Lions 2025 Draft: A history of the 28th overall pick and its outcomes
The Detroit Lions earned the 28th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after an all-time regular season ended in heartbreaking fashion in the playoffs.
It's a new normal for the Lions to be picking in the back half of the first round after several years of relying on a savior taken within the first five or so picks of the weekend. They landed at No. 29 in 2024 before trading up to No. 24 and bringing in a promising young cornerback in Terrion Arnold.
There can still be significant value late in the first round despite all of the popular names being taken early on in the night. Here's a short look at the history of teams and the players they took at No. 28:
Prior to the last 10 seasons, there have been a handful of great and not-so-great choices made at pick No. 28.
Great
1983 Washington: Darrell Green - DB Hall of Fame, 7x Pro Bowl, 1x All-Pro, 2x Super Bowl Champion, NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Derrick Brooks - LB Hall of Fame, 11x Pro Bowl, 5x All-Pro, Super Bowl Champion, 2002 Defensive Player of the Year
2007 San Francisco 49ers: Joe Staley 6x Pro Bowl, 13-season career, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
Not-So-Great
2014 Carolina Panthers: Kelvin Benjamin - WR 61 games (4 seasons), 3,021 yards, 209 receptions, 20 TD
2008 Seattle Seahawks: Lawrence Jackson - DE 69 games (5 seasons), 19.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, 141 tackles
After doing the research for this particular piece, it should feel good to Lions fans that it was a struggle to find particularly bad picks at No. 28 since the league's merger in 1970. The floor for this draft slot is pretty high, while the ceiling is Hall-of-Fame-caliber.
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