Mayhew Says Lions More Cautious Since 2011 About Background Of Prospects
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew acknowledged at the owners meetings in March that he was "overly aggressive" in the 2011 draft, one in which the Lions selected defensive tackle Nick Fairley in the first round and running back Mikel Leshoure and wide receiver Titus Young in the second round.
At the owners meetings, Mayhew left his comment open to interpretation. Friday at his pre-draft press conference, Mayhew suggested he had been too aggressive in terms of prioritizing talent over character.
"I think we have been, since 2011, more cautious in terms of our sources and the people that we're talking to and finding out the best information that we can find out," Mayhew said Friday.
"I just think the research on those guys is greatly important and the sources that you talk to and where you get your information and if you trust the information that you end up getting," Mayhew continued. "So we try to make sure that the information that we get on guys is accurate, up-to-date, and we get multiple sources, but that's probably the only thing that's really changed."
Young, Leshoure and Fairley all had red flags in their backgrounds before Detroit drafted them, and all three ran into problems during their time with the Lions. Fairley lasted the longest, departing only this offseason as a free agent, but the spring of 2012 he was arrested twice in a span of two months, once for marijuana possession and once for DUI.
Earlier that same year, Leshoure was arrested twice in the span of about a month for marijuana possession. The team eventually released him before the 2014 season. Young, who'd had behavioral issues previously and has gotten in legal trouble since, sucker-punched safety Louis Delmas during a 2012 practice and was let go before the 2013 season.
The experience the Lions had with those players will not preclude the team from considering players who have character issues, but Mayhew said those type of players will be thoroughly discussed at multiple levels of the organization.
"There are situations where there are a few guys that I may describe to our ownership group and with [team president] Tom Lewand and [head coach] Jim [Caldwell] and we'll talk about their individual situation," Mayhew said. "I think it's difficult to just put guys in categories and say, 'This guy is a DUI guy,' or 'This guy is a drug guy' or 'This guy is ...' whatever. I think you have to talk about every person's individual situation and where they are in that process.
"So there are occasionally guys that we have some discussion about if those are guys that we want to add to our franchise," Mayhew continued. "That's part of the process."
