Down the stretch

Lions QB derby will be matter of dollars and sense

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Some time in the not too distant future, the Detroit Lions will be Joey Harrington's team. When a franchise selects a quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft, it's a simple matter of dollars and sense.

But in the brief interim, the team that gave us Greg Landry vs. Bill Munson, Gary Danielson vs. Eric Hipple, and Erik Kramer vs. Rodney Peete has spawned yet another quarterback controversy. Let the Harrington vs. Mike McMahon debate crank to life in the Motor City.

Moments after selecting Oregon's Harrington No. 3 overall, Lions president and CEO Matt Millen stood before the assembled media and -- with a straight face -- anointed McMahon the Detroit starter. It was a predictable move, even though McMahon, a 2001 fifth-round pick, effectively had his future as a Lions starter derailed on Saturday.

In the NFL, the book says you keep the pressure off a big-money, rookie quarterback as long as possible, and hope against hope that he's ready to swim when you throw him in. If he has a proven, veteran quarterback in front of him, you may be able to give him a full season of watching and learning from the sideline (a la Michael Vick and Chris Chandler last year in Atlanta).

But if a team is coming off a 2-14 last season, and has only a second-year man like McMahon atop the depth chart -- he of the 1-2 career record as a starter and modest salary -- you can safely look for the rookie to be ensconced in the lineup by Week 5 or so.

SI's Don Banks The Lions and Matt Millen got it right with Joey Harrington. Maybe in spite of themselves. I don't know about you, but in the moments just after making the selection, I didn't think the Lions second-year president and CEO looked much like a man who was thrilled to have landed the draft's consensus No. 2 quarterback with the third overall pick. Complete story, click here.

"Right now, where Mike McMahon will be is ahead of Joey Harrington," Millen said. "That's just obvious. He's going to know the system better. He's going to know the offense in and out. There's no way that Harrington can just drop right in there. Mike will have to be the guy, and it'll be a good competition. I think he's up to it. In fact, I know he is."

Know this: While Millen said he does not anticipate Harrington being his team's opening day starter, the Lions didn't make Harrington their highest-drafted quarterback since Pete Beathard went fifth overall in 1964 to concentrate heavily on McMahon's development.

Especially since Detroit hasn't had success drafting a quarterback in the first round since 1968, when the scrambling Landry was selected out of the University of Massachusetts. You remember Chuck Long (1986) and Andre Ware (1990), don't you?

"Mike McMahon will be our starter," Millen said. "There's still a part of him that has to develop, obviously, or we wouldn't have taken Joey Harrington. But that's not the point. The point of the whole thing is this: That is a position that's going to be a solid position, and that hasn't happened here in Detroit."

McMahon initially won't even hold the backup role, Millen said. That will be retained by veteran Ty Detmer, who went 1-3 as the Lions starter last season, the team's second-best mark behind McMahon's 1-2. Charlie Batch (0-9 as a 2001 starter) will be released in June, a move that was announced in February.

Harrington, who went 24-4 as Oregon's starter, with 10 fourth-quarter comeback victories, said he welcomed the challenge of having to earn rather than inherit the starting role.

"It'll be fun again," Harrington said. "That's part of football. That competition makes the team better."

But who's kidding whom? With a signing bonus that will likely be in the range of eight figures, Harrington at some point will be tossed the keys to the Lions offense whether he's completely ready or not.

"In a lot of ways, he reminds me of some of the players I've been around," Millen said. "He's not unbelievable in any one area. He's just really good in a bunch of them. And on top of that, he has the intangibles. The kid has leadership skills. The kid has presence, he's got all the things you're looking for in a quarterback.

"Are you going to find a guy with a stronger arm? Yes. Are you going to find a guy who is faster? Yes. Who can escape better? Yes. There are those people out there, but he has a good combination and he has the intangibles."

And as of about 12:40 p.m. Saturday, he has the look of being the Lions starting quarterback. Sooner rather than later.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.

 

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