Lions coach Rod Marinelli seems to have much more control over the team's personnel acquisitions than his predecessors, Steve Mariucci and Marty Mornhinweg. Perhaps general manager Matt Millen has come to the realization that he's terrible at personnel decisions and would be much better served letting someone else take that job.Anyway, it's interesting to hear what Marinelli has to say about this year's draft class:
"There are maybe 5-6 really good ones. The rest of them, there are really good players deep into the second round. We're excited about it."
The Lions have the second overall pick. If the coach thinks there are five or six really good players, and then a good, deep second round, it would sure make a lot of sense for the Lions to trade down a couple of spots in the first round and pick up an extra second-round pick in the process.
And that's exactly what I think will happen. A Lions-Cardinals trade for Joe Thomas (pictured) was discussed at the Combine and is still a possibility. There's also a good chance that some team will deal with the Lions to acquire Calvin Johnson. Either way, don't expect to see the Lions picking second on draft day.
