It's all Mike Williams' fault.
Yeah, so Joey Harrington sucked. People have missed on quarterbacks before. So Chuck Rogers was a huge pothead. No one fell out of their chair with that revelation. And who can forget such fantastic draft choices like Aaron Gibson, Terry Fair, and Andre Goodman?
Ok, Ok, so the Lions have whiffed on a whole lot of draft picks.
But nothing has killed the rebuilding effort of this franchise like the Mike Williams pick. Williams' slide to #9 in 2005 and his subsequent selection changed the course of the franchise from bad to worse. The Lions had some light at the end of their tunnel before Mike Williams was picked, and then that light immediately was blocked out by BMW's lazy, fat a$$.
Heading into the 2005 draft, Matt Millen had momentarily removed his head from his butt and announced that the team would go with a defensive player with their 1st round pick. Everything was set for them to pick Texas linebacker Derrick Johnson, a solid player who would add depth and talent to a depleted and injury-prone unit. While an unspectacular pick, Johnson was the safe and correct choice. Everyone had Mike Williams pegged as going #7 to Minnesota, and Detroit fans thought nothing of it.
The draft day came, and all hell broke loose. The Viking picked Troy Williamson instead of Mike Williams, which was widely considered a reach (and still is, as it turns out that Williamson sucks too) and all of the sudden Mike Williams is sitting there for the Lions at #9. Matt Millen, who is no smarter than a below-average Detroit Lion fan (meaning he's completely retarded) got caught up in the whole "3 super-wideout set" idea and completely disregarded some glaring issues:
#1. This guy hasn't played football in a year, had one breakout season with USC (a semi-pro team playing in college), and Detroit had not brought him in for a workout (why? B/c we DIDN'T NEED A RECEIVER!)
#2. Joey Harrington sucks. No point in having 3 great wideouts if Joey can't throw them the ball. This point was exemplified by the fact that the Offensive Line sucked as well, meaning Joey's original suckiness was magnified.
#3. The NFL is not Fantasy Football. Even if you have an awesome group of wideouts, the fact that your QB, O-Line, D-Line, Linebackers, Cornerbacks, and Safeties all suck will catch up with you.
However, in typical Millen fashion he ignored these glaring issues, diverted from the original plan, and drafted BMW. And we all drank the Kool-Aid. People were dreaming of Joey turning it around...of Chuck and Roy and Mike shredding defenses. So what if other teams did the same to our defense? Joey and the boys will just out-score 'em. (DO YOU SEE HOW INSANE THIS WAS!?!?!?)
And so BMW arrived on the scene, overweight and overhyped. During his two-year career in Detroit, BMW has had about 47 undrafted free agent wideouts play ahead of him, and his defining moment as a Lion has been dropping a game-winning touchdown pass this season, ensuring that the Lions would get a top-2 draft pick that they could screw up this year.
The incredibly disappointing thing is, Mike Williams not only helped ruin the 2005 and 2006 season on the field, but he screwed the team over in their transactions. Think of how the '06 draft could have gone if Detroit had taken D. Johnson. They could've still drafted Ernie Sims if they wanted, setting up an awesome one-two punch of young stud backers...or they coulda picked Matt Leinart, who looks pro-ready and I think will pan out to be a solid NFL quarterback.
But no, because we didn't draft Johnson, Ernie Sims is the only solid linebacker in the stable, and Matt Leinart plays for the Cardnials. But at least we have Mike Williams! And guess what? He's back to ruin this year's draft as well!
I'm not going to deflect the blame from Matt Millen, who is the real reason behind this mess, but the Mike Williams pick was just the capper. Because Mike was the 2nd whiff on a 3-year span of drafting wide receivers, there is no chance in hell that the Lions can take Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson #2 overall. Thing is, Johnson is a freak, a can't miss talent that Detroit desperately needs. But the media and public storm that would surround that selection makes it nearly impossible for Millen to take Johnson. And other teams know that, so Detroit will get lowballed by teams looking to trade up and grab Johnson or Brady Quinn (another player it looks like the Lions will be afraid to take). Everyone (myself included) wants the Lions to select Joe Thomas or Gaines Adams, but those players will be available later in the top-10. Why? Because Quinn and Johnson are franchise-caliber players. And because of their past draft gaffes, the Lions will be scared to take them.
So I guess all Lions have left is to hope that Mike Williams can pull it together and be a contributor to the team next year. That is if he doesn't get cut first. I hate Matt Millen so much....
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