The Detroit Lions best draft picks by round since 2009

Fifth Round – Tahir Whitehead, LB

Tahir Whitehead, Sam Martin, Joe Dahl, Jamal Agnew, and Tyrell Crosby have all been drafted in round five over the past ten years. That’s a solid crop of talent considering that the Lions didn’t have a fifth-round pick every year, although they did still have ten fifth-round picks. Each man has been a contributor Whitehead and Martin being starters and Agnew has been a Pro Bowl punt returner.

Our pick for the best pick in round five is Tahir Whitehead, at least at this point. Whitehead started for six years at both outside and inside linebacker for a total of 93 games and 294 tackles. Looking into the future it’s possible that a player like Tyrell Crosby, who showed good potential and played some quality minutes, might surpass Whitehead.

Fourth Round – Da’Shawn Hand, DL

Surprisingly, there are fewer good candidates from the fourth rounds of the past. Devin Taylor, Nevin Lawson, Miles Killebrew, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and Da’Shawn Hand aren’t as distinguished as their fifth-round counterparts but several have been solid contributors. Lawson has been the defacto “other” starter at cornerback, Reeves-Maybin has logged playing time, too.

However, being that none of the players has done that much, we are most confident in second-year defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand to be the best player from the fourth round. Hand was one of the most heralded high school players in America prior to his University of Alabama college career. As a rookie, he garnered All-Rookie honors from Pro Football Focus, for example.

Let’s call this more about potential than production but it isn’t easy to imagine that if healthy, Hand could be a very good player for the Motor City for a long time. It was a steal for the Detroit Lions to obtain Hand for just a fourth-round pick, in our opinion.