Five things we learned at the Lions’ informal workouts this week:

1. Obviously just the fact they bothered to pull it together should show the fans how much they care. Most of these guys have offseason homes elsewhere, so it wasn’t like they rolled out of bed and headed to Country Day. About 30-35 guys showed up which is better than the numbers for most NFL teams who have tried these informal workouts. They are obviously in shape which is another key factor. Kyle Vanden Bosch was the instigator here and should be credited. It was so successful it will be repeated the week of June 6 and more players are expected.

2. Quarterback Matthew Stafford said a number of times that his shoulder is 100 percent and then went out and proved it by throwing blistering bombs. Rookie Titus Young joked that his hands were stinging so much he wanted to stick them in a bucket of ice water. Also, Stafford has bulked up. He’s noticeably wider across the shoulders. Said much of his rehab was work to make his back stronger, which in turn should keep his shoulders healthy.

3. Titus Young is raw, but his new teammates said he had impressive hands for a guy of his size. He looks really skinny. He’s listed at 5-foot-11 and 174 pounds. Aside from his hands, Nate Burleson said he had a great work ethic and was willing to do whatever the guys wanted him to do.

4. Safety Louis Delmas is not 100 percent after his groin surgery in January, but he’s close. He puts it at 85 percent. He participated in most of the drills and looked sharp. In fact, better than he did all last season.

5. The offensive line is whole, back and hungry. Stephen Peterman who was slowed last year with a torn muscle in the bottom of his right foot is healthy. Gosder Cherilus, who had microfracture knee surgery in December, is close. This line has been together and appears they will return intact. Wouldn’t say there’s a chip on their shoulders, but think they might have something to prove.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche. If the world ends on Saturday, it’s been nice knowing you.)

Lions coach Jim Schwartz had a Football 101 discussion about his defense the other day with beat writers. It's nothing you wouldn't garner from a little bit of film study, but for those who didn't follow the Titans closely in recent years here's a glimpse of how things might work in Detroit:

Schwartz said everything the Lions do “will be based out of 4-3 personnel, but we will have 3-4 principles within our” defense. In Tennessee, for instance, the Titans often played an odd front in nickel situations with three down linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs (the Lions were mostly a 4-2-5 nickel team under Rod Marinelli). That allowed them to use stand-up pass rushers like Antwan Odom and Travis LaBoy as a third linebacker and rush from all over the field.

If the Lions use a similar configuration, newly-acquired Julian Peterson likely will be the stand-up rusher while ends like Cliff Avril and Dewayne White keep their hands on the ground. Peterson had 24 ½ sacks the last three years in Seattle.

“Our base was a 4-3 (in Tennessee), but we ran just enough (3-4) to make you prepare for it,” Schwartz said. “I know from talking to a lot of offensive coordinators it spreads them thin. The only way you can do it is if you have those kind of guys. Cliff's one, Julian's one. We had that with Antwan and Travis.”

The Titans also sought versatile players, as the Lions are doing now, to play left- and right-outside linebacker rather than weak- or strong-side. Ditto at safety, where there's no free or strong safety designation, just two interchangeable players.

“We sort of got away (from WILL and SAM linebackers) because we saw so many shifting teams and teams get out of shifting real quick if they're moving four people and you got all these guys on defense going, are you ready yet?” Schwartz said. “But if they're moving one guy and you're flipping four, they'll just do it 60 snaps a game.

“That's why you start getting a little less compartmentalized with SAM and WILL, strong safety and free safety. If you're a strong safety and you line up to the tight-end side and that tight end motions across, you can't flip because you don't know if he's going to stop and come back and if he does you're looking bad. Guess what, if you have a 230-pound strong safety that's an in-the-box strong safety you can turn him into the free safety just motioning one guy across the formation. So it puts more (emphasis) on having multidimensional (guys).”

The trick now, of course, is for the Lions to find those type of players. Tennessee's defense worked because it had Odom and LaBoy, plus a dominating three-down tackle in Albert Haynesworth and mirror linebackers Keith Bulluck and David Thornton. The Lions don't have an every-down tackle on their roster, don't know who their starting safeties will be and don't presently have a middle linebacker on their roster.

All that considered, that's why I believe the Lions, even after the Peterson acquisition, are still considering Aaron Curry with the No. 1 pick. Curry is a multidimensional player who probably projects best as an outside linebacker, maybe in the Peterson mold with fewer sacks but better coverage skills. The Lions are building long-term, Peterson's contract is such that he won't be here but a year or two, and Curry would fill a gaping hole at middle linebacker in the interim.

Asked who his middle linebacker is as of today, Schwartz didn't have a firm answer.

“At some point we're going to have to put some pads on and some mouthpieces in and that's part of the job description for a middle linebacker,” he said. “You're going to see who can go thump, and we might not have a feel for that until training camp. I mean, who really can thump. You might think a guy can, but (you don't know) until you see it in training camp when the shoulder pads come on and that mouthpiece goes in.”