Getty Ernie Sims comes on the field during a Lions game in 2009.
The Detroit Lions have made some questionable moves in the NFL Draft over the years, but perhaps no addition as questionable as when the team tried to gamble on undersized players for their defense.
It has happened more than once, but arguably the most famous time it occurred was in the mid 2000s when Matt Millen was attempting to draft for Rod Marinelli. That situation managed to put the team in a hole it took a long time to recover from, which is a fact that cannot be denied.
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Pro Football Focus published a list of the worst NFL draft picks since 2006, and while there was plenty of options to pick from in Detroit, linebacker Ernie Sims was the ultimate choice of writer Michael Renner. As for why, his overall production and poor fit were cited as the reasons.
He wrote:
“Sims was supposed to be the first of the new age “hybrid” linebackers at 5-foot-11 and 221 pounds with 4.5 speed. Ultimately, he probably set the trend back a few years because he had no feel for the position whatsoever. He had six full seasons with overall grades in the 30s and never graded higher than 50.6 overall.”
Sims struggled to produce consistently in Detroit and never quite lived up to expectations. As a result, he was off the team by 2009 and out of the league by 2014. Sims lasted 8 years, but only put up 623 tackles and 5.5 sacks, numbers which pale in comparison to what he was expected to generate.
As a result, Sims was known more in Detroit for his eclectic taste in pets rather than anything he did on the field.
Lions Haven’t Done Well Drafting Talent
It hasn’t been just Sims the Lions have whiffed on. Recently, an interesting look was put together ranking every team by how well they draft in the first round. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Lions were very low on the list, 31st overall in terms of finding talent early in the draft even in spite of all the high picks they have enjoyed.
Writer Ian Hartitz provided a glimpse at the WAR metrics from 2010-2020, and the Lions were in their usual dubious place well down the draft board. Only Frank Ragnow, T.J. Hockenson and Ndamukong Suh earned positive WAR ratings during that span.
Hartitz wrote:
“One of the league’s perennial worst franchises unsurprisingly finds themselves at the bottom of the list, although they do deserve credit for hitting on Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson in previous drafts. Ragnow, the 2020 Pro Bowl center, is the team’s only player over the +0.2 threshold, and Hockenson figures to join him before too long. The larger issue for the Lions has been their failure to get more out of top-tier picks; Okudah needs to turn things around in a big way after a tumultuous rookie campaign.”
Detroit wants to start to build through the draft, which is a huge reason the team hired Brad Holmes to be their general manager. With some of the moves Holmes has made, it’s clear he’s going to rely on scouting and grabbing the right players to try and make up for some of these classic failures of the franchise lately in terms of securing draft talent.
At the very least, it’s hopeful that the Lions seem to realize they have a problem and are taking steps to fix it.
Recent Lions Draft History
Detroit’s had a mixed bag in the draft in the last decade since 2010. For as many picks as have been home runs, they’ve had just as many strikeouts or worse on the ledger. Names like Ndamukong Suh, Darius Slay, Quandre Diggs, Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow aside, the team hasn’t been adept at finding big-name talent in the draft for the last 10 years, especially in the first round. There’s been far too many reach picks, such as Jarrad Davis, Eric Ebron, Riley Reiff and Nick Fairley in order to judge the team a successful talent producer over that span of time.
Last season, the Lions picked up Jeff Okudah, and it’s clear that Okudah has pressure on him to turn things around quickly after a tough rookie year. As a whole, it’s been a tough run for the Lions in terms of getting talent into the mix lately.
Sims represents their biggest mistake in the minds of some in over the last 15 years.
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