# List of Detroit Lions first-round draft picks

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the North Division of the National Football Conference. The franchise was founded in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Portsmouth Spartans and joined the NFL on July 12, 1930. After being purchased by George A. Richards in 1934, the franchise was relocated to Detroit and renamed to the Detroit Lions in reference to the city's Major League Baseball franchise, the Detroit Tigers. The team plays its home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.
The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.
In 1936, the league introduced the NFL draft after team owners voted on it in 1935. The intention of the draft is to make the NFL more competitive, as some teams had an advantage in signing players. From 1947 through 1958 the NFL designated the first overall selection as a "bonus" or "lottery pick". The pick was awarded by a random draw and the winner who received the "bonus pick" forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft and became ineligible for future draws. The system was abolished prior to the 1959 NFL draft, as all twelve teams in the league at the time had received a bonus choice.
Since the first draft, the Lions have selected 92 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in the inaugural NFL draft was Sid Wagner, a guard from Michigan State; he was the 8th overall selection. The Lions have held the first overall pick four times and selected Frank Sinkwich in 1943, Leon Hart in 1950, Billy Sims in 1980, and Matthew Stafford in 2009. In the most recent draft, held in 2024, the Lions selected Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold.
The Lions did not draft a player in the first round on seven occasions. Seven of the team's first-round picks—Otto Graham, Calvin Johnson, Alex Karras, Johnny Robinson, Barry Sanders, Y. A. Tittle, and Alex Wojciechowicz—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; two of these, Graham and Tittle, chose not to play for the Lions and joined the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) instead. The Lions also used three first-round picks in the 1960s to select players–Pete Beathard, John Hadl, and Johnny Robinson–who chose to sign with the NFL's pre-merger direct competitor, the American Football League (AFL) instead.

## Player selections

Key :
| Symbol | Meaning |
| † | Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| * | Selected number one overall |
Position abbreviations :
| C | Center |
| CB | Cornerback |
| DB | Defensive back |
| DE | Defensive end |
| DT | Defensive tackle |
| E | End |
| FB | Fullback |
| G | Guard |
| HB | Halfback |
| LB | Linebacker |
| QB | Quarterback |
| RB | Running back |
| S | Safety |
| T | Tackle |
| TE | Tight end |
| WB | Wingback |
| WR | Wide receiver |
Detroit Lions first-round draft picks by season :
| Season | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
| 1936 | 8 | Sid Wagner | G | Michigan State | |
| 1937 | 7 | Lloyd Cardwell | HB | Nebraska | |
| 1938 | 6 | Alex Wojciechowicz† | C | Fordham | |
| 1939 | 7 | John Pingel | HB | Michigan State | |
| 1940 | 6 | Doyle Nave | QB | USC | Declined to play football |
| 1941 | 5 | Jim Thomason | WB | Texas A&M | |
| 1942 | 5 | Bob Westfall | FB | Michigan | |
| 1943 | 1 | Frank Sinkwich* | RB | Georgia | |
| 1944 | 4 | Otto Graham† | QB | Northwestern | Did not sign with team |
| 1945 | 6 | Frank Szymanski | C | Notre Dame | |
| 1946 | 8 | Bill Dellastatious | HB | Missouri | Never played in the NFL |
| 1947 | 2 | Glenn Davis | HB | Army | Player rights traded to Los Angeles Rams |
| 1948 | 6 | Y. A. Tittle† | QB | LSU | Original pick traded to Pittsburgh Steelers. Pick received in trade with Los Angeles Rams. Signed with the Baltimore Colts of the AAFC. |
| 1949 | 2 | John Rauch | QB | Georgia | Player rights traded to New York Yanks |
| 1950 | 1 | Leon Hart* | E | Notre Dame | Lottery bonus pick |
| 1950 | 5 | Joe Watson | C | Rice | |
| 1951 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to Philadelphia Eagles |
| 1952 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to Cleveland Browns |
| 1953 | 13 | Harley Sewell | G | Texas | |
| 1954 | 13 | Dick Chapman | T | Rice | Did not sign with team |
| 1955 | 12 | Dave Middleton | E | Auburn | |
| 1956 | 3 | Howard Cassady | HB | Ohio State | |
| 1957 | 12 | Bill Glass | G | Baylor | |
| 1958 | 10 | Alex Karras† | DT | Iowa | |
| 1959 | 6 | Nick Pietrosante | FB | Notre Dame | |
| 1960 | 3 | Johnny Robinson† | DB | LSU | Signed for the AFL's Dallas Texans instead |
| 1961 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to Cleveland Browns |
| 1962 | 10 | John Hadl | RB | Kansas | Signed for the AFL's San Diego Chargers instead |
| 1963 | 12 | Daryl Sanders | T | Ohio State | |
| 1964 | 5 | Pete Beathard | QB | USC | Signed for the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs instead |
| 1965 | 11 | Tom Nowatzke | FB | Indiana | |
| 1966 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick forfeited to Green Bay Packers |
| 1967 | 7 | Mel Farr | RB | UCLA | |
| 1968 | 11 | Greg Landry | QB | UMass | |
| 1968 | 24 | Earl McCullouch | WR | USC | Pick received in trade with Los Angeles Rams |
| 1969 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to Los Angeles Rams |
| 1970 | 19 | Steve Owens | RB | Oklahoma | |
| 1971 | 21 | Bob Bell | DT | Cincinnati | |
| 1972 | 16 | Herb Orvis | DT | Colorado | |
| 1973 | 17 | Ernie Price | DE | Texas A&I | Moved up draft order in trade with Chicago Bears |
| 1974 | 8 | Ed O'Neil | LB | Penn State | Moved up draft order in trade with New Orleans Saints |
| 1975 | 13 | Lynn Boden | G | South Dakota State | |
| 1976 | 10 | James Hunter | DB | Grambling State | Pick received from Los Angeles Rams. Moved down draft order in trade with Chicago Bears. |
| 1976 | 16 | Lawrence Gaines | RB | Wyoming | |
| 1977 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to Buffalo Bills |
| 1978 | 11 | Luther Bradley | DB | Notre Dame | |
| 1979 | 10 | Keith Dorney | T | Penn State | |
| 1980 | 1 | Billy Sims* | RB | Oklahoma | |
| 1981 | 16 | Mark Nichols | WR | San Jose State | |
| 1982 | 15 | Jimmy Williams | LB | Nebraska | |
| 1983 | 13 | James Jones | FB | Florida | |
| 1984 | 20 | David Lewis | TE | California | |
| 1985 | 6 | Lomas Brown | T | Florida | |
| 1986 | 12 | Chuck Long | QB | Iowa | |
| 1987 | 7 | Reggie Rogers | DT | Washington | |
| 1988 | 3 | Bennie Blades | DB | Miami | Moved down draft order in trade with Kansas City Chiefs |
| 1989 | 3 | Barry Sanders† | RB | Oklahoma State | |
| 1990 | 7 | Andre Ware | QB | Houston | |
| 1991 | 10 | Herman Moore | WR | Virginia | |
| 1992 | 26 | Robert Porcher | DE | South Carolina State | |
| 1993 | No pick | No pick | No pick | No pick | Pick traded to New Orleans Saints |
| 1994 | 21 | Johnnie Morton | WR | USC | |
| 1995 | 20 | Luther Elliss | DT | Utah | |
| 1996 | 17 | Reggie Brown | LB | Texas A&M | Moved up draft order in trade with Seattle Seahawks |
| 1996 | 23 | Jeff Hartings | G | Penn State | |
| 1997 | 5 | Bryant Westbrook | DB | Texas | |
| 1998 | 20 | Terry Fair | DB | Tennessee | |
| 1999 | 9 | Chris Claiborne | LB | USC | |
| 1999 | 27 | Aaron Gibson | T | Wisconsin | Moved up draft order in trade with Miami Dolphins |
| 2000 | 20 | Stockar McDougle | T | Oklahoma | |
| 2001 | 18 | Jeff Backus | T | Michigan | |
| 2002 | 3 | Joey Harrington | QB | Oregon | |
| 2003 | 2 | Charles Rogers | WR | Michigan State | |
| 2004 | 7 | Roy Williams | WR | Texas | Moved down draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns |
| 2004 | 30 | Kevin Jones | RB | Virginia Tech | Moved up draft order in trade with Kansas City Chiefs |
| 2005 | 10 | Mike Williams | WR | USC | |
| 2006 | 9 | Ernie Sims | LB | Florida State | |
| 2007 | 2 | Calvin Johnson† | WR | Georgia Tech | |
| 2008 | 17 | Gosder Cherilus | T | Boston College | Moved down draft order in trade with Kansas City Chiefs |
| 2009 | 1 | Matthew Stafford* | QB | Georgia | |
| 2009 | 20 | Brandon Pettigrew | TE | Oklahoma State | Pick received in trade with Dallas Cowboys |
| 2010 | 2 | Ndamukong Suh | DT | Nebraska | |
| 2010 | 30 | Jahvid Best | RB | California | Moved up draft order in trade with Minnesota Vikings |
| 2011 | 13 | Nick Fairley | DT | Auburn | |
| 2012 | 23 | Riley Reiff | T | Iowa | |
| 2013 | 5 | Ezekiel Ansah | DE | BYU | |
| 2014 | 10 | Eric Ebron | TE | North Carolina | |
| 2015 | 28 | Laken Tomlinson | G | Duke | Moved down draft order in trade with Denver Broncos |
| 2016 | 16 | Taylor Decker | T | Ohio State | |
| 2017 | 21 | Jarrad Davis | LB | Florida | |
| 2018 | 20 | Frank Ragnow | C | Arkansas | |
| 2019 | 8 | T. J. Hockenson | TE | Iowa | |
| 2020 | 3 | Jeff Okudah | CB | Ohio State | |
| 2021 | 7 | Penei Sewell | T | Oregon | |
| 2022 | 2 | Aidan Hutchinson | DE | Michigan | |
| 2022 | 12 | Jameson Williams | WR | Alabama | Moved up draft order in trade with Minnesota Vikings |
| 2023 | 12 | Jahmyr Gibbs | RB | Alabama | Moved down draft order in trade with Arizona Cardinals |
| 2023 | 18 | Jack Campbell | LB | Iowa | |
| 2024 | 24 | Terrion Arnold | CB | Alabama | Moved up draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys |