Lions Send Pre-Draft Visit List to Rest of League

When it comes to disclosing which 2011 NFL Draft prospects are visiting their facility, the Detroit Lions have been one of the more forthcoming teams during a period typically known as "Liar's Month".

In recent weeks, the Lions have revealed the identities of nine of the 30 non-local prospects they're allowed to meet with at their facility.

Teams usually try to keep those visits as quiet as possible, but Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reports that instead of sending their pre-draft visit list to the league office, the Lions emailed their list of visits to all 31 teams.

Whoops.

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz downplayed the need for secrecy at the league meetings in New Orleans.

"The fact is, everybody in the league knows (whom we're bringing in)," Schwartz said according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "So if everybody in the league knows, it really doesn't matter. And if it's interesting for the fans, then I'm all for it."

As I've noted on here before, identifying pre-draft visits and which teams attend which pro days is intriguing for draft analysts and, as Schwartz notes, fun for fans, but they're often used as smokescreens and may not indicate much in terms of a team's draft strategy.

While the report of the Lions emailing their list of visits--which apparently wasn't a complete list, but a list of who has visited--to the league seems embarrassing, it would be naive to think that the other 31 teams wouldn't have found out who was on that list anyway. Whether it was through their own personnel sources, the agents of the players they're hosting, the players they're hosting, or a friendly source in the league office, teams have a pretty good idea of which player is visiting which teams.

Visits the Lions Have Publicly Disclosed

RB, DeMarco Murray (Oklahoma)
RB, Mikel Leshoure (Illinois)
WR, Torrey Smith (Maryland)
C/G, Mike Pouncey (Florida)
DE, Aldon Smith (Missouri)
DE, Cameron Jordan (Cal)
DE, Greg Romeus (Pittsburgh)
LB, Bruce Carter (North Carolina)
CB, Prince Amukamara (Nebraska)

source:  Mac's Football Blog
Posted by Brian McIntyre