Lions' pick in spotlight.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

HE SAID HE expects to compete for the Opening Day starting job - this year. He gave reporters bumper stickers with the correct pronunciation of Oregon. He said - despite the suggestion from his new boss that his first name isn't quite blue-collar enough for Detroit - that he's still "Joey."

Those were the highlights of Joey Harrington's first day in Detroit, as the Lions' first-round draft pick, the No. 3 selection overall, met reporters in a news conference there Sunday. The former Oregon quarterback will be back in Detroit later this week for his first NFL mini-camp.

The consensus: The Lions' pick of Harrington was a surprise to many and shaped the way the rest of the first round played out. Lions fans have reservations, thinking that a team that went 2-14 needed more immediate help than another young quarterback, and wanting to give second-year passer Mike McMahon a season to prove himself.

However, from ESPN's analysts on Saturday morning to observers such as NFL writer Peter King of Sports Illustrated, the Lions are believed to have selected a potential franchise quarterback.

Wrote King, on CNN/SI.com, while giving Detroit's draft as a whole a very low mark: "Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge Harrington fan. How can you not be? He does it all, and bleep the people who say he can't throw downfield. What hogwash. But this was a team with six or seven crying needs. ... '

A favorable grade for the Lions draft came from USA Today, which awarded Detroit four stars out of five and called Harrington "perfect for West Coast scheme." Cox News Service gave the Lions an A; NFL analyst Dan Pompei of The Sporting News passed out a B. More on Harrington to Detroit:

From columnist Terry Foster of The Detroit News: "He is a great guy with great honesty, and you can see why some believe he will achieve greatness in the NFL. But there are two main questions that must be answered the next five years about Harrington. ...

"Can he handle the pressure of being the Lions' quarterback? Can he become a leader on this team instead of just one of 11 guys on the field? If he does both, this is a guy who someday will get the keys to the city."

Foster said he asked Harrington why Lions fans should believe in him.

"Wow, that is tough," Harrington answered. "Right now, they don't have a base except for what I did in college. I am a person who is here for the right reasons. I will work hard and do whatever I can to make this organization a winner. I don't know if I am asking people to hold off, but (trust) is something that is going to have to be earned over time."

Though Lions president Matt Millen told ESPN on Saturday that Harrington was a consensus pick by Detroit, Millen wanted cornerback Quentin Jammer, and coach Marty Mornhinweg wanted Harrington, and ownership broke the deadlock, figuring that Harrington might sell tickets.

THE OPPOSING perspectives are interesting, and both Millen and Mornhinweg still have much to prove in their roles. Millen was looking at a team that faces quarterbacks Brett Favre of Green Bay and Daunte Culpepper of Minnesota twice a year, plus Vikings receiver Randy Moss, and figured the draft's top cornerback would have an immediate impact.

Mornhinweg knows he won't last in Detroit long unless he gets the offense going, hence his all-out push for Harrington; indeed, Pompei suggested that simply getting Harrington, and being compelled to play a rookie quarterback, buys Mornhinweg more time.

Wrote Foster: "Mornhinweg and Millen looked like kids opening Christmas presents. It's just that Millen was the kid who opened the glitzy, gigantic box only to find a hundred pairs of socks inside. Mornhinweg got the electric train and Sega."

From NFL writer Don Banks of CNN/SI: "The Lions as an organization finally might have begun sowing the seeds of success Saturday when they showed the foresight to nix the quick-fix thinking and draft Harrington. If they take their time and develop him correctly, Harrington could provide a 10-year solution to the team's most problematic position. If he does, they'll look back and say of Harrington that ... you knew he was the one the very first day he walked in here."

From Millen, as reported by Banks:

"My biggest concern was that I want to win right now. I'm an impatient person. And this is more of a patient pick. If I had a dour face, it's because that's a hard decision. ... Jammer was the easy pick, but it's not necessarily the right pick. I knew the cornerback would help us right this second, while the quarterback is more of a pick for the future."

Millen, by the way, wondered whether "Joey" is a fitting name for a quarterback from a blue-collar city, but that's the name by which Lions fans will know the young man from Oregon, where he was also known as a winner.