In my 200th blog, I look at the most recent (this morningish) trade for the Lions, and how not happy I am with it.
The Official Trade so far is:
Philadelphia Receives: LB Ernie Sims
Denver Receives: 5th Round Pick from Philly
Detroit Receives: TE Tony Scheffler, 7th Round Pick from Denver
Not bad on the surface, and Scheffler is a WMU Bronco. He is being traded because Josh McDaniels hates tight ends and won't use them in his system. Scheffler is still young and a good receiving tight end. The Lions now have 4 picks in the 7th Round of the NFL Draft. Some will probably be packaged to move up come Saturday.
What does this trade really tell us? It says the Lions don't believe Pettigrew isn't getting healthy enough and will miss time this season, which resembles Kevin Smith's knee injury. Some of this has to be because Casey Fitzsimmons sudden retirement due to concussions. Pettigrew was pretty disappointing until later in the season. I really don't know what to think of him right now. Scheffler is a good player, but he fills a need I thought we took care of. We don't need more holes than right now.
It shows even more about our defense. Sure, Ernie Sims doesn't fit the Lion's system but thats no excuse when you have consecutive last place squads. He is usually hurt but does bring something to the table. All Mayhew said was having a hole at LB is better than not having one at TE. Outside of Levy, I don't feel confident in anybody else (Dizon, Follett, Campbell, Peterson) and even Levy doesn't where he'll start. What once was a strength is now even worse. After Suh/McCoy with the second overall pick, I hoped the Lions would upgrade their sorry secondary outside of the trades they have already made. But Linebacker is just as big of need now. I just don't like this move, because at the very least, Sims could be a stopgap until we got some more pieces. If the defense doesn't get any better, the Lions won't ever sniff the playoffs.
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