Three draft picks from Dallas -- including a first-rounder -- for Roy Williams? Great deal, if the Lions can make it work.
"Oh, I think Dallas overpaid," Fox studio analyst Jimmy Johnson said in a telephone interview. "But having said that, I've always liked Roy Williams, and I think he's going to be productive down there in that offense.
"The key for Detroit is, what are you going to do with those picks? ... We'll have to wait and see what Detroit does with that 1 and that 3 and that 6."
Johnson and Jerry Jones got help restocking the Cowboys, from that huge Herschel Walker trade 19 years ago with Minnesota. So Johnson knows what to do with a fistful of draft picks.
"In all probability, you would go with the best player available, but I think you have to reach in a couple areas," Johnson said. "No. 1, you've got to have a quarterback. Not necessarily a superstar, franchise quarterback, but you've got to have a winning quarterback. Then you can start putting all the rest of the team together."
Then Johnson said he'd go defensive lineman, shutdown corners and later on running backs, receivers and offensive linemen.
But right here, right now, the Lions have to focus on their 11 remaining games, starting Sunday at Houston (4:05 p.m., Fox). How easy is that, with both the trade and no Jon Kitna sending wait-till-next-year signals?
"That's no different from once you're eliminated from the (playoff race), you still go out there and play and try to win," Johnson said.
"Those players understand there probably are going to be some changes. How productive they are in this situation may determine their future, with this franchise or somewhere else. And the same thing about the coaching staff."
Not to mention, a win's still a win.
"You know, if you're 0-5 or you're 0-8, it doesn't take away from the excitement of winning a ballgame," Johnson said. "I went through one of those things where we won one ballgame, and I was as excited as anyone in pro football when we beat Washington for my one win my first year in the league."
So, given the similar experiences and all that's gone on -- including the firing of Howie Long's boy, Matt Millen -- can the Lions expect a little sympathy from the Fox guys the rest of the way?
"I think we've been actually pretty easy on them this year," Johnson said. "We've been hard on the Lions in the past, but they deserved it. ...
"Howie and Matt, they're really close and we kind of gig him about that. But truth be known, we're all friends with Matt. I like Matt as much as anybody."
What would Mean Joe do?
What are they doing to that old game of ours, Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu wants to know, with all the recent league fines for roughness to his teammates and others?
"I think ... it's becoming more and more flag football, two-hand touch," he told ESPN.com, adding football "just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game."
Why, back in the day ...
"When you see guys like Dick Butkus, the Ronnie Lotts, the Jack Tatums, these guys really went after people," Polamalu said. "Now, they couldn't survive in this type of game. They wouldn't have enough money."
BREAKDOWN: Lions trade Roy Williams to Dallas for draft picks
The Lions have traded wide receiver Roy Williams to Dallas for three draft picks.
The Cowboys announced that the Lions will get Dallas' first-, third- and sixth-round picks in the next draft. The Lions will give up Williams and their seventh-round pick in the next draft.
The Cowboys also have reworked Williams' contract, according to a source in Dallas.
For months, the Lions had said they are not shopping Williams. As recently as Monday, general manager Martin Mayhew said he had not made calls about Williams and had told Williams that.
But the Lions have always maintained that they would listen to offers for Williams, as they would any other player, and Mayhew allowed Monday that a “very interesting” offer could get a deal done.
The NFL trade deadline was 4 p.m.
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