Jeff Backus was the first draft pick of the Matt Millen era in Detroit, and he has started every game at left tackle for the Lions since then. So it's appropriate that as the Lions prepare to move on from the Millen disaster, they may be moving on from Backus.For now, Lions coach Jim Schwartz is saying he likes Backus and plans to keep him in place. But as it becomes apparent that the Lions are looking at left tackles with the first pick in the draft, Schwartz is leaving room for the possibility that Backus could get moved to guard.
The Detroit News quotes Schwartz saying that Backus won't get any time at guard during the team's first off-season minicamp:
The News speculates that Backus won't move to guard even if the Lions draft a tackle, but I disagree. I think Backus has been a consistently mediocre left tackle during his NFL career, and you can turn a consistently mediocre left tackle into a pretty good guard. If the Lions draft a left tackle, I think that's what they'll try to do with Backus. Which is why Schwartz is leaving himself the wiggle room of saying Backus won't play anything other than left tackle "before the draft.""I would be very surprised if we saw Backus as anything other than a left tackle before the draft," he said. "That doesn't mean that you don't draft a left tackle."
