Inside the Iggles
FanSided

Calvin Johnson proves Eagles can’t base current strategy on past results

By Geoffrey Knox

Calvin Johnson (L) and Derrick Moore (R) (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Calvin Johnson (L) and Derrick Moore (R) (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Philadelphia Eagles
Charles Rogers #80, Detroit Lions (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Getty Images) /

The Eagles aren’t the only NFL team to screw up early-round draft choices.

One could make very successful arguments stating that, if you’re running an NFL team and trying to build a winner, the last thing that you need to do is check out the Detroit Lions business model. How do you think they feel today knowing that they had Matthew Stafford for 12 years and couldn’t win a playoff game, but he, in his first season on a new franchise, won a Super Bowl?

The Lions should be embarrassed. That’s another story for another day, but we had to throw that out there.

Detroit has been a bad football team for a while. From 1935 until 1957, they were a model franchise, winning six of their first seven playoff games and four NFL championships (all of which preceded the AFL/NFL merger in 1970).

Since then, they’ve appeared in 13 playoff games, and they’ve lost all of them minus a Divisional Round win over the Dallas Cowboys on January 5th of 1992. You can see why this team is always picking early in the draft, right?

In 2003, Detroit drafted wide receiver Charles Rogers second-overall. Roy Williams was their selection in 2004 at number seven (they also took running back Kevin Jones 30th-overall that year). The Lions took Mike Williams in 2005 before drafting Ernie Sims, a linebacker out of the Florida State Seminoles program in 2006. Nothing seemed to be working out very well.

By the time 2007 rolled around, Rogers, who could never stay healthy, was off of the team. Williams made the Pro Bowl in 2006, but the Mike Williams thing didn’t work out. All of that led to Detroit being hesitant about taking Johnson in 2007 despite the obvious need to do so.

During 2007’s NFL Draft, they went with what some thought to be a bad idea. They drafted Calvin Johnson with the second selection of that year’s NFL Draft He wound up being one of the best decisions the team has ever made. That’s something the Birds have to think about if they’re on the clock at 15 or 18, and there’s a game-changer available at the wide receiver position.

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