Barry Sanders, Amon-Ra St. Brown among Lions cited as best picks ever in their draft slots

USA Today

06-07-2025

Doing a full, seven-round mock draft each year is a grueling exercise in and of itself. The exercise recently undertaken by Ben Solak of ESPN takes that to a new level altogether.
Solak recently went through and gave his picks for the best draft pick at every draft slot all-time. That's going through every selection through the years, going from 1-262.
Knowing that, it's almost expected that at least one Detroit Lions player would find himself on this list. Indeed, there are a few on this list, including a current star on the offense in wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown as the best pick ever at slot No. 121.
But the big one, as should almost be expected, is the great Barry Sanders at No. 3 overall. Solak does admit this was a challenging one for him as two Hall of Fame offensive linemen, Anthony Munoz and Joe Thomas, were also selected third overall. In the end, Solak goes with the Lions legend.
'The pick at No. 3 was one of the most challenging of the early selections. Both Anthony Munoz and Joe Thomas are Hall of Famers for their longevity -- not just for career length but also for sticking it out with one squad (mostly). Sanders, in comparison, retired earlier than some expected and could have cleared Walter Payton's career rushing record had he kept it chugging (he finished with 15,269 yards, 1,457 behind Payton).
'I gave the edge to Sanders for his stylistic impact on the game and his lasting impact on Detroit football; he is still the best Lion in history, whereas neither Munoz nor Thomas is the best Bengal or Brown, respectively. But this was close.'
One more current Lion made this list, that being safety Kerby Joseph at pick No. 97.
'Joseph is the most recently-drafted player on our list thus far, but what do you want from me -- the competition is not steep. Joseph just led the league in interceptions (nine) and got first-team All-Pro recognition. So long as he gets another All-Pro nod, he's almost certainly the best player taken with pick No. 97.'
There were a few players who played a late-career year or two in Detroit who made the list too, guys like Adrian Peterson, Pat Swilling and Anquan Boldin.