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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 21: Ndamukong Suh #90 of the Detroit Lions warms up prior to the start of the game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field on September 21, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan. The Lions defeated the Packers 19-7. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – SEPTEMBER 21: Ndamukong Suh #90 of the Detroit Lions warms up prior to the start of the game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field on September 21, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan. The Lions defeated the Packers 19-7. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

2010- Ndamukong Suh, 1st round

If you take Ndamukong Suh, you can pretty much do whatever you want with the rest of your picks and still call it a successful draft. Suh was a lightning rod for controversy, but the guy was an absolute monster clogging the middle. The Lions run defense in 2014 was the best the NFL has seen in the past five years.

There was a time in that season where it was literally pointless to run against Detroit because Suh was so disruptive in there. He rarely had huge stats, but I guarantee he led the league in “run plays blown up because an offensive lineman is knocked backwards into the ball carrier” in 2014.

The Lions couldn’t afford to keep him, and Suh eventually jumped ship to Miami. HOWEVER… a report came out yesterday saying that the Dolphins are about to cut him. You thinking what I’m thinking?

2009- Umm… …Stafford.

Yeah, Matthew Stafford. I do have a soft spot for Louis Delmas though.

Absolutely useless side-note- The Lions also took one of the Gronk brothers in that same draft. Dan Gronkowski only played two games for Detroit though.

Even more absolutely useless side-note- That reminds me of an NBA Draft trivia piece that I love: the Chicago Bulls picked both Michael Jordan and legendary Olympian Carl Lewis in the 1984 NBA Draft. Look it up. Love pulling that one out when I’m trying not to impress people.

It didn’t matter that Carl Lewis probably played basketball about as well as he sang the national anthem. Air Jordan was Chicago’s first round pick in ’84, and Carl Lewis was their 10th round pick.

But back to Stafford. He’s been the best Lion from ’09.

2008- Cliff Avril, 3rd round

I don’t even really want to recap anything from 2008, but Avril and Kevin Smith both had semi-decent rookie seasons while everything else went to hell in Detroit. Avril left town right as he was getting into his prime, and eventually had a Pro-Bowl season for Seattle.

Next: Predicting the Lions’ offseason: Free agency, Draft

Smith peaked as a rookie, with 976 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns, never reaching either of those totals again. The 0-16 season yielded the #1 overall pick in 2009, an honor I hope the Lions don’t receive again anytime in the near future.

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