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Detroit Lions: The best draft picks of the past decade

By Payne Schanski

NEW YORK - APRIL 29: The stage is shown at the 2006 NFL Draft on April 29, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - APRIL 29: The stage is shown at the 2006 NFL Draft on April 29, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /
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DETROIT, MI – SEPTEMBER 10: Darius Slay #23 of the Detroit Lions reacts to a fourth quarter pass breakup while playing the Arizona Cardinals at Ford Field on September 10, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – SEPTEMBER 10: Darius Slay #23 of the Detroit Lions reacts to a fourth quarter pass breakup while playing the Arizona Cardinals at Ford Field on September 10, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

2013- Darius Slay, 2nd round

This was a flat out LOADED draft year for the Lions. Each of Motown’s first three picks have made it to the Pro Bowl (although Larry Warford didn’t do it until leaving for New Orleans last year).

Defensive cornerstones Ziggy Ansah and Slay were the first and second picks, and Theo Riddick has been a pretty high value guy as a 6th rounder, making plenty of clutch plays during his time in Honolulu blue.

Slay has developed the type of game to justify his ‘Big Play’ nickname, and hopefully his 2017 All-Pro selection is only the first of many.

Honorable Mention: Ziggy Ansah (1st round)

2012- Tahir Whitehead, 5th round

I’ll always remember the 2012 draft for the Lions taking the shotgun approach to late round cornerback picks. In the third round they went for a guy named Bill who’s real name was Dwight (Bentley), didn’t work out in the end. In the fifth round, they went for a guy out of tiny division 3 Albion College, Chris Greenwood.

Not surprisingly, Greenwood had a harder time covering receivers from the Green Bay Packers than from the Alma College Scots, and didn’t work out in the end. 6th rounder Jonte Green didn’t work out in the end either. Three swings at cornerback, three misses.

So that pretty much just leaves Tahir Whitehead and Riley Reiff as the 2012 picks with productive NFL careers. I’m picking Whitehead over Reiff since he’s still a Lion and has started 31 of 32 regular season games over the past two seasons.

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