Could Martin Mayhew get another chance to be a GM?

Martin Mayhew’s first go-round as general manager was a mix of good and bad that finally came undone last week under the weight of a 1-7 start..

Mayhew helped dig the Detroit Lions dig out of the NFL's first 0-16 season, and his personnel moves propelled one of the league's losingest franchises to its only two playoff appearances of the millennium.

He swung a number of trades that worked out in the Lions' favor, acquiring players such as Rob Sims and Corey Williams early in his tenure. But ultimately, he was felled by a draft record that produced far too few contributors, especially in the second round.

Before he was elevated to general manager after Matt Millen was fired early in the 2008 season, Mayhew was thought to be a candidate for a leadership position in the NFL Players Association. But a week after he was fired by the Lions and replaced by Sheldon White, one of Mayhew's former colleagues said he thinks Mayhew still has a future as an NFL GM.

"I would think that Martin, you have to look at the fact that Martin took an 0-16 team and turned it around," former Lions senior personnel executive Shack Harris said. "And like I said before, three months ago, it was supposed to be a playoff team. So he probably deserves another opportunity, because Martin's done some good things there."

Harris' support for Mayhew comes as no surprise. He was one of Mayhew's first hires when he took over as the Lions' full-time GM.

But the onetime executive with the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars is now in a unique position to suggest that Mayhew will be a GM again. He sits on the NFL's career-development-advisory panel that recommends front-office candidates to NFL teams.

The panel, which also includes luminaries such as Ron Wolf, Bill Polian and John Madden, is scheduled to meet later this month to compile a list of candidates for jobs such as the one in Detroit.

Harris declined to say whether he would include Mayhew on his list of GM candidates -- each member of the committee submits his own set of names, which are compiled into one list that's available to any NFL team that requests it -- but he was clear in saying that he thinks Mayhew deserves another opportunity.

"(He) took over an 0-16 team and turned it into a two-time playoff team," Harris said. "In order to do that, there's a lot of good decisions being made. That just don't happen in the NFL. In spite of how we got here, we can't overlook some of the good things that went on, and Sheldon was involved in a lot of those."

Harris declined comment when asked about the Lions' decision to fire Mayhew and team president Tom Lewand last week, days after their blowout loss to Kansas City Chiefs in London.

As for the chances of Mayhew actually getting a second shot at being a GM in a time when the league is trending toward first-timers at the position, Harris said he's not sure what will happen.

"I can't speak on the league," Harris said. "I think he deserves an opportunity."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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