Without Matt Millen, Lions Front Office Actually Takes Draft Preparations Seriously

When Mlive.com's Tom Kowalski writes that the Martin Mayhew -- the chap burdened with the impossible task of being less competent than Matt Millen -- is taking draft preparations seriously some five months before Roger Goodell starts reading names off a sheet of paper, pretty much tells you all you need to know about why the Lions are annually the worst team in football.

Millen had no business running a team (in case that wasn't obvious, the careers of Charles Rogers and Mike Williams confirm as much) and even though Mayhew is only the interim general manager, he has a chance to show he's capable of handling the full-time gig. (And when I say "handling" I mean in the conventional sense; not in the "Matt Millen shows up for work to catch up on his sleep" sense.)

The Lions have made no changes to their scouting staff, but have adjusted how the department collects and processes information on players.

What's interesting is that Mayhew isn't just issuing the marching orders, he's doing a lot of the legwork himself. While he's not doing the job of the scouts on the ground, he has been visiting a lot of schools and getting a first-hand look at some of the college players.

According to two different Lions officials, Mayhew has done more in-season traveling this year than former president Matt Millen did in his seven years on the job combined.

I should be shocked, awed, but then i remembered that the Lions won 31 games during Millen's reign of terror. But as Kowalski points out, it's important the team gets it right; they'll probably have the first-overall pick, and four selections in the top 65. Oh, and this is expected to be one of the deepest drafts in recent memory.

Lions fans certainly have reason to be skeptical, but, at the very least, this is a move in the right direction. Now if Detroit takes a wide receiver with any of those top four picks, well, they deserve whatever fate has in store for them.