Apr 25, 2013; New York, NY, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (left) and former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders (right) introduce the fifth overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft defensive end Ezekiel Ansah (BYU) by the Detroit Lions at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

I guess Ziggy is the ‘Answer’. The question being, who are Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz gambling their NFL careers on? Mayhew and Schwartz are putting their necks on the line with the biggest boom-or-bust prospect in the first round. To the rest of the league this is one of the hugest gambles in the first round but the Detroit Lions don’t see it that way. They are trusting their own instincts from their week long encounter with Ansah at the Senior Bowl that they have something special on their hands.

The fact that the Lions made phone calls about trading up solidifies the fact that they were probably crushed to not to be able to land one of the big three offensive tackles. Seriously, of all the Lions luck. You’re sitting at the five with three primo left tackle prospects coming out this year and they’re all taken before you draft at five? Only the Lions. The Lions rebounded the best way they know, by trusting their own eyeballs. They totally fell in love with Ziggy during the Senior Bowl practices and tried to throw off the rest of the league by never speaking to him again until that phone call on draft day.

Taking “The Answer” was the only move they could make given where they were drafting. The tackles were gone, Dee Milliner was never an option and five is just too high for a guard. So it came down the the two craziest names in the draft, Ezekiel Ansah or Barkevious Mingo? The Lions went with what they know. They were very impressed with his intensity and his intelligence by how quickly he picked up the nuances of their wide-nine.

Ziggy should flourish playing alongside Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley. It was a shame last year to see Suh and Fairley collapse the pocket from the inside with no one to clean it up on the outside. If the Lions are right about their first round pick then they have the makings of a very young dominant defensive line. Just the way Mayhew and Schwartz like it.

The reason for the helter-skelter style draft this year is that it’s what considered a ‘middle-heavy’ draft. Meaning: the players in the middle of the first round are likely to contribute just as much as the top five picks. There aren’t any sure-fire Barry Sanders-like players lurking around this year. Plus, you add the fact that there are no quarterbacks worthy of being picked in the top fifteen picks, heck, there might not even be a quarterback to go in the first round. By the way, the real excitement of this year’s draft is going to be at the start of the 2nd round on Friday. With all of those quarterbacks likely going in the top of that round, there is going to be more trading than a good day on Wall Street.

We all know how important this draft is for the Detroit Lions coming off a disappointing 4-12 season. The crazy thing is that as high as they’re picking, 5th pick, this year you would think there is some regional consensus as to whom the Lions should select. But no, this is such an unpredictable draft that the Lions fans can’t even agree on what should be a slam dunk universal, make everyone happy at the same time kind of pick.

Everybody has their opinion on who the Lions should draft. The following is the list I hope to see in this Sunday’s sports section under Detroit Lions draft selections.

1. Eric Fisher, Tackle, Central Michigan. I would take any of the big three tackles in the 5th spot. I’m not sold that Riley Reiff is a top notch left tackle. I don’t expect the Lions to draft this high again for awhile, and this is the rarified air, top five pick, where you find franchise left tackles. They should get one while they have the opportunity to do so.

Dec 29, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive end Alex Okafor (80) sacks Oregon State Beavers quarterback Cody Vaz (14) during the second half of the Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome. Texas beat Oregon State 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

2. Alex Okafor, Defensive End, Texas. Actually there are a few names that would work for me in this slot as long as they play defensive end. Besides Okafor, I like Margus Hunt of SMU, Damontre Moore of Texas A&M and Tank Carridine of Florida State. The point is that one of the reasons you take a Fisher in the first round and not a DE is because there’s a boat-load of them available in the second round.

3. Travis Frederick, Center, Wisconsin. I know most of you probably just clicked me off your computer when you saw another offensive lineman taken by the Lions in the third round. My reasoning is: lets finish off the building of the offensive line right here and now. With Fisher and Frederick joining Reiff, Rob Sims and whoever wins the right tackle position, the Lions would be set up front in the trenches for a very long time. We will be able to run the football from now on.

4. William Gholston, Defensive End, Michigan State. I’m loading up on defensive ends. He shows promise and could be there in the fourth round. Has a bit of a temper, but isn’t that part of the job description?

5. Josh Evans, Safety, Florida. He’s a tall body that likes to mix it up. From a big time program and we need some depth here.

6. Corey Fuller, Wide Receiver, Virginia Tech. I’m only including a receiver because I know Mayhew is going to take one somewhere, so let’s hope it’s a low pick. Fuller is a tall, fast, unpolished talent. That’s what 6th round picks are.

7. Close your eyes and throw darts. If anyone can predict the seventh round of these drafts then they have way too much time on their hands.

That’s my wish list. What’s yours?

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Detroit Lions are $6.76 million under the salary cap heading into the NFL draft
Justin Rogers – MLive.com

As of Tuesday, the Lions are $6.76 million under the $123 million cap when you factor in the team’s $467,000 carryover from the 2012 season.

Included in the updated figure is a reduction of Willie Young’s second-round tender from $2.023 million to the one-year, $1.5 million deal he signed on Monday.

2013 NFL Draft: Detroit Lions Looking at Small School Cornerback
Chris Katje – Rant Sports

It’s no secret that the Detroit Lions lack depth at the cornerback position. The team re-signed veteran Chris Houston to solidify one cornerback for the 2013 NFL season. However, the team will be auditioning several unproven young cornerbacks for the other spot and backup roles. The team might be looking to the 2013 NFL Draft to make that battle more interesting.

O’Hara’s Draft Preview: Rating the defensive linemen
Mike O’Hara – DetroitLions.com

In the fourth installment of his draft preview series, Detroitlions.com columnist Mike O’Hara rates the top defensive linemen available

One more note: Legendary broadcaster and former NFL kicker Pat Summerall died yesterday. He was originally drafted by the Lions in the fourth round of the 1952 draft but played in just two games for the team before moving on to the Cardinals and Giants.

The last time the Detroit #Lions won a playoff game, Pat Summerall was on the call for CBS.

— SideLion Report(@SideLionReport) April 16, 2013

Here is a condensed version of the game.