When it comes to MLB, Rod likes Mayo
In Tom Kowalski’s latest article on the upcoming NFL draft he suggests the Leos could select a middle linebacker with their top pick.
With a little less than two weeks to go until the draft, this is the scenario the Detroit Lions might be facing with the 15th overall choice in the first round: Keith Rivers or Jerod Mayo?
This would actually be an improvement over the consensus that has suggested they’ll take Rashard Mendenhall. Given that the Lions have generally struck out when drafting offensive skill positions with their top draft picks [Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, Mike Williams and arguably Kevin Jones] and that the majority of those top picks during Millen’s reign of error have been offensive players, it would make sense to draft defense if they don’t feel they’ll be able to get a really good offensive tackle. Killer suggests all of the decent tackles will be off the board by the 15th pick.
So Kowalski thinks that Mayo is the way to go. His article is written to suggest the Lions would have to choose between Keith Rivers and Jerod Mayo but I think the general consensus is that Rivers will be off the board by the time the Lions pick. For Lions fans, the pertinent piece of information from Nicholas Cotsonika is that it’s head coach Rod Marinelli who is dictating what it is the Lions are looking for.
Draft preparation is another area in which Marinelli has taken even more responsibility.
His first year, he talked about finding football character — guys who love the game and will do anything to play. His second year, he continued to talk about it and describe what he wanted to his scouts.
But after last year’s draft, Marinelli added a visual element. He told each of his coaches to make a tape of the qualities he wanted to show the scouts.
“I show what I want,” Marinelli said. “This is what I’m looking for. … They had these certain qualities I really look for — the quickness, the feet, the balance and the want-to. I think it’s just about being a good communicator to them all the time.”
During training camp, the scouts attended team meetings every day so they could gain an even greater understanding of how Marinelli wanted the team to operate.
“You can’t expect these guys to know what you want,” Marinelli said. “You have to sit down and go over it a lot. … The more you can do that, we’re talking the same language.”
Given Millen’s abysmal draft record this can only be seen as a positive. The fewer decisions Millen is entrusted with, the better for the franchise. Now back to the point at hand: which linebacking prosect would make a better prospect for playing middle linebacker?
Assuming Rivers is available I’d go with him as he fits the defensive system. The defense obviously plays the Tampa Two and a key to this defense is having a middle-linebacker who can drop back into coverage as well as be a stopper in the run game and rush the QB. The guy who is probably the most well-known Tampa Two MLB right now is Brian Urlacher from the Chicago Bears. At 6′4″ and 260 lbs and a former safety and linebacker in college he has the skills necessary to be a force in the Tampa Two defense.
Keith Rivers has a similar background. Here are the pertinent comments from his draft profile at NFL.com:
He is very fluid in his movements when dropping back in pass coverage, so much so that the coaches even utilized him at safety in various zone coverage packages.
…
Rivers’ ability to play a variety of positions proved invaluable earlier in his career. In addition to excelling at weak-side linebacker, he was often used as a defensive end in pass rushing situations during his first two seasons with the Trojans.
At 6′3″ and 235 he is just about the perfect size to play the MLB position in the Tampa Two. He isn’t a really big MLB who can take on lead blockers really well but that’s the way the Tampa Two is designed as far as sacraficing size for speed. Let’s take a quick look at Jerod Mayo’s profile:
An athletic linebacker who made the move from outside to inside linebacker last season with spectacular results — earning first team SEC accolades in leading the conference with 140 tackles. Mayo’s speed and size may cause scouts to consider moving him back outside at the next level, but he seemed to gain more and more confidence at his new position as the season wore on, averaging 15 tackles over his final four games.
The one clear benefit to Mayo is he played MLB last season and was quite successful for the Volunteers, athough they only finished as the 69th rated team in the country in rush defense. Mayo certainly fits Millen’s preference for nice workout times, running one of the fastest 40 times amongst linebackers. But haven’t the Lions fallen sway to that siren song a few too many times?
Rivers is noted by the NFL scouting report as a hard worker and team leader and like Ernie Sims he loves to hit and dish out the punishment. But it’s a false choice between him and Mayo unless the Lions decide to bundle some picks to move up in the draft. Most mock drafts suggest Rivers will be taken by New Orleans with the #10 pick. But as Killer points out the Lions haven’t had much success when it comes to moving up in the draft.
The fact of the matter is the Lions were hoping to take Derrick Harvey in the first round but he’ll likely be gone when they pick. They were also hoping to get Mayo with their second round pick but it’s now obvious he’ll likely be gone by then. If Marinelli has decided that Mayo is the best guy for the Lions to take with their #15 pick then that’s fine. If he screws up at least we have someone new making the mistakes. As the saying goes, to continue to do the same thing and expect different results is the definitition of insanity. So not having Matt Millen pick yet another skill player with the top pick based on that player’s totally awesome combine workout stats gives us reason to believe the Lions might actually make a solid draft choice - or barring that at least show that they’ve found new ways to screw up the NFL draft.
For the Lions that’s a legitimate form of progress.
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