Stop Trying To Figure Out The Detroit Lions

"Sources" and "reports" have been saying today that the Detroit Lions are in negotiations to think about deciding who they might choose to consider maybe picking as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

The first indication that something is up is that the Lions have begun talks with the agent or agents of a potential pick or picks who might end up as the first name called on Draft Day, which is a little over a month away. They haven't identified who that person might be or if they are even limiting the negotiations to one person. One report from today said that the team has already settled on Baylor left tackle Jason Smith. That seems like a safe choice, since QB Matthew Stafford is far from a sure thing as a No. 1.

But no so fast, says ... who else ... Chris Mortensen, who told SportsCenter this morning that almost all of the Lions' focus this week is on Stafford. He said that coach Jim Schwartz has been poring over tape of all of Stafford's high school games, which I'm sure is a solid indicator of performance at the professional level. ProFootballTalk, meanwhile, says Lions don't even like Stafford and would prefer that Mark Sanchez be their quarterback, probably in much the same way that a man might prefer that his wife was a USC Song Girl.

In other words, nobody knows anything. The Lions are either brilliant (leaking multiple names to lower contract expectations) or stupid (can't make up their minds three months into the process) or some combination of the two. Heck, they could even still dump the pick or trade it for Jay Cutler, except that will never happen either.

The good news is that the Lions will get to keep the Thanksgiving Day game this year, because they are too awful to gain an advantage from it. So at least they have that going for them.

Lions have already started negotiations with their No. 1 pick [MLive] Jason Smith, OT, NFL Draft Prospect [KFFL] ProFootballTalk.com - SANCHEZ, NOT STAFFORD, THE LIONS' PICK? [PFT] Lions In Mix For Cutler [John Clayton] The buzz among insiders is that the Lions might not get a shot at Jay Cutler [MLive] Lions will host Packers on Thanksgiving [Detroit Free Press]