May 22, 2013; Allen Park, MI, USA; Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz during organized team activities at Lions training facility. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Lions wrapped up their offseason program with yesterday’s close of minicamp. Players can still use team facilities if they would like, but the team is officially on summer break for the next five to six weeks. The next time the team formally assembles it will be for the start of training camp.

This marks an important time for the Lions and each player has just one task: staying out of trouble. Dave Birkett had a little about Jim Schwartz’s closing remarks to his team yesterday:

But when Jim Schwartz said good-bye to his players Thursday, very little of his message was a reminder to stay trouble-free.

“It was more about where you guys are as a team, I like your attitude,” receiver Nate Burleson said. “I think he was just saying nobody’s running around here cocky, but we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves, either. We’re working in a very highly competitive atmosphere, and he loves what he’s seeing.”

Staying out of trouble may not have been Schwartz’s main message, but ‘very little’ is still some.

At this point Schwartz may not even need to say much. Some players, Stephen Tulloch in particular, admitted that the offseason shenanigans of a year ago played a part in the team’s disappointing 2012 season. It would seem likely team leaders would be intent on delivering the message that a repeat is not acceptable.

Perhaps Nick Fairley had some words of advice for his younger teammates. Fairley experienced his fair share of trouble but has since been a good citizen, showing more maturity on and off the field. I would bet Fairley wishes he did a few things differently earlier in his career and would like to see others avoid his mistakes.

The NFL is king of the news cycle, but for the next month and a half, the Detroit Lions will look to stay out of the news.

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.

Photo credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Today we take a look at how Stephen Tulloch performed during the 2012 season with a little help from the fine folks at Pro Football Focus.

The radar chart below shows the Pro Football Focus grades for Tulloch and compares him to the best, worst and league average ratings for all inside linebackers who played at least 25% of his team’s snaps. PFF grades each player on each play to produce a massively useful tool for evaluating the totality of a player’s season compared to others at his position.

2012 Season Review
If you simply look at season stats you would think that Stephen Tulloch’s 2012 season was essentially identical to his fine 2011 season that earned him a long-term deal from the Lions last offseaon. But fans that watched every game probably noticed that Tulloch wasn’t as impactful, or at least as consistently impactful, as he was a year ago. This is where a resource like Pro Football Focus is so helpful. They gave Tulloch a +13.3 overall rating (sixth best) for the 2011 season but that rating fell to -5.8 (35th best) this past season. Of particular concern is the rating swing against the run where Tulloch went from a +5.9 to a -6.0.

Offseason Plan
Tulloch is entering year two of a five-year deal and will be the Lions starting linebacker. As long as he can get back to stopping the run like he has through his career until 2012, the Lions don’t have much to worry about. What they may need to worry about is depth behind Tulloch. The Lions don’t have another true middle linebacker on their roster, instead showing a preference for outside linebacker types that can fill in in the middle if needed. The Lions unofficial depth chart listed Ashlee Palmer and Travis Lewis as Tulloch’s backups – one or both of whom will have an opportunity for a starting outside linebacker job depending on what happens with DeAndre Levy and Justin Durant. The Lions coaching staff will need to make sure that the focus on the OLB position battle doesn’t leave them in the lurch should Tulloch suffer an injury.

Previously: Wide Receivers, Offensive Tackles, Guards, Center, Tight Ends, Quarterback, Running Backs, Outside Linebackers

*Those that have been around the Detroit Lions blogosphere for a while may recognize the approach presented as similar to Ty Schalter’s ‘Old Mother Hubbard’ series on The Lions in Winter. Don’t worry, he’s cool with what I’m doing here and has assured me that he’ll be back with Old Mother Hubbard later in the offseason.