Detroit Lions: 5 worst NFL Draft picks in franchise history
QB. 1990-93. Andre Ware. 2. player. 50.
Looking to add a quarterback of the future, the Detroit Lions went in the direction of Heisman-winning gunslinger Andre Ware with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. He put up some truly eye-popping numbers during his Heisman campaign with Houston in 1989, passing for 4,699 yards and 46 touchdowns.
Detroit was hoping that success at the collegiate level would translate into some playoff wins, but that never happened.
The tandem of Ware and Barry Sanders looked to be one that would dominate the league for years to come, but one kept trending upward while the other was out of the league by 1995. Hint: the latter was not Barry Sanders.
Head coach Wayne Fontes apparently didn’t think he was worthy of the seventh overall pick as he sat behind Rodney Peete and Erik Kramer for his entire Lions career. He was used when the games didn’t matter or if they were already out of hand, and that did nothing for his confidence.
Over his four-year career with the Lions, he was just 3-3 in six starts, appearing in 14 games and passing for 1,112 yards and five touchdowns with eight interceptions while barely completing over 51 percent of his throws.
The Lions let him walk after the 1993 season and he spent the rest of his career in the Canadian Football League as well as Europe.
Next: 1. Charles Rogers