Detroit Lions 10 Biggest Draft Busts: The Millen Edition

Matt Millen was the general manager of the Detroit Lions from 2000-2008. He was hired to be general manager without any organizational experience at all.  In Millen’s eight years, the Lions were 31-97, the worst eight-year span in modern league history. Those horrific numbers can be tied directly to his inability to find talent in the draft.  As it turns out, the Lions would have been better off signing Millen to play linebacker for them.

The city of Detroit loves its sports stars with a passion.  Players become cult-like heroes and are loved for life, and stories about those players get handed down generation to generation.  They become legends, forever.

If the fans in this city feel like they have been done wrong, you can expect an entirely different story, and the simple mention of Matt Millen's name evokes an unexplainable misery.  

I did not include Charles Rogers in this list, although an argument can be made that he should be in the top 10, but injuries played a role in the Charles Rogers saga.  Let's have that discussion in the comments section.  We can have a little debate, as there are a lot of Matt Millen draft busts to debate.

Millen had the special ability to find busts all through the draft, and here is a look at the 10 players that turned out to be especially bad picks.  With the amount of draft pick busts to work with, it is hard to narrow the field to only 10.  This list is not in any particular order.

Joey Harrington

Joey Harrington was selected in the first round of the 2002 NFL draft with the third overall pick.  Harrington came to Detroit from the University of Oregon and was supposed to be the quarterback of the future.  This was one of Millen's first draft mistakes, and it was a huge one.

Harrington played for the Lions from 2002-2005 and was traded after the 2005 season to the Miami Dolphins for a fifth-round draft pick.  Harrington started 55 games and accumulated a record of 18 wins and 37 losses.  He threw 60 TD passes and 62 interceptions as a Detroit Lions quarterback.

Harrington played for the Dolphins for one season, signed a two-year deal with Atlanta in April of 2007 and finished his career as a backup for the New Orleans Saints in 2009.

Kalimba Edwards

Kalimba Edwards was selected in the second round of the 2002 NFL draft with the 35th overall pick.  Edwards came to Detroit from South Carolina.  He came to the Lions early in the 2002 NFL draft as a rangy defensive end and a player who was going to make opposing offenses pay with his pass rush skills.

Edwards played with the Lions from 2002 through the 2007 season and was released in March of 2008.  He never lived up to his potential and was one of the players that was a source of frustration for fans, as Millen always talked about how great he could be.  He finished his Lions career with 160 tackles and 26 sacks.

Edwards signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Oakland Raiders in March of 2008 and was released less than one year later.

Boss Bailey

Boss Bailey was selected in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft with the 34th overall pick.  Bailey came to Detroit from the University of Georgia as a three-year starter for the Bulldogs.  Bailey was a premier college player who would eventually struggle to stay healthy enough to play in the NFL.  This is the start of a bad trend for Millen: relying on college production too much and making the mistake of thinking college production would equal professional production.

Bailey played for the Lions from 2003 through 2007.  He moved from strong side linebacker to middle and back again and was injured constantly.  He missed the entire 2004 season with a knee injury.  He had 265 tackles and seven sacks in his Lions career.

Bailey signed a five-year, $17.5 million deal with the Denver Broncos in March of 2008 and was released in June of 2009.

Teddy Lehman

Teddy Lehman was selected in the second round of the 2004 NFL draft with the 37th overall pick.  Lehman came to Detroit from the University of Oklahoma as a two-time All-American.  Another very productive college player at the linebacker position that would come to the Lions and struggle to stay healthy enough to make the impact that Millen needed.

Lehman played for the Lions from 2004 through the 2007 season.  He would start 16 games as a rookie, but those would be the only starts of his entire career with the Lions.  He finished his Lions career with 157 tackles and one sack.

Lehman signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008 but was released prior to the 2008 season.  After his release from Tampa Bay, he re-signed with the Lions in July of 2008 but was injured and placed on injured reserve in August of 2008.  He last played in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 2008, where he registered three tackles.  Lehman played with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the UFL in 2009 and 2010.

Mike Williams

Mike Williams was selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft with the 10th overall pick.  Williams came to Detroit from the University of Southern California.  Williams was another high-profile college prospect to get over-drafted by Millen.

Williams challenged an NFL rule that a player be three years removed from high school and lost.  After declaring for the 2004 NFL draft and hiring an agent, he was deemed ineligible and he missed the entire 2004 college season.  Millen was gambling by taking a young player that had been out of the game for a full season, a player that some considered too big (heavy) and slow for the wide receiver position.

This pick is perhaps the pick that sent the fans of the Lions over the edge, as they viewed it unnecessary to take a wide receiver in the first round of the NFL draft three straight years.  Millen's arrogance had caught up with him and fans were officially going Lions free.

Williams played with the Lions in 2005 and 2006 and was traded with Josh McCown to the Oakland Raiders for a fourth-round pick during the 2007 NFL draft.  He caught 37 passes for 449 yards and two TDs for the Lions. 

Williams played with the Raiders and Tennessee Titans in 2007 and was out of football in 2008 and 2009.  He signed with the Seattle Seahawks in April of 2010 and was reunited with college coach Pete Carroll.  He remains a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

Brian Calhoun

Brian Calhoun was selected in the third round of the 2006 NFL draft with the 74th overall pick.  Calhoun came to Detroit from the University of Wisconsin as a small running back who had a very productive college career.  The trend continued as fans and draft pundits questioned with the decision-making behind this pick.  This pick made no sense, as the feeling was that Calhoun would have been available later in the draft.

Calhoun played with the Lions from 2006 through 2008.  Calhoun tore his ACL as a rookie and missed the entire 2006 season.  He was released in May of 2009.  He finished his Lions career with 54 total rushing yards and zero TDs.

Calhoun is a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. 

Drew Stanton

Drew Stanton was selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft with the 43rd overall pick.  Stanton came to Detroit from Michigan State University.  Skeptical fans looked at this pick cross eyed, as Stanton was not a threat to be drafted this early in this draft.  The thought was that Millen was pandering to the home fans by picking a quarterback from inside the state.

Stanton is a member of the Detroit Lions and has been since 2007.  He missed his rookie season with a knee injury and remains the No. 3 quarterback behind Matt Stafford and Shaun Hill.  Stanton has started four games in his NFL career with the Lions.

Ikaika Alama-Francis

Ikaika Alama-Francis was selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft with the 58th overall pick.  Alama-Francis came to Detroit from the University of Hawaii.  Matt Millen and the Lions traded up into the second round (they gave up pick No. 66 and pick No. 145 for pick No. 58) to draft a player that no one had heard of.  This is the definition of a reach.

Alama-Francis played for the Lions in 2007 and 2008.  He recorded 35 tackles and one sack as a member of the Lions.  Alama-Francis was released in September of 2009.

He signed a free-agent deal with the Miami Dolphins in November of 2009 and remains a member of the Dolphins.

Gerald Alexander

Gerald Alexander was selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft with the 61st overall pick.  Alexander came to Detroit from Boise State.  The Lions traded up into the second round (they gave up pick No. 74 and pick No. 101 for pick No. 61) to draft a safety who had a nice college career.

Alexander played with the Lions in 2007 and 2008.  He started 16 games as a rookie in 2007 and one game in 2008, recording 88 tackles and two interceptions.  He was traded in June of 2009 to the Jacksonville Jaguars for wide receiver Dennis Northcutt.

Alexander was released by Jacksonville in October of 2010, signed by Carolina and became a free agent after the 2010 season.  He signed a free-agent deal with the Miami Dolphins in August of 2011, was released by the Dolphins and signed by the New York Jets as a depth player at the end of the 2011 season. 

Jordon Dizon

Jordon Dizon was selected in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft with the 45th overall pick.  Dizon came to Detroit from the University of Colorado.  Millen explained that he was the solution to the middle linebacker problem, but fans and experts questioned the pick because of his small stature.

Dizon played with the Lions from 2008 through 2010.  He struggled with injuries his entire career and never really got off the ground at the NFL level.  He tallied 37 tackles and one sack in his career with the Detroit Lions.  Dizon was moved to the outside linebacker position in 2009.  He tore ligaments in his knee in August of 2010 and was placed on injured reserve.  The Lions released him in July of 2011.