At the right tackle position, The Lions regime are hoping that Gosder Cherilus can return to the field from injury and work on some of the boneheaded mistakes of his past.

Jason Fox was brought in through the draft this year to be molded into the tackle of the future. His talent isn’t in question, but he will have to learn how to play the tempo of offense that is the NFL. There probably isn’t a real good chance for him to get any playing time this season.

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Sure, we can poke at the Rex Grossmans of the world. We can laugh at the Brett Favre Sagas. But for every Rex, the Lions have experienced Ty Detmer. When it comes to Brett Favre, Detroit hasn’t seen that caliber of a quarterback in uniform since the great Charlie Batch Bobby Layne (Let’s hope Stafford is that guy).

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Is Adalius Thomas in the mix at linebacker? (Courtesy Yardbarker.com)

One trending topic that contiues to popularize is the outside linebacker position, where second year player Zack Follett will take his fan favorite attitude to the field labeled as the guy with the starting job to lose. Gunther Cunningham gets violent when the subject comes up. His job is to destroy opposing offensive gameplans, but he has some pretty gruesome plans if Follet doesn’t earn playing time at linebacker. The California kid will compete for the starting position that was vacated when the Lions traded Ernie Sims to the Philadelphia Eagles this off-season.

“I’m going to kill Zack Follett if he doesn’t play,” defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said tonight at a meet-and-greet with season-ticket holders at Ford Field. “That’s the bottom line. And I think we put pressure on him by doing that, by making this move.

“Zack’s like a human dynamo, and he’s learned, and he knows how much confidence I have in him.”

The true question though is how much confidence does this coaching staff have in the former seventh round draft pick? He definitely has a role on special teams. He loves to hit. But the real question becomes: Can he handle the every play pressure that comes at the starting outside position?

He seems to think so.

Follett has already told his opponents to get prepared for blood. Fans seem to agree.  Follett was a monster in college, accumulated the most tackles for loss in the PAC-10 his senior year. Nobody is doubting that his future is at this position. Everyone seems to agree the future is bright.

The only thing worth asking is do the Detroit Lions believe the future is now.

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