Detroit Lions: Six worst first-round draft picks of all-time
By Bob Heyrman
Joey Harrington
Some people will claim when the Detroit Lions selected Joey Harrington out of the University of Oregon; he never had a fair chance. Don’t forget how bad Detroit was in 2002 when they selected Harrington with the third overall pick.
‘Joey blue skies’ as we like to call him was the second quarterback taken in ’02 behind David Carr, who went to Houston with the first overall pick. The only other quarterback to go in the first round was Patrick Ramsey, who was taken with the final pick in the round by the Washington Redskins.
Times have changed, those were the only three quarterbacks selected until Arizona selected Josh McCown in the middle of the third round with the 81st pick. The only other quarterback taken in the first 100 picks was David Garrard by Jacksonville. When you consider the talent, plus Detroit needed to pick a quarterback, but it was one of the weaker draft classes for the position in NFL history.
Coming out of college Harrington was a Heisman Trophy candidate, and an All-American. Looking back Detroit should have passed on a quarterback and taken either Ed Reed or Dwight Freeny. Maybe even Albert Hansworth, but when an organization needs a quarterback, they’ll always choose that position over any other.
Harrington was thrown into the fire as a rookie starting immediately, earning an unimpressive 3-13 record. Harrington would finish his four-year Lions career with an 18-37 record. He only completed 54.7 percent of his passes, for an NFL starting quarterback that’s nothing short of atrocious. During his four year Detroit career, Harrington only eclipsed a 3000 yard passing season once; he averaged a mere 2560 passing yards per season.
Harrington played two more seasons after Detroit, one in Miami, the other in Atlanta eventually before the age of 30.
I must say, I happened to be in attendance during the 2006 Thanksgiving Day match-up between the Dolphins and Lions. Harrington returned to Detroit, leading the Phins to a victory behind his four passing touchdowns. He threw 4 of his 12 touchdowns on the season in that game. How depressing is that?