The high price of being number 1

Or at least the high price of being the wrong type of number 1. It is nearly time for the NFL draft so this will likely take up more of my blogging time. I did find an interesting article by ESPN's John Clayton talking about time to fix rookie salary structure which explains why having a high draft pick will cripple already bad teams. I specifically want to call out:

To draft Baylor left tackle Jason Smith, Detroit probably must commit more than $11.5 million a year. To draft Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, the Lions might have to offer $13 million a year or higher because quarterbacks drafted near the top of the draft receive premium deals.

This is so painful and for that reason it cannot be traded. The only thing that could make it worse is if we have this and next year this problem is fixed leaving Detroit with 7 years of crap that no one else will ever have to.