Will Dorsey help Lions get their guy?

By STEVE KING

I am so interested to see what former Browns General Manager John Dorsey will do with the Detroit Lions, especially in regards to that team’s quarterback situation as the NFL Draft in Cleveland approaches in about 2½ weeks.

Dorsey, who was fired by Cleveland at the end of the 2019 season, another with the head coach he erred in hiring, Freddie Kitchens, was hired by Lions as senior personnel executive to help first-time General Manager Brad Holmes. The Lions could not have made a better move, particularly now.

Dorsey, who served as a front office consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles last season, is the most tenured member of the Lions front office, and he was the man who drafted franchise quarterbacks for first the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes and then the Browns with Baker Mayfield. Perhaps you’ve heard of those two players. Without them, neither team would be where it’s at.

Yes, Dorsey knows quarterbacks, and, just as important, he knows the value of them in playing the most important position in team sports. No rebuild really starts until the quarterback is in place, as evidenced by what happened with the Browns, and every serious Super Bowl-contending team has a great one, as evidenced by what happened with Chiefs, who were a good team stuck in the mud before Mahomes arrived.

The Lions are a rebuilding team. Never have truer words been spoken. They traded their aging, but still viable quarterback in Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams to get, among other things, young quarterback Jared Goff. Holmes and new Lions Assistant GM Ray Agnew had both been with the Rams, so, in their heart of hearts, they have to know what everyone else in the football world knows – and what I’m certain Dorsey knows – that Goff, though drafted as one by Los Angeles, is not a franchise quarterback. He is definitely not the guy. Rather, he is simply a bridge to the guy.

Detroit is picking at No. 7 in the draft. There are several other highly-rated quarterbacks available after Trevor Lawrence, the best of the lot, who will be selected first overall by new head coach Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Will the Lions somehow get one of them? You know Dorsey would love for the team to do so, which adds some appeal to the first part of the draft for fans of the Browns, who won’t make their first pick until nearly the very end of the round, at No. 26.