Detroit Negotiating Already?

It seems as though Detroit is already in contract talks with who they want to select first overall in the upcoming 2009 Draft. The only question is, who is it? It really can be a wealth of different players but the general consensus is that it'll either be Jason Smith, OT from Baylor, Eugene Monroe, OT from Virginia, Aaron Curry, LB from Wake Forest, Matt Stafford, QB from Georgia, Mark Sanchez, QB from Southern California or B.J. Raji, DT from Boston College.

Mlive.com reports that "The talks are only preliminary and the real target has yet to be identified, but the Detroit Lions are already in the process of negotiating a contract with their first-round draft pick." So though this probably doesn't mean much as of right now, the picture will probably crystallize more clearly in the coming days and it could very well be known who the Lions will be taking.

With a wealth of needs at essentially every position it makes this pick very hard to guess but I think the aforementioned prospects are the most likely as they are the best of the best in terms of talent and should be able to become a face of the franchise. My personal opinion is that the selection is going to be in the trenches and that either Monroe, Smith or Raji will be the pick and I think Raji becomes even more important as Corey Redding was dealt away for Julian Peterson and Schwartz would probably love a big dude clogging the middle like he had with Haynesworth in Tennessee.

Either way, should be interesting and keep checking back for more info.

-Matty