4 Lions Second-Round Draft Busts

Detroit can ill-afford to miss on this year's second-round draft selection

The Lions have had their fair share of misses in the NFL Draft throughout the years, including in the second round.

The one misfire that comes to mind the most and still eats at Detroit fans to this day is general manager Bob Quinn's selection of defensive back Teez Tabor in the second round of the 2017 draft.         

Simply, he wasn't very good during his time in a Lions uniform.

Tabor, a product of the University of Florida, ended up logging a total of 42 tackles and quite literally nothing else over the course of two seasons -- from 2017-18 -- and 22 games in Motown.      

He never recorded a single interception, pass defensed, forced fumble, fumble recovery or sack. And he was passed on to the tune of a 63 percent completion percentage -- opposing quarterbacks went 17-of-27 against him -- for 335 yards and three touchdowns.

He never found a consistent role in head coach Matt Patricia's defense when Patricia took over in 2018, and it led to him getting a higher percentage of snaps on special teams than on defense.

In fact, in Tabor's final season in Detroit, he was in on 38 percent of the team's special teams snaps and just 28 percent of the team's defensive snaps. 

Not quite what Quinn & Co. had in mind for him when they selected him in 2017.  

His lack of a defined role and largely ineffective play when he did contribute on defense caused him to be cut by the Lions in September of 2019 -- a week before the team's first regular season contest of 2019 against the Arizona Cardinals. 

© Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The other three misfires in the second round that stick out from the past decade are the drafting of former Oklahoma wide receiver Ryan Broyles in the 2012 draft and the selections of former Boise State receiver Titus Young and former Illinois running back Mikel Leshoure in the 2011 draft. 

To be fair to Quinn, all three of the aforementioned selections were made by the previous front-office regime that was led by then-team president Tom Lewand and then-general manager Martin Mayhew.  

Broyles, Young and Leshoure played a combined seven years in the league, and none of them played for a franchise other than the Lions.

They were also all out of the league by 2015. 

Broyles was the only one of the three that played three NFL seasons, as each Young and Leshoure played just two. 

Young showcased the most consistent production of the three, with 10 reception TDs through two seasons.  

What led to his demise was far from a lack of talent. And it wasn't injury-related, either. 

Instead, it was a result of behavorial issues and shoddy judgment in interactions with teammates.

One such low point for Young reportedly involved him sucker punching then-Lions safety Louis Delmas during an offseason practice in 2012.  

Since being let go by the Lions, he's been charged with more than 20 crimes. 

He was even arrested twice on the same day in 2013 -- first for driving under the influence and then later for trying to take his car out of the impound lot that it had been taken to. 

Meanwhile, the careers of Broyles and Leshoure were derailed, and ultimately cut short by injury.  

Broyles was taken by the Lions just six months after he tore the ACL in his left knee as a senior at Oklahoma.

After successfully rehabbing before the draft, he was able to make his NFL debut by late September. However, he tore the ACL in his right knee in a December loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and finished the season on injured reserve.

He then followed that up with a 2013 campaign that saw him play in just six games due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. 

And 2014 -- his first fully healthy season in the NFL -- proved to be his last year in the league. He appeared in only five games, and hauled in just two passes.

As for Leshoure, he missed his entire rookie season after tearing his Achilles tendon during a training camp practice.

He was forced to miss the first two games of his second season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, following two marijuana-related arrests in 2012.

He made his debut for the Lions in Week 3 of 2012 against the Tennessee Titans. 

His debut was successful, as he rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. 

He finished the '12 campaign with 798 yards and nine touchdowns on 215 carries. He also secured 34 receptions for 214 yards.

Leshoure failed to build upon that season. 

In 2013, Detroit signed veteran running back Reggie Bush. 

Many viewed the acquisition of Bush as a sign that the organization had lost confidence in Leshoure. And boy, were they right.  

Leshoure was not only beaten out by Benton Harbor, Mich., native Joique Bell, undrafted out of Wayne State, for the backup running back spot. 

But worse yet, he was also beaten out for the third-string job by then-rookie Theo Riddick. 

He proceeded to appear in just three games in 2013, and was waived in 2014.

If Detroit is going to find success sooner rather than later as an organization, these types of misses can't continue to happen in the NFL Draft. 

Quinn and Co. must be able to hit on their draft picks in 2020. 

If they fail to add productive players in the first couple of rounds, Quinn's and Patricia's respective tenures in Motown likely won't last past this year.

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