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I have to admit early in last year's season I was drinking the kool aid coming out of Detroit.  I had Roy Williams on one fantasy team, and Calvin Johnson on another, and I was very, very excited about this potentially great high flying offense despite the common sense angel/devil on my should that kept telling me John Kitna was behind center.  Sure enough after some nice scoring explosions (more fantasy than real) and a nice start to the season, the Lions came back down to reality with a meager 7-9 season.  Roy Williams was a dissappointment before getting injured near the end of the year.  Calvin Johnson was a stud but was too inconsistent more due to Kitna than his own abilities.  All in all the later the season continued the worse the Lions and their Mike Martz run offense looked.  

While the Lions have kicked Martz out of Detroit (hopefully Millen soon to follow), its hard to say what they will do with their #15 pick of this draft.  The Lions have major holes at cornerback, linebacker and defenseive end.  They also could use upgrades at many positions so it will be interesting which direction they go with this pick.  They should buck the Millen trend of drafting a receiver with this valuable pick as those picks have had more tragedy than production in recent years.  The majority of experts are looking at Jeff Otay, a very talented offensive tackle coming out of Pittsburgh, but I would also keep an eye out for a corner here as there is some good talent there right now in this draft.   Whoever the pick, I think we see some nice snapshots of a great team next year, combined with long periods of the Lions being the Lions as I see too many holes for them to be a viable candidate for the playoffs this year.  But if they can continue to build on their talented young players and get a real starting quarterback some day, we might see some great things from these Lions.

Update 4/21:  The Lions have released Kevin Jones due to injury and lost TJ
Duckett to free agency meaning its very likely they are drafting a running
back early to supplant Tatum Bell at that position.

2008 Schedule

• Week 1-  Sep 7    @Atlanta    1:00pm             
• Week 2-  Sep 14    Green Bay    1:00pm             
• Week 3-  Sep 21    @San Francisco    4:05pm             
• Week 4-     BYE                  
• Week 5-  Oct 5    Chicago    1:00pm             
• Week 6-  Oct 12    @Minnesota    1:00pm             
• Week 7-  Oct 19    @Houston    4:05pm             
• Week 8-  Oct 26    Washington    1:00pm             
• Week 9-  Nov 2    @Chicago    1:00pm             
• Week 10-  Nov 9    Jacksonville    1:00pm             
• Week 11-  Nov 16    @Carolina    1:00pm             
• Week 12-  Nov 23    Tampa Bay    1:00pm             
• Week 13-  Nov 27    Tennessee    12:30pm             
• Week 14-  Dec 7    Minnesota    1:00pm             
• Week 15-  Dec 14    @Indianapolis    1:00pm             
• Week 16-  Dec 21    New Orleans    1:00pm             
• Week 17-  Dec 28    @Green Bay    1:00pm

Fantasy Top 5

1.  Roy Williams WR- Injury, Calvin Johnson, and sometimes what looked liked disinterest seemed to hurt Roy's season as he had a down year but he is still the man and as Johnson continues to improve so should Roy.

2.  Calvin Johnson WR- Nicknamed Megatron by Roy Williams, he should have another great season, especially if Roy and Johnson both stay healthy.  They have to be one of the toughest duos to cover in the NFL.

3.  Jon Kitna QB-  I hate this player but out of the remaining Lions on the team he'll have the best fantasy numbers.  This Lions defense will continue to struggle so the Lions will be playing catch up again this year and Kitna has some great targets to throw to.  His picks should also be high but most fantasy leagues don't penalize too mucc for an interception.

4.  Kevin Jones RB-  He might be a great value this draft, he was overated last year so he should fall out of the early rounds this year, but with Mike Martz gone, the Lions might run the ball a bit more.  If he's available at the right time he's wortha  risk as he is the starter and has shown some ability to run the ball in the past.

5.  Shaun MacDonald WR- Ironically last year with all the attention on Roy & Megatron, MacDonald quietly beat them both receptions, yards, and touchdowns.  This was more due to injuries than skill but I think MacDonald has another good year.  I doubt he eclipses the 2 in front of him on the depth chart, but he might be a nice option to have when those bye weeks start decimating your starting line up.

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