted Mike Mayock on TV when the Lions drafted him. “This is possibly my favorite pick the Lions made in the 2013 draft”, says Chris Katje of Rant Sports. You would think this universal praise was for when the Lions drafted Ziggy Ansah with the fifth overall pick in last month’s draft, it’s not. All this and more praise has been heaped on the Lions third round choice Larry Warford. It’s crazy that a third round choice is getting so much ink, but to top it off, he plays the most anonymous position on the team, guard. Most casual football fans couldn’t name a guard on their team if their life depended on it.

In all my years watching the Lions, I’ve never seen a third round pick come into town to more hoopla than Larry Warford did last week. Dominic Raiola has already requested that Warford’s locker be placed next to his. Raiola is probably entering his last year as the starting Center and he wants to impart his wisdom on the mammoth rookie every single day. I gotta admit, when the draft was on and they announced the Lions third round pick was Warford, I jumped up and cheered like the Lions just scored a touchdown.

So why is a third round rookie guard being treated like a rock star? He represents a new beginning in Detroit. The birth of a running game. The Lions just couldn’t run the ball when they needed to. The opponents knew it. The fantasy footballers knew it. The Detroit Lions fans surely knew it. When Martin Mayhew said the the offensive line needed upgrading over this past off season. Warford was exactly the kind of guy he was referring to. A refrigerator with legs. Warford represents the new kind of athlete that Mayhew zeroed in on this years draft. The bigger the better.

I think the smart football fan knows that the Detroit Lions have been relying on Matthew Stafford ever since he set foot in this town. The Lions thinking appeared to be, we have a gunslinger and we intend to use him. They spent so many resources on surrounding Stafford with weapons that they neglected the hogs up front who make the running game work.

The previously one-dimentional Lions showed the NFL that by drafting Larry Warford they are no longer just paying lip service about needing to improve their running game, they actually put some weight behind their actions this time.

Apr 26, 2013; Allen Park, MI, USA; Detroit Lions first round draft pick Ezekiel Ansah arrives at the Lions Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Now that the draft has been over for a week and we’ve watched the replay’s a couple of times (What? You don’t watch the draft again after it’s over?), let’s sit back and take an unemotional look at the Detroit Lions first pick in this extremely important make-or-break draft for the Lions front office. I have to make a confession right out of the box. Even though it would have been prudent to take an offensive tackle to protect “the franchise” Matthew Stafford, I really, really wanted Ziggy Ansah in the worst way. I think the Detroit Lions coaching staff felt the same way I did.

Ziggy’s rise to fame is the stuff of Hollywood legend. While Ansah’s story is captivating to the fans like myself, the scouts are more than a little skeptical of a guy who dominated for only one year. I just don’t think that Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz see this as much of a gamble. The entire coaching staff spent the entire Senior Bowl week working with Ziggy, and came away convinced that he’s the real deal.

The defensive line coaches are probably salivating over the possibility of teaching Ziggy the finer aspects of hand to hand combat NFL style because the kid is likely to see a lot of single coverage, as Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley demand so much attention. If the guy is all he is advertised to be, then it shouldn’t take him long to make his presence felt.

My main concern about drafting Ziggy is that we’re left with Riley Rieff as the starting left tackle. Doing some research on left tackles since the draft left me feeling better about the Lions decision to forgo taking a left tackle in the draft. It seems the importance of the left tackle position has been in decline for some time. Andy Benoit of Football Outsiders wrote a great article about how because of the evolution of the game, the left tackle position has been rendered ‘almost’ just another offensive lineman. It’s physically impossible for a defensive end to get to the quarterback on the three step drops that dominate the NFL, and the left tackle doesn’t spend that much time on a island like they used to. He’ll get help from TE’s or running backs.

Mayhew said that Ziggy was the third highest rated on his board, meaning that if Lane Johnson was there at five, the Lions STILL would have drafted Ansah. I think Mayhew’s eyes lit up when watching Ansah practice, and with Luke Joeckel likely going first, only Eric Fisher was going to keep him from drafting “The Answer”.

It really makes all the sense in the world to draft Ezekiel Ansah. Mayhew and Schwartz are gambling on the strength of their defensive line to be a difference maker and take them to the promised land. By drafting Ziggy, the’re doubling down on their bet.