NFL 2015 News: Detroit Lions Ranked NFL's Worst Drafters
The Detroit Lions are not very good when it comes to the NFL draft. Over a 10-year period ESPN has ranked them the worst at drafting, and it wasn't even close.
In a report on the 2002 through 2012 drafts, ESPN looked at what a players did over their first four years in the draft (using a metric from pro football reference and comparing those players with players drafted in the same position in the draft) and then ranked the 32 NFL teams on how they faired. Detroit was the only team with a negative rating at -6.2 with the Oakland Raiders coming in second worst with a rating of 2.
The period is question should not surprise anyone. It was during this period that the Lions were so bad at drafting that they assembled the only NFL roster to ever go 0-16 in 2008. It was during the season they fired their General Manager Matt Millen. However, after promising a exhaustive search they simply hired his assistant. He has not faired well in the draft either.
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While the Lions have whiffed on a number of high round draft picks, the two worst of the Millen era were arguably WR Charles Rogers (the second overall pick in 2003) and WR Mike Williams (the tenth overall pick in 2005). The worst picks of the Mayhew regime seem to be WR Titus Young (44th overall pick of the 2011 draft) who recently plead guilty to felony charges, is out of the league and headed to prison. Mayhew traded back into the first round to take RB Jahvid Best with the 30th overall pick in the 2010 draft. Best had a history of concussions in College and five years later is out of football.
It should surprise no one that along with the Lions, and the Raiders, the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and St. Louis Rams were among the worst teams at drafting during this period. All of these franchises share the common trait of constant disappointment on the field.
