John Bazemore / AP

With no dominant left tackle available, Mike Celizic says there's no reason for the Lions not to draft one of the top two quarterbacks, Georgia's Matthew Stafford, above, or Mark Sanchez of USC.

I say “could be,” and that’s what makes personnel directors wet themselves in fear. They’re terrified that they’ll dump bushels of money on a No. 1 quarterback and end up with a bust. That’s a career-ending move for a general manager. It shouldn’t be, because there is no way to know for sure which great college players will translate to the pros. But that’s the way it is. If the kid fails, it becomes the GM’s fault.

So be it. The Lions can’t afford to mess around. They’re talking now about their big free-agent signing of Daunte Culpepper, as if he’s the answer to all their prayers. He’s not. Even if he can play with something approaching the skill he once had, he’s likely to be injured, and he’s not a young man.

The Lions need a franchise quarterback. They have a shot at one. After they draft him, they can pick a bunch of offensive linemen further down in the draft, or they can sign free agents. Once they have a decent line, they can shore up a leaky defense and then go back and fine-tune things.

It’s the only hope — get a quarterback and put a line in front of him and build from there. They won’t be great overnight, but if they can’t get up enough courage to pull the trigger on a quarterback, they’ll never be great.

They should keep Culpepper and probably start him. That will save the new kid the torture of having to learn on the job — and from his back. But if the Lions go into the season with Culpepper and don’t draft a quarterback, forget it. Culpepper will get hurt, there’ll be no backup, and the Lions will be on their way to another No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft — and another chance to drop the ball.

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