ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions' biggest need is talent.
Ndamukong Suh and Jahvid Best seem to have a lot of it.
Detroit added skill on both sides of the ball Thursday night, making Suh the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, then trading up to take speedy running back Best at No. 30.
"We're addressing positions, not just with Band-Aids, but plugging them pretty good," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said.
Suh, a Heisman Trophy finalist from Nebraska, became the first defensive tackle to be drafted among the top two picks since the Oakland Raiders took Darrell Russell in 1997. Suh said he isn't worried about the lackluster track record of similar players at his position taken high in the draft.
"I'm a different type of person," Suh said on a conference call with reporters.
Suh, who's 6-foot-4 and 307 pounds, was the first defensive player to win The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year award since its inception in 1998. He had 4.5 sacks against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game and finished with 12 sacks for the season.
"He's not just a one-year wonder," Schwartz said. "He's strong. He's good versus the run. He's good versus the pass. He's very intelligent."
The Lions made an aggressive move to grab Best late in the first round, dealing their second-round pick, flipping fourth-round selections and giving up one in the seventh round to the Minnesota Vikings.
"If we didn't get him, I was just praying he didn't go to Green Bay, Minnesota or Chicago," Schwartz said.
Best ran for 2,668 yards, caught 62 passes and scored 35 total touchdowns at California.
Domination personified
Mike Mayock: You must understand that Ndamukong Suh makes the Lions better on all levels. This is a kid who will be stout against the run and will push the pocket against the pass. And the single most dominant college football game I've ever seen in my life was this kid in the Big 12 Championship Game against Texas: 12 tackles (seven for loss) and 4.5 sacks. I've never seen anything like it.
"He's lighting in a bottle," Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said.
Detroit has many voids as the first team in NFL history to lose 30 games in two seasons and its biggest gaps are on defense. The Lions allowed 517 points, the second-most in a season, in 2008 and 494 last season, ranking fourth-worst in NFL history.
"I'm a guy who can help that defensive unit out tremendously," Suh said.
The Portland, Ore., native graduated with a construction management degree and plans to donate $2.6 million to his alma mater.
"Great player -- better person," Mayhew said.
Detroit has done a lot this offseason, trying to improve after winning twice last season following the NFL's first 0-16 campaign. The defensive line received special attention, with the Lions signing end Kyle Vanden Bosch and trading for tackle Corey Williams before choosing Suh.
"We have the makings of a strong unit that can be the strength of our defense," Schwartz said.
Detroit drafted quarterback Matthew Stafford No. 1 overall last year and have tried to help him by signing wide receiver Nate Burleson and trading for tight end Tony Scheffler and guard Rob Sims.
Best, who is from Vallejo, Calif., was regarded as a contender for the Heisman Trophy entering last season. His season and status were affected by a history of concussions.
"If it hadn't been for that time he landed on his head, we wouldn't probably be talking about him at this point of the draft," Schwartz said.
Best will be expected to fill in for Kevin Smith as he recovers from major knee surgery, but he has some health issues to bounce back from as well.
Best was hurt in a terrifying sequence Nov. 8, leaping into the end zone for a touchdown and landing on the back of his head from about 8 feet in the air. Best was unconscious after the fall and left the field on a stretcher, leading to an overnight stay at a hospital and the end of his season. It was his second concussion in as many weeks.
"He's been cleared, and our doctors said he's fine," Mayhew said.
The Lions figure they're due for some good fortune after enduring an awful start to the century.
They're 33-111 since 2001 -- when ex-GM Matt Millen turned a lackluster franchise into perhaps the worst -- in what has been the poorest nine-season stretch by an NFL team since World War II. They've won just three games since midway through the 2007 season in what has been the worst 40-game stretch since the Dayton Triangles were slightly less successful during the 1920s.
"It doesn't bother me at all," Suh said. "I went to Nebraska when they were not coming off a very good season and our class turned that around, winning 10 games for the first time in eight or nine years. I think I can come in and help the Detroit Lions do the same thing."
Many poor picks in the draft, usually ignoring defense until later rounds, went a long way toward the Lions making unwanted history.
Only one of Detroit's previous 12 first-round picks played defense and that player was just dealt: The Lions selected linebacker Ernie Sims with the ninth pick in the 2006 draft and traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this week for Scheffler in a three-team trade that also involved the Denver Broncos.
A vast majority of Detroit's first-round picks have been busts or simply average, and so have most of the defensive tackles taken with the No. 1 or 2 pick overall in the draft.
Russell played in just five seasons and played in two Pro Bowls -- an accomplishment that Tony Casillas, Steve Niehaus and Mike McCoy can't claim after being drafted second overall. Pro Football Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen, drafted No. 2 in 1962, was arguably the last defensive tackle to have a stellar career.
Defensive tackles drafted first overall haven't panned out, either, since Buck Buchanan was picked in 1963 and had a strong career afterward. Dan Wilkinson, Steve Emtman, Russell Maryland, Kenneth Sims and Walt Patulski all struggled to earn stardom as No. 1 overall picks, playing in a combined total of one Pro Bowl.
Mayhew doesn't sound concerned about the history of defensive tackles taken in the top two.
"It's not my concern at all," Mayhew said. "You have to believe what you see on film."
The Lions watched a lot of it, evaluating whether to draft Suh, Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy or perhaps Tennessee safety Eric Berry or an offensive tackle. The Lions' staff took advantage of coaching at the Senior Bowl and of every opportunity to find out more about the prospects as players and people.
They settled on Suh.
"It was a long process and we kept an open mind," Schwartz said. "Every step along the way, he was the best player on our draft board."
Suh was the players fans wanted, too, especially the few thousand cheering from Ford Field when the pick was made.
"I plan on not disappointing them at all," Suh said.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
