Apr 26, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (left) announces Iowa tackle Riley Reiff (not pictured) as the Lions 23rd overall selection as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (right) looks on during the 2012 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-US PRESSWIRE

Did you enjoy last night’s show? I did and the good news is we get to do it all over again tonight. This time we have the benefit of taking a deep breath with a pick already in the fold and taking a look at the draft from a new perspective.

The Lions have their left tackle of the future, what will day two have in store for the Honolulu blue and silver? Here are a couple things to watch for as rounds two and three unfold:

• The Janoris Jenkins effect. He has all the talent in the world but character concerns knocked him out of the first round. With three of the first 13 picks in the second round, the St. Louis Rams seem like a natural landing place for Jenkins where he could play under Cortland Finnegan. Where he goes will give a good indication of just how seriously NFL teams took his character concerns into account. If his slide continues well into the second round then the Lions would be wise to take the gamble. Adding a first-round talent at a position of need has to be attractive, no matter the risk.
• Barring a trade the Lion will make two selections tomorrow. The offense is in good shape, especially with Reiff already in the draft class, so it would seem that the Lions should be solely focused on the defensive side of the ball on day two. Courtney Upshaw, Andre Branch, Zach Brown and Vinny Curry are defensive players (in addition to Janoris Jenkins) that would be good value picks in round two.
• The one wild card that could interrupt the Lions run on defensive players could be Oregon running back LaMichael James. The Lions missed the dimension Jahvid Best brings to the offense when his season ended as a result of a concussion and adding James to the roster would be good insurance against future injury problems for Best. Jim Schwartz made the trip to Eugene, OR for the Oregon pro day – that kind of effort signals that the Lions’ interest is legitimate. If he’s still available when the Lions get on the clock in the third round, look out.

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The FanSided Network is proud to introduce Draft Pulse, an innovating way to look at the NFL Draft. It isn’t about predicting what will happen, per se, it’s about listening to the masses. From the Draft Pulse “about” section:

We are tracking all of the prospects in the 2012 Combine / Draft across multiple media. Every time a prospect is mentioned in context with an NFL team a relationship is created.

Not all “mentions” are positive and Draft Pulse understand that:

Finally we are doing some sentiment analysis on every mention to generate a media reception indicator. This gives you an idea of an overall positive or negative perception.

What players are generating a lot of buzz as far as the Lions are concerned?

Janoris Jenkins leads the way with over 600 connections between him and the Lions recorded by Draft Pulse. Dre Kirkpatrick comes in second with 410 while LaMichael James is a surprise number three with 380. James won’t be a player for the Lions at 23rd overall but the strong buzz suggests he could be at target on day two. Mike Adams (259 connections), Stephon Gilmore (244), Jonathan Martin (205) and Whitney Mercilus (181) round out the list of first round options with strong ties to the Lions.

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Up early in Detroit weather is great…

— LaMichael James (@LaMichaelJames) March 21, 2012

With Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure expected to return to the team in full health and the Lions working to bring Kevin Smith back to the team, would they draft LaMichael James?

It would certainly be in Martin Mayhew’s style to do so if James was available at a spot that the Lions considered the value to be too high to pass up. The Lions interest has to be considered real beyond just having him in for a visit. Jim Schwartz personally attended the Oregon Pro Day last week – he and Marvin Lewis were the only head coaches named in the report on NFL.com.

The Pro Day performance was considered a good one for James, here are some of his comments following the workout:

A lot remains to be seen how the rest of the draft process plays out and whether or not LaMichael James is ever in a position where the Lions like his value. Fans would also be wise to remember that the team expressed no interest in Jahvid Best leading up to the 2010 draft because they liked him so much and didn’t want other teams to know of their interest. It would seem that using the opposite strategy with James is possible but not probable considering the time invested in having Schwartz make the trip to Oregon.

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