Draftees are on their own - Ingles

Now what?

After a few days chock-full of legal decisions and labor maneuvers, the NFL managed to squeeze in a draft, which ended Saturday and put everyone back in a holding pattern when it was over.

The league officially shuttered its doors after the final player was picked. Now everyone has to wait for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the NFL's appeal of a lower-court ruling that lifted the lockout last week.
"I think everyone's frustrated across the board," Lions linebackers coach Matt Burke said.

During the three days of the draft, teams were permitted to have contact with draft-eligible players. But now everyone goes back into super-secret, double-hush-hush silent mode.

And silence isn't a good thing for the Lions' newest draft picks. They are young players concerned about missing valuable time and falling behind at the beginning of their careers.

"Right now we would have came in and probably started getting ready for the rookie minicamp," said defensive tackle Nick Fairley, the Lions' 13th overall pick. "So now that we probably won't have that -- it means a lot. Basically, like I said, I've just got to stay in shape so when camp rolls around I won't have to worry about getting in shape."

Fairley plans to work out at an athletic performance center in Houston. Running back Mikel Leshoure, a second-round pick from Illinois, plans to work out his alma mater or in Chicago.

"As a running back, fortunately for us I feel like that's one of the positions that you can get thrown in and be productive," Leshoure said. "I mean, you definitely need to know your plays and your blocking scheme and how to pick up protection. But as far as being able to step up and play on the next level, I feel like running back is probably one of the more easier positions. It's definitely going to be a setback for all rookies, especially."

Lions coach Jim Schwartz expressed more patience than panic about losing contact with his players.

"It's a concern for everybody, but we have to deal with it," he said.

Schwartz almost exuded a Zen-like calmness about the situation. He said playbooks haven't even been printed, and he didn't feel pressure to cram his draftees full of game film and notes without any follow-up.

"Our blood pressure's pretty low on that," Schwartz said. "We don't want to rush things. You can give somebody a set of instructions without being able to communicate with them. It really might not do a whole lot of good. We haven't done a whole lot."

Schwartz said the best thing draftees could do would be to stay in shape so that they can concentrate on football when they return. As for coaches, Schwartz's staff will begin their normal early season preparation.

"We have a schedule," he said. "We open with Tampa Bay. We have Kansas City right after that. We're a little bit familiar with Tampa Bay from playing them late in the season. But Kansas City's a new opponent for us.

"We'll work on some teams from early in the year. You generally do that this time of year anyway. That'll be something that we can put our focus on." This article was written by Carlos Monarrez and appeared in The Detroit Free Press.