Either Martin Mayhew lied about the Lions' salary cap situation, or Jim Caldwell didn't learn from his mistakes.

GM Martin Mayhew and the Detroit Lions claim that Ndamukong Suh's contract re-negotiation, which many believe is needed to create extra salary cap space, "Has absolutely no impact on the Lions' free agent pursuits."

I'm calling bullshit.

Why else would the Lions let backup QB Shaun Hill sign with the St. Louis Rams?

Worse yet, why else would they sign Dan Orlovsky as their primary backup QB to Mathew Stafford?

You might remember Orlovsky from such films as, "The Quarterback Who Didn't Realize That He Ran Out of the Back of the Endzone For a Safety," and "The Year the Detroit Lions Went 0-16."

It never ceases to amaze me how NFL teams fail to realize how important the position of backup QB is until they need one.

If salary cap wasn't a factor, do you really think that Jim Caldwell would endorse a backup QB that was so pathetic that he helped cost him his job as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts only two years removed from a Super Bowl appearance the one year Peyton Manning got injured?

And if that's the case, then Jim Caldwell didn't learn from his biggest mistake during his tenure as coach of the Colts...Not realizing the importance of having a good backup QB.

And make no mistake about it, Shaun Hill is as good of a backup QB as there is in the NFL. 

In 34 career games Hill has gone 13 and 13 as a starter with some pretty bad San Francisco and Detroit teams, compiled a quarterback rating of 85.9, and posted a touchdown-to-interception ratio of nearly 2-to-1 (41 touchdowns, 23 interceptions).

That's why it's sickening that it would have only cost the Lions an extra $900,000 on a one year deal to keep Hill over Orlovsky ($1,750,000 for Hill vs. $885,000 for Orlovsky).

Given the way that Hill had performed in Detroit for Mayhew, and the way that Orlovsky performed in Indianapolis under Caldwell, that leads me to believe that salary cap really was an issue for the Lions.

When you have a strong backup QB, you just don't let him walk away for a contract less than 1 million dollars over the veteran minimum.

If true, the Martin Mayhew and the Detroit Lions made a mistake...A VERY big mistake.

Worse yet, the Lions still need a viable backup QB.

Drafting Mike Evans in the 1st Round would be the wrong move.

There are several reasons that the Detroit Lions should pass on Mike Evans should he be available when they select with the 10th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

First off, while many people have fallen in love with his production in college and his 40-yard dash time at the Scouting Combine, I have serious questions about his ability to run routes at the NFL level.

Evans not only benefited from playing pitch and catch with Johnny Manziel in college, but from Texas A and M's spread offense as well.

Mike Evans has several red-flags that scream "NFL bust."

And if there's one variable that can be used to predict which college WR's will turn into busts in the NFL, it's receivers who played in a spread offenses and never learned a pro-style route tree.

While Evans had a pretty good career in college using his size and running to specific spots to get open, my biggest concern after watching his film is his quickness and burst coming out of his breaks, and that scares the shit out of me considering that Mike Williams had similar limitations.

If this picture doesn't make you vomit in your mouth I don't know what will...And I'm not even talking about the Lions' busts at WR, I'm talking about Matt Millen's "Raidered up" black jerseys.

Speaking of size, my next concern is Evans' fit in the Lions' offense. With Calvin Johnson, Joseph Fauria, Kris Durham and (maybe) Brandon Pettigrew, Detroit has no shortage of tall receivers.

Now if Detroit is looking for a long term replacement for Calvin Johnson, I get it.

But if Detroit is just looking for a complimentary #2 WR, they might want to look at someone who's a little quicker and can easily beat the single coverage he'll likely see opposite of Megatron with his route running, whether he's playing in the slot or as the "Z" receiver.

Which brings us to the opportunity cost of drafting a WR in the 1st Round, or what you'd be giving up, relatively speaking, to select one.

With this draft being deep at WR but thin when it comes to lock down corners, the Lions need to consider trading down or drafting a CB like Justin Gilbert or Darqueze Dennard in the 1st Round, because the CB's that will be available when they select in the 2nd Round will represent a significant drop in talent.

On the other hand, this is perhaps the deepest WR draft ever, with a "plug and play" safe option like Jordan Mathews of Vanderbilt who is expected to be available when the Lions select in the 2nd Round at pick #45.

While Jordan Matthews played in a pseudo spread offense at Vanderbilt, he demonstrated excellent route running ability at The Senior Bowl

Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe the Lions talent evaluators think Mike Evans is a sure thing.

Then again, maybe I'm right about his red flags, in which case not only would the Lions miss out on the lock down CB that they truly need, they could also be looking at their third WR bust with a top ten pick in the last 11 years, and their sixth when it comes to drafting WR's the first three rounds.