How to get Fleeced by the Cleveland Browns…Millen Style

At the risk of stating the obvious, Matt Millen is an idiot. One of the few good decisions Matt ever made was drafting Shaun Rogers. Although Shaun was constantly sucking air and frequently on the side lines, he was still a perennial All-Pro candidate. He was one of the few guys that Matt could point at and say, “Look how smart I am.” Now Shaun is gone, traded to the Browns for a third round pick and cornerback Leigh Bodden. We can only assume that Matt will use this pick wisely.

After seven years on the job, you would think that Matt would know his strengths and weaknesses as a GM. This trade shows he has absolutely no clue how bad of a talent evaluator he actually is. Matt has made 36 draft choices in the third round or later since becoming the Lions general manager in 2001. Of those 36 picks, only nine are still on the roster. Of those nine, three were drafted last year, so Matt is probably unwilling to give up on those guys just yet. Cory Redding and Keith Smith are the only consistent contributors of the 36. For those scoring at home, that is two good decisions out of 36 (5.6%). Not to worry Millen-haters, Matt followed up one of his few good decisions with a god-awful one when he gave Redding a seven-year, 49 million dollar contract in 2007, making him the highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL. Cory rewarded Matt’s good faith by turning in a one-sack-and-37-tackles season in 2007.

So, Lions fans, with the third round pick that we acquired for Rogers, there is a 2.8% chance that the drafted man will be an average NFL player. There is a 75% chance that the player will be cut within a few years and there is a 94.4% chance that the best we get out of this pick is a special teams’ player. We were just outsmarted by the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that had their team stolen in the middle of the night, and until last year, was equally as embarrassing as the Lions.

Scroll down and take a look at the talent that Millen has snatched off the draft board since his arrival in 2001. (The players with the lines through their names are no longer on the team. You can pretty much add Bailey and Lehman to the list of castaways. All indications have them gone by mini-camp.)

2001 Lions Draft 1. LT – Jeff Backus
2. C – Dominic Raiola
3. DT – Shaun Rogers
4. WR – Scotty Anderson
5. QB – Mike McMahon
6. LB – Jason Glenn

2002 Lions Draft

1. QB – Joey Harrington
2. DE – Kalimba Edwards
3. CB – Andre Goodman
4.LB – John Taylor
6. CB – Chris Cash
7. RB – Luke Staley
7. TE – Matt Muprhy
7. OT – Victor Rogers

2003 Lions Draft

1. WR- Charles Rogers
2. LB – Boss Bailey
3. DT – Cory Redding
4. RB – Artose Pinner
5. FS – Terrence Holt
5. LB – James Davis
6. WR – David Kircus
6. OT- Ben Johnson
6. CB – Blue Adams
7. FB – Brandon Drumm
7. WR – Travis Anglin

2004 Lions Draft

1. WR – Roy Williams
2. RB – Kevin Jones
3. LB – Teddy Lehman
4. CB – Keith Smith
5. LB – Alex Lewis
6. OT – Kelly Butler

2005 Lions Draft

1. WR – Mike Williams
2. DL – Shaun Cody
3. S – Stanley Wilson
4. QB – Dan Orlovsky
5. DE – Dan Swancutt
6. DE – Jonathon Goodard

2006 Lions Draft

1. LB – Ernie Sims
2. S – Daniel Bullocks
3. RB – Brian Calhoun
5. T- Jonathon Scott
6. CB – Dee McCann
7. OG – Fred Matua
7. LB – Anthony Cannon

2007 Lions Draft

1. WR – Calvin Johnson
2. QB – Drew Stanton
2. DE – Ikaika Alama-Francis
2. S – Gerald Alexander
4. CB – A.J. Davis
4. G – Manuel Ramirez
5. LB – Johnny Baldwin
7. DB – Ramzee Robinson
Matt Millen has drafted 52 players since 2001. Six of those players are now Lions’ starters (which is not to say that they are actually good players). You build a good NFL team through the draft and the Lions have destroyed their team through awful draft, after awful draft. As I stated above, I am not breaking ground with anything I have said in this post, but when you put all the numbers (31-81 is another important one) in one place, you have to give Millen credit for what he is: the worst executive in the history of sports.

Fire Millen.

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