Rams, Lions Must Decide if Trading Down Makes Sense

We're a little less than two months away from the 2010 NFL Draft, which means it's time for everyone to start speculating what will happen at Radio City Music Hall come April 22-24.

Last week, Chris Steuber of Scout.com reported that the Rams and Bucs were discussing a trade that would ship the No. 1 pick to Tampa and the No. 3 pick to St. Louis (Rams GM Billy Devaney disputed that during a live chat, by the way). And Tuesday, NFL.com's Jason La Canfora reported that the Lions are "actively shopping" the No. 2 selection and "would be very comfortable trading down."

First off, neither rumor should come as much of a surprise, even with guys like Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy (pictured), Sam Bradford and others on the board -- teams always do their due diligence to get a full understanding of their options, regardless if there's a surefire selection there for the taking.

Trading down from the one slot makes a lot of sense for St. Louis. The Rams would have the opportunity to dangle both Suh and McCoy in front of a team desperate for defensive help, and could parlay those treasures into a first-round pick plus a QB (Josh Johnson of Tampa or Michael Vick of Philly, say). They could also drop a couple spots, still select a Bradford or Jimmy Clausen, and add a couple additional picks.

Dropping in the draft order is seemingly a more tenuous proposition for Detroit. And most of the Lions' options will hinge on what the Rams do.

The best-case scenario for Detroit, as far as generating buzz for that No. 2 slot, would be for St. Louis to stay at No. 1 and take a quarterback. This is not a great QB draft -- behind Bradford and Clausen, there's probably not a first-rounder in the bunch. But there are several teams in the market for a quarterback of the future -- Washington, Seattle and Buffalo, to name a few.

So, should the Rams knock either Bradford or Clausen off the board at No. 1, the market goes up on the other quarterback, thus amplifying Detroit's bargaining power.

But the biggest hurdle facing Detroit is its own lack of talent. Sliding to, say, Seattle's spot at No. 6 could be fine if there's a quick QB run up top. Dropping much beyond that, however, puts the Lions in position to miss out on the upper-echelon players in the 2010 Draft. And at that point, they'll have to weigh whether an additional couple picks are worth passing on a potential superstar.

There is a huge difference between dropping down to the No. 6 pick and still nabbing an Eric Berry or Joe Haden, and trading down into the middle of an uncertain first round.

That's why the Lions will walk a fine line between now and late April. All they're doing at the moment is drumming up some talk about that No. 2 pick -- a wise move; if you can start a bidding war in February, you may as well. That said, even if all the chips fall into place for the Lions, they still might not be in a position to pass on Suh or McCoy, both potentially dominant NFL defensive linemen.

It's still fun to talk about in February, though.