Have the Detroit Lions ever really ‘won’ the NFL draft?
By Robert Jones
The Lions have drafted some superstars, but…
The story of the NFL draft is a common one, some big-name players have gone on to become superstars, while others have turned into ‘busts’. Some players drafted later have come out of nowhere and become legendary, while many others have been nothing more than a blip on the radar.
The whole point of the NFL draft is to allow each team an opportunity, by making smart choices, to build a championship team.
In fact, the NFL draft is the lifeblood of every teams success. The teams that have had success in the draft have given themselves a chance at winning it all, while teams that have drafted poorly have found themselves going back to the drawing board.
Each year, each draft class is its own entity. Despite what our preconceived notions might be when the draft is completed each year, we usually don’t know for sure how successful or unsuccessful each draft was for a couple of seasons.
For the Detroit Lions, they have had more than their share of draft picks that didn’t work out. Players like Chuck Long, Reggie Rogers, Andre Ware, Stockar McDougle, Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, and Mike Williams to name a few.
Yet they have also been fortunate enough to select some truly outstanding players like Lomas Brown, Herman Moore, Robert Porcher, Matthew Stafford, and Ndamukong Suh.
In 1980 the Lions opened the draft by choosing Billy Sims with the first overall pick. Had it not been for a knee injury that ended his career after five seasons, he would have gone down as one of the best running backs in NFL history.
Then, of course, there were Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson. Two players that were among the best to ever play the game and captivated not only fans everywhere, but their peers as well.
Like any team, the draft failures only set the Lions up for more frustrating seasons. Meanwhile, the better drafts did help fuel what few competitive years this franchise has had. But considering the lack of overall success the Lions have had chasing after championship dreams, can we truly say they have ever won the draft?