In troubled Detroit, this GM has a future

During his playing career and beyond, Martin Mayhew accomplished a great deal. He was a steady, undersized cornerback at Florida State and in the NFL for nine seasons, including four with the Washington Redskins. He dispelled doubts, overcame limitations and wound up with a Super Bowl ring and a law degree. He climbed the organizational ladder.

Compared with his current job, all that was a snap. Mayhew is in his first year without the interim tag as the Detroit Lions’ general manager, and he faces a task more daunting and complex than shutting down a receiver or studying civil procedure.

He must fix the worst team in the NFL.

The Lions were historically inept last season, the first club to go 0-16. They are 0-2 this year. Going back to 2007, Detroit has lost 19 straight games while playing in the league’s most economically depressed city. The Lions are one of eight NFL franchises that declined in value from last season, according to Forbes.

Mayhew, who turns 44 next month, won’t do it alone. New coach Jim Schwartz and team president Tom Lewand also form the Lions’ core of responsibility and accountability. It is squarely on them to turn things around and erase all remnants of the ill-fated Matt Millen era - similar to how the Russians used to disavow previous leaders.

“You have to have a common philosophy and a plan to implement the philosophy and the discipline to stay within it,” Lewand said.

Mayhew, who played for the Redskins opposite Hall of Famer Darrell Green from 1989 through 1992, is probably the most vital of the plan’s components. He must recognize and acquire talent. Absent that, Schwartz’s strategic brilliance and tough-minded focus and Lewand’s salary cap knowledge and business acumen won’t amount to much.

Mayhew got busy before he even got the job. As the interim GM last year, he traded disappointing receiver Roy Williams to Dallas for draft picks. He has since hired Schwartz and turned the club inside out. Going into Sunday’s game in Detroit against the Redskins, 32 players on the Lions’ 53-man roster have no connection to last year’s embarrassment - the lasting legacy of Millen, who was the president and GM for eight bleak seasons.

Millen hired Mayhew in 2001 after Mayhew spent time with the short-lived XFL. The two had remained close since their days as teammates in Washington; Mayhew, who once worked with the Redskins as an intern, methodically worked his way through the Lions’ organization.

With the first pick in April’s draft, Mayhew took quarterback Matthew Stafford. He also drafted tight end Brandon Pettigrew at No. 20 and safety Louis Delmas with the first pick in the second round. All three are starting. Schwartz, meanwhile, has come from the Tennessee Titans to put his own stamp on things. Despite losses to New Orleans and Minnesota, the early returns are positive.

“It’s night and day in terms of the attitude, the preparation,” Lewand said. “It’s a completely different building than it was a year ago. We have a different way of doing things.”

Mayhew has declined interview requests since the start of the season.

The Redskins are favored Sunday, but after two drab performances by the Redskins - especially their offense - the Lions are a trendy pick to end their losing streak. What irony if a member of the Redskins’ extended family and a valuable contributor to the last Washington team to win a Super Bowl helps cause one of the lowest moments in franchise history.

“Smart guy,” Schwartz said of Mayhew. “And from the very beginning of the interview, I knew we had common ground from the philosophy of football. His time with the Redskins, with the way they ran the ball even though Martin played corner, you could tell we had a lot of the same philosophies of being big and physical and running the football and stopping the run.

“He’s a very, very smart guy. He’s a guy that maybe not a lot of people in the league knew a lot about, but he’s an up-and-coming young, smart GM.”

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