A look back at the history of the Detroit Lions selecting near the bottom of the first round in the NFL Draft.
The Detroit Lions are in unfamiliar territory. For decades, the NFL Draft was one of the most exciting offseason events for Lions fans, as they were typically selecting somewhere in the top 10. Every year, they had a chance at picking the best offensive or defensive player in the entire draft class—and sometimes they did!
But now the Lions are selecting near the bottom of the first round. That undoubtedly makes the job of Lions general manager Brad Holmes more difficult, and their odds of landing a top-tier talent are undeniably longer. Of course, Holmes can help out his chances—as he did last year—by getting aggressive and trading up a few spots or more, but we’ll see if the board falls favorably for an opportunity like that.
That said, there are plenty of examples of teams landing a talented player late in the first round. So let’s take a look at the Lions’ history of picking late and see how often they’ve found some hits.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
What is the Lions’ best draft pick late in the first round?
My answer: Here’s a look at every pick the Lions have made in the first round 20th or later in the past 40 years.
- CB Terrion Arnold — 24th overall
- C Frank Ragnow — 20th overall
- LB Jarrad Davis — 21st overall
- G Laken Tomlinson — 28th overall
- OT Riley Reiff — 23rd overall
- RB Jahvid Best — 30th overall
- TE Brandon Pettigrew — 20th overall
- RB Kevin Jones — 30th overall
- OT Aaron Gibson — 27th overall
- DB Terry Fair — 20th overall
- C Jeff Hartings — 23rd overall
- DT Luther Ellis — 20th overall
- WR Johnnie Morton — 21st overall
- EDGE Robert Porcher — 26th overall
I think it’s probably fair to say that Frank Ragnow is the best choice, although that feels like stretching the definition of “late” first-round pick. If we define that by the last 10 picks in the first round, the answer is probably Porcher (95.5 sacks, 3x Pro Bowler). Although Morton worked out pretty darn well, too (eight years in Detroit, 6,499 receiving yards, 35 TDs).
Unfortunately, there are a lot of picks that didn’t work out in the Lions history. But is that because of the position of the pick or Detroit’s rough history of drafting overall? You know what? Don’t answer that.
Who do you think has been the Lions’ best late first-round pick? Did you think any of these picks were going to work out better/worse than they did? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know!