Since we're talking about bad draft picks, I think it's time for one of those old walks down memory lane, y'all. Wanna walk through the past few GMs and their draft classes?

We're gonna go back a ways.

So the Lions have always had a wonky front office set up. How they've had it under Wood/Quinn/Patricia is probably the most easily understood power structure they've had in decades, and probably the best organized (in theory, obviously, still gotta hire the right people).

Pre-Millen, they had a guy named Chuck Schmidt.

Schmidt took over the Lions in 1989 and was pretty stand offish. Kind of like how Rod Wood is today, really, he just kinda hired people and then pissed off somewhere.

In fact, MFer doesn't even have a wiki page. He just kind of existed. They never even fired him, he resigned. in 2001 a day after hiring Matt Millen.

In that span, the team's head coaches (Wayne Fontes, Bobby Ross and Gary Moeller) managed the team. But we'll look at them anyway

1989 saw the Lions under Wayne Fontes. They went 7-9, but they drafted some Barry Sanders guy in the first round and I think he did okay.

Their 2nd round pick was a guy named John Ford. You'll be forgiven for not remembering him, he only played in 1989 and only caught five passes. Hell of an athlete in his time, but never amounted to anything.

Third round pick was Mike Utley, who is unfortunately remembered for reasons other than being a great player, but he was one. He was paralyzed in 1991 and never played again.

In the 4th round they drafted Ray Crockett, who would play in the NFL for 11 seasons, though only five for Detroit.

He was pretty good.

The rest of that draft was pretty much a wash, even if you include Rodney Peete who was drafted in the 6th round.

So first draft for Fontes had some ups and downs, but overall landed some good talent and one gold star guy.

And then nothing bad ever happened to the Detroit Lions again.

1990 saw the Lions take Andre Ware 7th overall. He was...not as good as Barry Sanders. Rodney Peete, drafted the year before and far later outperformed Ware in every way.

They took Dan Owens in the 2nd round and he was fine. Had 20 sacks over eight total seasons with Detroit, but had two of his best years playing in Atlanta.

3rd rounder Marc Spindler fared far worse, 9.5 sacks over 7 seasons.

4th rder Rob Hinckley never played.

Their other 4th rounder, Chris Oldham, played all 16 games as a rookie then became a journeyman, floating around wherever.

8th rounder Roman Fortin was a Center and he started 102 games...100 of which were not for Detroit. He was gone by 1992.

Their other 8 picks aren't worth mentioning. Moving on.

1991 saw the Lions take Herman Moore with the 10th overall pick, their third top ten pick so far.

He was what historians refer to as "Dope as hell" and "Pretty damn amazing by any metric" so we don't need to say much here.

There's no Herman Moore gif, so here's Herman Munster.

The rest of that draft class?

Nine players, collectively playing in 13 seasons total, six of which were from 5th round tackle Scott Conover, only one as a full time starter.

They had no 2nd round pick, and 3rd round WR Reggie Barrett caught 4 passes in 2 seasons.

Another super athlete who didn't pan out, but don't worry, 17 years later they'd land a 10.00 RAS guy who hits hard.

They went 12-4 in 1991, the high water mark of not only Wayne Fontes' career but the Lions in general. Their drafts overall were shaky, but the superstar talent they landed would carry the team for years, off and on.

No Wayne Fontes gif, so here's Garth for whatever.

Drafting later in the round, and with fewer picks to work with, the Lions take Robert Porcher with the 26th overall pick in 1992.

He was great and we have nothing bad to say about him.

No gif for Procher either, but here's one that came up searching his name that is ominous.

Their two second round picks were Tracy Scroggins, another DE, who played until 2001, all for Detroit. He was a good pick, notching 60.5 sacks in his career.

The other guy was a kicker. Jason Hanson is a boss, but boss as he is you know that kinda thing wouldn't fly in 2020.

The rest of that class was a wash, but at least they hit early.

That high water mark for Fontes and the Lions? They went 5-11 the following year, going from first to last in their division. Womp womp.

1993 saw the team with only six picks, and it was...something.

2nd rounder CB Ryan McNeil played 11 season, but only 4 for Detroit and he was okay.

LB Antonio London played 5 years for Detroit, but only started parts of two. He notched 13 sacks and 119 tackles in five years.

Mike Compton was their 3rd round pick and hit the best for the team. He was a good guard for nearly a decade here.

The rest of the class stuck around a while, but none did anything of note for the Lions or anyone else.

Here's a 1993 gif.

Apparently have to restart my compy, so I'll be back in a few.

1994 starts off with another WR (We haven't even gotten to the part of Lions history where this becomes a running gag!).

Johnnie Morton would be a pretty good pick, landing some solid years in a strong career.

Tony Semple (5th rd)was a solid, if unremarkable guard over a long career in Detroit. Depth, eventually a spot starter later in his career.

The rest of that draft class, though, no bueno.

2nd rder Van Malone wasn't good, neither was 3rd rder Shane Bonham.

1995 was the last time Fontes would make the playoffs, and would be his third wildcard loss in a row.

His draft netted Luther Ellis, who was very good, and fan favorite David Sloan at tight end.

5th rder Stephen Boyd became a pro bowler, while 6th rder Corey Slesinger was great

All in all, it was a good draft, but the team would only win 5 games in 1996 and that was the end of Fontes.

Both Reggie Brown and Jeff Hartings didn't work out as 1st round picks, though for different reasons. Brown struggled before a career ending injury in 1997, while Hartings was very good, but simply moved on to greener pastures at the end of his rookie deal.

The rest of that draft, Ryan Stewart, Brad Ford, and Kerwin Waldroup, didn't work out at all.

Ultimately, the Wayne Fontes era was all about high risk and high reward. He often drafted players who tested off the charts, but usually too early. Talented players who found their footing were done in by Wayne Fontes the coach, who was never consistent enough to stay on top.

You know that moment on a roller coaster where you sit right at the crest of the big drop and the whole car seems to hover in that moment for a few seconds?

1997 saw the Lions bring in Bobby Ross, who would go 9-7 in his first season in Detroit.

While Wayne Fontes had Barry Sanders, Bobby Ross had Bryant Westbrook.

Westbrook actually had a solid rookie and sophomore season, but it quickly went off the rails. He started getting hurt a lot in 1999 and in 2000 he tore his achilles. 20 years later and we're only just now seeing guys rejuvinate their careers from that, back then that was it.

The rest of that draft? 2nd rounders Juan Roque (OT) and Kevin Abrams (DB) didn't do much at all. Roque only ever started 3 games and was out of the league after year 2.

The rest of the class was nothing worth mentioning.

The team drafted Terry Fair in 1998, yes a DB after a DB the year before (this has been and will be a trend). Fair was like his name. Not what you want from a first rounder.

2nd rders Germaine Crowell and Charlie Batch?

Crowell had one really good year (1,338 yds and 7TDs!) and four poor ones (adding up to about 1400 yds and 9 TDs).

Batch started fo ra bit in Detroit, but was never very good. He would be one of the best backups in the NFL for nearly a decade, though, and is now a coach.

With his carriage fully hitched to Charlie Batch and having missed badly on his OL picks, Bobby Ross drafted Chris Claiborne in 1999 and Aaron Gibson in the first round.

Claiborne, like Fair, was alright. Not what you want with your first rounders.

Aaron Gibson? He washed out of Detroit by year two due to injuries.

2nd rounder Jared Devries stuck around for a long time, but was often injured. Playing for 10 seasons in Detroit, he had only 16.5 career sacks.

I'm not going to bother with the rest of this draft class, because they did nothing and this was just an awful draft for Detroit.

Bobby Ross's final draft was in 2000.

He liked big tackles who couldn't play, so he took another one in Stockar McDougle with his first pick.

His second pick was Barrett Green, another mediocre linebacker.

3rd rounder Reuben Droughns was gone by 2002.

Nobody else to mention

So as much as we like to clown Bob Quinn, Martin Mayhew, and even Matt Millen, I want to take a small aside to just remind everyone both how incredibly inept Bobby Ross the GM was and how much Barry Sanders and co. carried the Detroit Lions.

Bob Quinn wasn't great, but just contrast and compare:

Okudah,Hockenson,Ragnow,Davis, and Decker

vs

McDougle,Claiborne,Gibson,Fair, and Westbrook

So while we all agree Quinn's firing was justifiable, miss me with the "Worst GM ever" nonsense, we've seen MUCH worse.

The year is 2001.

The Lions have had four back to back bad drafts.

Barry Sanders is retired, Herman Moore is soon to follow. Charlie Batch is your starting QB.

We crested over that hill and are headed into a free fall. It will be more than a decade before this team breaks .500

2001 saw 'fan favorites' Jeff Backus, Dominic Raiola, and Shaun Rogers picked up in the firs two rounds of Matt Millen's tenure. They combined for more than 550 games played in their careers and had their ups and downs.

This year was important for a different reason, though.

Matt Millen's hiring in 2001 marked a shift in the Detroit Lions front office. No longer was Chuck Schmidt mulling about somewhere while the coaches had free reign to make a mess of things. No, we had a General Manager.

No gif of Millen, so here's an orangutan.

2002 was the Joey Blue Skies draft! We've got a franchise quarterback!

This era does not end well.

2nd rounder Kalimba Edwards was around for a while. He wasn't very good.

3d rder Andre' Goodman ended up being alright, but only years after he left Detroit.

Roudns 4-7 were a wash.

The beginning of an era!

2002 saw the Lions draft Charles Rogers despite him being an anthropomorphized red flag. As a player, he was awful, injured, and often in trouble.

Sadly, he died last year.

Fan favorite Boss Bailey was next and he was an alright 2nd round pick.

Cory Redding was the 3rd pick and he was also pretty alright.

Artose Pinner was 4th and he was very bad.

Value wise, they hit on two later rd guys in Terrence Holt and James Davis. The last 4 picks missed.

2004 saw the Lions draft ANOTHER 1st round WR in Roy Williams. He would go on to give Megatron his nickname and to allow the Lions to rob the Cowboys. Otherwise, terrible pick.

Tell me if you've heard this one before.

Lions drafted an early round (1st) RB who flashed some talent but injuries ultimately led to a drop in play, snaps, and eventually moving on.

Kevin Jones, 30th overall.

Their 2nd rounder, Teddy Lehman, started hot then bombed.

3rd-7th rounders washed.

2005 and Lions took, you guessed it, ANOTHER wide receiver.

Mike Williams was big and awful.

2nd rder Shaun Cody was alright, mostly after he left.

3rd-7th washed, EXCEPT Dan Orlovsky who became an okay backup and eventual media guy.