SideLion Report » Julian Peterson

The Detroit Lions Then and Now: Linebackers

Zac Snyder — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:00:02 +0000

Then and Now is a SideLion Report mini-series in which we look at each position group from the 0-16 season of 2008 and compare it to the current roster.

Our look back at the historically bad defense of ’08 concludes with the linebackers. Remember when Ernie Sims was supposed to be a playmaker? How did that work out? If you don’t remember, go ask a Philadelphia Eagles fan. He isn’t working out for them either. Sims was the closest thing the 2008 Lions had to a linebacker that the team could build with and the fact that Paris Lenon had his most productive years while playing in Detroit speaks for itself. Here are the linebacker stats from 2008:

			Def Interceptions				Fumbles				Tackles
	G	Sk	Int	Yds	TD	PD	FF	Fmb	FR	TD	Tkl ▾	Ast
Paris Lenon	16	1.5	0	0	0	3	2	0	2	0	81	40
Ernie Sims	16	1.0	0	0	0	1					72	41
Ryan Nece	16	1.5	1	18	0	4					38	23
Alex Lewis	11						1	0	1	0	15	9
Jordon Dizon	12						0	0	1	0	12	12
Anthony Cannon	9						0	0	1	0	1	3
Team Total	16	28.0	4	16	0	46	22	31	33	1	714	299

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/29/2011.

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Detroit Lions NFL Draft Countdown: 49 Days

Zac Snyder — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:30:38 +0000

Join us each day as we count down towards the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. The countdown runs from 50 to zero and the number of days remaining will inspire the post for that day. Think of this as your NFL draft paper chain that loses one link each day!

49 days remain until the first round of the 2011 NFL draft. Tasked with using the number 49 to inspire this edition of the countdown, it came to mind how the Lions’ situation with Zack Follett (jersey number 49!) could shape the upcoming draft.

Follett entered the 2010 season as a starting outside linebacker opposite Julian Peterson. The former seventh round draft pick was an impact player on special teams the year before and was given an opportunity to show what he could do as a regular member of the defense.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Decade of Detroit Lions Drafts

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:00:49 +0000

Detroit Lions fans were in draft mode immediately following the win over the Minnesota Vikings in week 17. A four game winning streak has done that for all of us Lions addicts. Who else can we get to come in here? There has been a lot of talk since the end of the season about who the Lions should grab in the draft to help rebuild this team. I thought it would be interesting to take a peek at the last ten years of the draft from a Lions perspective to determine who the best picks and the worst picks have been, round by round.

Being that Matt Millen was doing the drafting for the majority of this time it should come as no surprise that the list of “worst” picks is considerably longer then the list for “best” picks. In some cases the “best” pick wasn’t a very good player or didn’t turn out to be a good player. In some cases the “best” pick might have been a great pick but just didn’t pan out. This list demonstrates just how good or bad a pick can be. We start with round seven and work our way to round one.

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