ALLEN PARK -- One of the great challenges of writing a long-form feature story is deciding what makes the final piece, and what gets left on the cutting room floor. At least it is for me.

That's why I tend to write too long -- and I say this one day after writing more than 2,000 words on a long snapper, and at the start of a mailbag that's closing in on another 2,000 words. Father forgive me for I have sinned (again).

But one of the cool things about the Saturday mailbag is it's free flowing, informal -- and, best of all, mine. So I can do whatever I want with it. Like that one time I answered every question with a Nicolas Cage gif. Or this time, where I can still report some of the fun anecdotes that got left out of the Don Muhlbach story.

For those who missed it Friday, here's my ode to a long snapper:

And with that said, on to the mailbag:

Q: What was the best part of writing a story on Dandy Don? -- @BigDrewAndJim

A: That's a hard question to answer, because top to bottom, it was the most fun I've had writing and reporting a story in a long time. There are obviously more important stories I'll do -- like, almost all of them. If you were to power rank the 53 most important players on the team, the long snapper is probably 53rd.

But part of my job as a beat writer is to be the fans' eyes and ears in the locker room. To bring you guys inside those walls the best I can. And man, one thing became abundantly clear early in the reporting: The public might not know much about Muhlbach, but he's beloved throughout this organization. It could not have been more clear to me.

Do this job for long enough, and you begin to get a sense for when you're being fed a load of crap. A BS radar, if you will. And then there's something like this, where I walk up to Matthew Stafford, a very busy man I try not to bother much on the record outside of press conferences. I saw him enter the locker room one day and walked with him to his stall. I said, "What's up Matt, just got a quick one for ya. I'm working on this story about Muhlbach and..."

He cuts me off.

"Don Muhlbach!" he says. "How much time you got?!?" And I include the cheesy exclamation points because I have to (in addition to actually being cheesy). Because I don't know that I've seen Matthew Stafford this excited to talk to a reporter before. He turns around, leans against the edge of his locker and proceeds to rattle off 8 minutes and 13 seconds of pure freaking gold. (I promise I'll stop using the F word soon.)

If you've ever seen Matthew Stafford in a press conference, you understand how unlike him this is. He's boring, because he has to be. He's the quarterback, he's the face of the franchise. His No. 1 goal when talking to a reporter is to be as boring as possible, more or less. Because if he's making noise with his mouth, it can get around the country quick.

But Stafford just stands there, talking about the 53rd most important player on the team like he is headed for the Hall of Fame. Some hilarious stories, a couple of which weren't exactly fit for print. And some really touching moments too. This is what all the interviews were like. Don Carey, Matt Prater, Joe Marciano. I mean, you guys have seen Jim Caldwell speak. And you should have seen him chuckling -- yes, showing real-life human emotion -- when I told him how Stafford likes to mess with Muhlbach by moving stuff in his locker. Because Muhlbach is about as OCD as somebody can be without an official diagnosis. And he notices everything.

"Doesn't surprise me. He's a little different," Caldwell says with a human laugh. "He is anal about every single little thing."

I caught up with Jason Hanson for the story. Man, that guy told some good tales from back in the day, most of which didn't make it into the story because you can only write so many words about a long snapper before losing people. (And that threshold is probably well short of the more than 2,341 words the story wound up running at. Deepest apologies to my editors.)

One of my favorite Hanson stories spun out of a question about Muhlbach's "productive paranoia," as Caldwell put it. His eccentricities. His anality, if you will. Hanson is getting a kick out of telling me these stories, and I ask for his favorite. He thinks of one, which he cuts off because it's not fit for a reporter, and then tells another gem about being on the road with Muhlbach in 2004, when Don was still a rookie. You see, these idiosyncrasies with the bananas and the finger-busting throws are funny now because he's been around forever and they're part of what makes him The Mule.

But in 2004, the anal behavior wasn't under control yet. He was just some rookie out of Texas A&M who was working in a bank a few weeks before. Now he's the most uptight guy in an NFL locker room. And one night on the road, Hanson and then-holder/punter Nick Harris just couldn't take it anymore.

"Nick and I basically pummeled him in the hotel," Hanson says. "We absolutely pummeled him out of love. Because we were all great friends, but we just couldn't take him anymore. So we litereally just - he's a big guy, you know, so it took both of us, but we put him in his place."

Great story. And it didn't make the Muhlbach piece because I got so many other good ones like it. Hell, they were still pouring in after the piece ran. A player came up to me in the locker room Friday afternoon and told me about Muhlbach drilling a staffer right in the face in this year's season opener. Somebody else told me the team sometimes warns opponents about Muhlbach because he's almost hit several cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Those were so good, I popped them into the story after it ran.

That's what was so enjoyable for me about writing this story. It was just so clear how much everyone in the franchise knows how great this guy is, how unique he is, and how much he deserved some recognition, as uncomfortable as that makes him.

When Muhlbach turned 36 years old during camp, the team got him a cake and sang him happy birthday in the locker room. The card is still sitting on the top shelf in his locker.

I'm just waiting for the day Stafford moves it.

Q:

Your thoughts on my new Stafford meme? Too meta?? pic.twitter.com/SL9UB6Lju8 — John Popovits (@The_Johnny_Pop) September 29, 2017

A: Probably too much of an inside joke to be included in the mailbag, but thanks anyway.

Q: Mayhew drafted Ebron who had an 11.7 percent drop rate out of college. I am tired of hearing about his improvement each year and his potential. I am 57, with cancer and I have more potential than him and a lower drop rate. Time to trade him for anything, like a seventh-rounder or cheerleader, or chair, or table ... -- Gary Laski

A: Congrats on filing the most savage mailbag question in my seven years of doing this thing. And your frustration is shared by many. Ebron is talented, there's no dispute of that, but he's just not finishing plays. He was targeted seven times against Atlanta, more than everyone except Golden Tate and Theo Riddick.

But he caught just two of those balls, for 9 forgettable yards. And he dropped the ball twice, both times in the fourth quarter.

Ebron has been Detroit's most disappointing player this year, given his potential as well as the opportunity he had to shine after Anquan Boldin retired. But outside of that first half in New York, he has just four catches for 19 yards this year.

Detroit hasn't given up on him, because it can't afford to -- not this early. They're hoping by keeping him involved and feeding him the ball, Ebron will get going. He certainly has the ability to. But there's no question he hasn't done it so far, and with each passing week, it becomes increasingly unlikely he ever realizes his full potential.

Q: With Taylor Decker's injury, what does the rehab process look like and when can we expect him to be back practicing? -- @lslats815

A: Decker tore the labrum in his right shoulder during the second week of OTAs. At the time of the injury, he was expected to miss four to six months. Now that he's on PUP, the earliest he can return to practice is after the Oct. 15 game in New Orleans.

That's the week of the bye, though. So really the earliest he'll return to practice is Oct. 23. But like I said, there's a possiblity he misses six months because of the injury, so worst-case scenario is December.

But based on what I'm hearing, late October or early November is the hope right now. And Jim Caldwell's comments this week, that Decker is on course for a midseason return, seem to support that.

Q: Do they expect Davis to play? Thought with a concussion they needed to play a full practice? -- @flaw2705

A: Players just need to be cleared to practice with contact, which can happen even if a guy is listed as limited on the practice report. We're just not privy to which parts of practice Davis was limited for. (Reporters get about 15-20 minutes to watch these days, and it's during individual drills. Which means it's utterly useless most days other than to do a roll call.)

I don't have any information about Davis' status for Sunday, other than what the team put on the practice report. (He's listed as questionable.) But after practicing all week, my money's on him suiting up in Minneapolis.

Q: What are your thoughts on DJ Haden's play? It's seems like the secondary play drops off when he is in the game. He is either getting hurt or blocked out of the way. Any chance the Lions cut him and bring Adarius Barnes back to the active roster? -- Jam Hatter

A: I don't think he's been a trainwreck. I also don't think he's been a strength either. But I do like what the Lions are doing with him and Nevin Lawson. That spot is obviously the weak point in the secondary right now, with Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs playing at high levels at cornerback, while Glover Quin and whoever has been alongsiide him -- right now, Miles Killebrew -- have been good too. The safeties have already scored two touchdowns!

I don't see a whole lot distinguishig Lawson from Hayden right now. But by playing both, Detroit is developing injury insurance for itself. How many times have we seen the Lions secondary crumble when they lost a corner? Hell, there have been times in the past when it crumbled at full strength because the depth was so bad.

Now if the Lions suffer an injury at the position, they're going to have an experienced option to throw in there. They won't miss a beat. That's depth. And it has never been better at that position since I started covering the team in 2013.

Q: Are you concerned with TJ Lang's odd Fibula injury, and the impending lack of depth on the o line? -- @bigdahm

A: I'm not concerned about Lang even 1 percent. I know fibula sounds scary and everything, but he's not even listed as questionable. He's a full-go. Worry not, my friends.