FanHouse CalvinJohnson

Multiple sources are reporting that Jacksonville has agreed to send wide receiver Dennis Northcutt to Detroit in exchange for safety Gerald Alexander.

The Jaguars were rumored to be shopping Northcutt recently -- a notion confirmed by Northcutt's agent (who, incidentally, is also Alexander's agent). The 31-year-old receiver is scheduled to make $2.75 million in 2009. But it was the presence of rookies Jarret Dillard, Mike Thomas and Tiquan Underwood, along with the free-agent signing of Torry Holt, that made Northcutt expendable for Jacksonville.

In fact, despite his 44 catches for 545 yards last season, the Jags were prepared to release Northcutt if a trade partner could not be found.

The Detroit Lions, who haven't won a football game since 2007, just wrapped up their final minicamp of the offseason. There's a lot that's new about them, including offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who was good enough to return FanHouse's phone call on Thursday afternoon and answer some questions about the way the team looks to him so far.

Linehan, the former head coach of the St. Louis Rams, addressed the quarterback competition between top draft pick Matthew Stafford and veteran Daunte Culpepper, had very high praise for rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew and called himself a longtime admirer of new Lions head coach Jim Schwartz. He also spoke of the challenge of coming in as part of a new coaching staff on a team that only has to win one game to call 2009 an improvement over 2008.

When you go a whole season without winning a game, it's hard to fault people who don't want to watch you play anymore. So rather than grumble about losing season ticketholders, the Detroit Lions are doing something about it. The team sent e-mails to about 6,000 former season ticketholders a few weeks ago, inviting them to attend Wednesday's minicamp session. A few of them took the team up on it and attended workouts.

"I think it's important for them just to reconnect with the team," new coach Jim Schwartz said. "There have been a lot of changes since they had season tickets. I want them to see the direction that we're taking. I think if you watch practice, you can see sort of the philosophies that we're going to have and you see a lot of different faces and you need to get reacquainted with your team. There's so much turnover."

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

The NFL never really has an offseason, even if there are no games for nearly seven months of the year. But the 2009 season officially gets underway when training camps start in six weeks. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, drafted No. 1 overall by the Detroit Lions, took time out from his day job to join Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson on HouseCast.

Stafford talks about the inspiration behind his Upper Deck end zone celebration, what it means to have the weight of the Motor City on his shoulders, his thoughts on Denver drafting his college teammate Knowshon Moreno 12th overall, the awesomeness that is Calvin Johnson, as well as the truly important stuff: his partnership with AXE Hair.

Matthew even gives us his U.S. Open prediction because, well, that's what guys with great hair do. Click below to listen.

Sure, it may be a little early for most normal people to start thinking fantasy football draft, but for us derelict diehards, keeping abreast on the developments of the offseason can provide peace of mind and an advantage in watching things progress as we head into the summer. While the news coming out of the NFL these days is far overshadowed by two wildly entertaining playoff series, there are some pretty critical players to keep an eye on.

A small handful of elite fantasy stars are in the midst of a serious value conundrum. On one hand, they provide an opportunity to nab otherwise surefire first-rounders on the cheap, but not without taking on big-time risk. It is question of "how far do we let them drop before it is critical to pull the trigger?"

Steve Young has been where Matthew Stafford is going, and he has some advice for the kid: Good luck.

"You have to be a really unique person, not player, but person," Young told FanHouse on Friday. "You can be a phenomenal player, but you have to have an iron stomach. It's not going to be easy for him."

Before Young earned his spot in the Hall of Fame with the 49ers, he struggled trying to be the savior for the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, Stafford, the No. 1 pick in last month's draft, finds himself in that spot with the Detroit Lions.

With the first pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions surprised nobody by inking a deal with the former Georgia Bulldog quarterback, Matthew Stafford. Long before the draft began at 4 pm this afternoon, Detroit and Stafford agreed on Friday night to a six-year deal worth $78 million with $41.7 million guaranteed.

While most young quarterbacks might be tempted to pull the Elway and start singing, "I gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing I ever do," Stafford, on the contrary, seems genuinely excited to be a Lion and up to the challenge of turning this team around under his leadership. This, combined with a pretty savvy contract by the Lions that puts a lot of that $78 million in incentives based on playing time, looks like a recipe for success. So, the question remains, does Matt Stafford have fantasy value for the upcoming season in Detroit as a rookie?

The Lions have the first overall pick of the 2009 Draft. This is the reward for going 0-16. Perhaps former team president Matt Millen's biggest accomplishment is that never during his misguided eight-year tenure did Detroit have the first selection. It seems almost impossible in retrospect.

On three occasions the Lions chose second (Joey Harrington in 2002; Charles Rogers in '03; Calvin Johnson in '07), but by the time Millen finally got it right with Johnson it was too late, the team was too far gone.

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In the massively daunting project that is rebuilding the Detroit Lions' roster, there are going to be some moves that earn marquee billing -- trading for Julian Peterson was one, drafting No. 1 will be another. Those big-ticket moments will be the centerpieces of Detroit's quest to achieve respectability, or at least less-embarrassing mediocrity.

But while the Lions work hard to find some top-level talent, their ability to round out the roster with quality players may be just as important. So far this offseason, new Detroit general manager Martin Mayhew has done a solid job at that task. Mayhew's latest moves had Detroit inking wide receiver Ronald Curry and fullback Terrelle Smith to one-year deals.

Maybe drafting Matthew Stafford would be a total success for Detroit. Maybe it would be an unmitigated disaster. There's just no way to know for sure how things will work out. It's a total crapshoot -- so the Lions should put the dice down, pick their money up and cash in whatever chips they hold in exchange for Denver quarterback Jay Cutler.