Getty Brad Holmes speaking during the 2022 NFL combine.
The Detroit Lions have had a checkered history with the NFL draft, having struggled to find the right mix of players through the years.
That has combined to help the team struggle, and has proven a big reason why the team hasn’t been able to build a consistent winner. Things could be changing over the last handful of years, however.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Lions have become one of the more effective teams at drafting since 2014. That was explained by Pro Football Focus and writer Sam Monson, who ranked teams as the best and worst at drafting in the first-round from 2014 to 2022.
The Lions placed on the top-five of the list in terms of the best drafting in this span, and overall, Monson wrote that the team has done a very good job to make savvy selections early on. That is true even as the team has changed general managers, from Martin Mayhew in 2014-2015 to Bob Quinn in 2016-2020 and most recently Brad Holmes.
“A couple of Detroit’s first-round selections became better players outside of Detroit than they were for the Lions, which makes determining how good the picks were difficult, but generally speaking, there has been one outright miss on this list and another player that has struggled to live up to his expectations. From the mid-way point of his rookie season, Aidan Hutchinson was ranked alongside the big-three edge rushers — Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa and Myles Garrett — in PFF grade last year while Frank Ragnow is one of the best centers in the game when healthy. Penei Sewell allowed just two sacks in his second season and has been one of the best run blockers in football since entering the league,” Monson wrote in the piece.
In 2022, the team added edge defender Aidan Hutchinson and wideout Jameson Williams. 2021 seventh-overall pick Penei Sewell looks like a foundational piece at tackle. 2020 third-overall pick Jeff Okudah has gone through his share of ups and downs, and there is no guarantee the Lions keep him around long-term. In 2019, the T.J. Hockenson was the pick. He enjoyed a solid three-and-a-half year career in Detroit before being dealt, but remains a key piece in Minnesota. Ragnow remains quite possibly the best pick for the team in 2018, as he has been a Pro Bowl player.
Starting in 2017, things are a bit more scattered. Jarrad Davis, the 2017 first-round pick, is off the roster after leaving and re-signing with the team last offseason. He played in 58 games with the Lions with 45 starts. Tackle Taylor Decker was the pick in 2016, and he remains a fixture along the team’s offensive line. 2015, the team selected Laken Tomlinson. He departed the team for San Francisco in 2017 and is now playing for the New York Jets.
There aren’t too many straight busts on the list for Detroit, which helps show the Lions have been a decent success in terms of drafting lately. That fact could prove why the team is ready to take the next steps in the coming years in terms of winning.
Lions’ 2021 and 2022 Classes Forming ‘Bedrock’
Whereas the Lions have struggled historically, they have picked it up in a big way lately. Their last two classes have proven why the team could be in great shape for their future.
Recently, Eric Edholm of NFL.com has taken a look back at grading draft classes, and when it comes to the NFC North, the Lions took home the best grade.
Edholm gave the Lions an A- grade for their work last year, and as he admitted, the team’s draft looks better now than many might have figured, especially given that a foundation may have been laid down.
“In some respects, this was a wait-and-see draft for the Lions, but they also started putting together a foundation on defense, improving on all three levels with this rookie haul. When it’s all said and done, we might look back at this class as a huge bedrock for a team that appears to be on the right track,” Edholm wrote in the piece of Detroit.
Led by Aidan Hutchinson in the trenches, the Lions have seen their rookie class set the tone on the defensive side of the ball. Hutchinson has been phenomenal already, and has been joined by James Houston and Josh Paschal in terms of consistency up front.
At linebacker, Rodriguez has stepped up to look like one of the most important rookies on the team for the future. His toughness and leadership has been downright impressive. In the second level, Joseph has come on strong to look like a star in the making for many reasons.
As a whole, this is great news for the Lions. In addition to these players, they will be backed up by tight end James Mitchell and wideout Jameson Williams. They’ve needed some talent on the defensive side that is young, and these guys will combine with names from the 2021 class such as wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown, defensive tackle Alim McNeill and linebacker Derrick Barnes to make the team formidable into the future.
As the classed continues to produce on the field, things might only get better for the Lions as a whole.
Frank Ragnow Revealed Best Pick for Lions
In the piece, Ragnow was revealed as the best pick over this span for Detroit by Monson, and it’s easy to see why. The first five years of Ragnow’s career have seen rock solid play and accolades.
Ragnow has played in 65 games with 65 starts. He was voted a second-team All-Pro selection in 2020, and has received Pro Bowl nods in 2020 and 2022. He’s been a model of consistency for the team, which has been very important as they rebuild their offensive line.
At the end of the 2022 season, former NFL general manager Scott Pioli was talking about offensive line play in a segment on Good Morning Football, and as he explained, Ragnow is a guy who might not get much publicity, but is quietly super elite on the field.
“When you talk about the offensive lines, a lot of people like to talk about the tackles. Yeah, Taylor Decker’s playing well. Yeah, Penei Sewell is playing well. To me, the guy that is making the difference for the Lions and their offensive line is center Frank Ragnow. Ragnow was picked in the first-round back in 2018. He was one of my absolute favorite players in that draft because he is smart, he is disciplined, he is tough. When you watch him in games, he is one that is identifying the defense,” Pioli said.
As a result of that work, Pioli thinks that Ragnow has elevated the play of all his teammates last season including his quarterback.
“I believe his intelligence and his ability to see things and point things out has really helped Jared Goff a better player, has helped him become more confident. Rarely if ever in passing situations do you see the pocket seep and leak and that is because of Ragnow. Frank Ragnow is a terrific player. The Lions made him the highest-paid center in the NFL this season, and if you watch Lions football you’ll understand exactly why,” he said at the time.
Ragnow has set the standard for Detroit’s recent drafting turnaround, and the team hopes they have turned over a new leaf as it relates toward finding difference makers to turn the around for the future.
As this ranking proves, that could certainly be the case for the Lions moving forward.