Detroit Lions: 15 best first-round draft picks of all-time
By John Buhler
One offensive lineman that keeps getting overlooked in recent years was former Lions’ Pro Bowl left tackle Lomas Brown. He had both a long and successful NFL career that all began with an initial 11-year stint in Detroit. The Lions used their No. 6 overall pick to take the technician at offensive tackle in the 1985 NFL Draft out of Florida.
Brown was a reliable left tackle in the league for nearly two decades. He would make six of his seven trips to the Pro Bowl in Lions uniform. Brown would earn his only First-Team All-Pro nod in his final year with the team in 1995. He would spend the next seven seasons with four other teams before retiring a Super Bowl champion with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Lions made the NFC playoffs four times in his final five years with the team, including the 1991 NFC Central title campaign. Overall, Brown would start 163 of the 164 games he played in Lions uniform. He would play in a total of 263 of them, starting in 151 NFL regular season games with five different teams.
Brown may just end up in the Hall of Very Good when it comes to Canton enshrinement. The only championship team he was on was the 2002 Buccaneers and he never started a game for them.
That being said, it’s hard to overlook a guy that was the central figure on the offensive line that blocked for arguably the greatest running back of all time. We may have to wait a bit, but Brown could make the Pro Football Hall of Fame some day.