The Dre' Bly trade

I withheld my intial reaction to the Lions moving Bly to Denver. My first thoughts were mixed, Bly has always been solid for us, but never really great. Tatum Bell ran up some good yardage totals in Denver last year, but didn't seem to be their goal line back of choice. Kevin Jones' rehab isn't going well though. So a good RB that can get you 1,000+ yards is a good choice right now. The lions also shore up their right tackle spot with the move by picking up George Foster, who was a first round pick in 2003(20th overall). The Lions also wrangled a 5th round pick in this year's draft from Denver.

The more I mull this trade over, the more I like it. And, the biggest reason why I like it is not because of who or what the Lions get in exchange for Bly, but more for what it will allow the Lions to do on draft day. Now that they don't need to worry about Wisconsin OT Joe Thomas, who the Lions didn't really want to take with the #2 pick anyway they can deal that pick away and trade down in the draft. Detroit could swap with Arizona who could use a guy like Joe Thomas till bolster their offensive line. It looks like the Lions are trying to make a move for MSU QB Drew Stanton, so they may try to use the #2 overall pick to get back in the draft late in the first round and grab Stanton, and drafting down to 5th overall may help them do that. The chances are good though that Stanton will still be there in the second round where Detroit gets 2nd pick again.

I think all of this looks good, almost like the front office has some sort of a plan on a way to make the team younger. Lets hope they really do this time. Because simply picking the best WR on paper every year in the draft hasn't gotten us anywhere.