The Detroit Lions have been making all the right moves in recent years, which has helped the team revive itself and become a true contender.
However, the success the Lions have had in personnel moves under general manager Brad Holmes is more of an outlier for the franchise rather than the norm, and that’s a big reason why the team has never won a Super Bowl.
Before Holmes, former general manager Bob Quinn made his fair share of mistakes to set the team back. One of the most high-profile moves Quinn made was the trade of Darius Slay to the Philadelphia Eagles, which Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox ranked among the worst moves in the NFL over the last 10 years.
“Not only did Detroit part with Slay before their playoff window opened, but it also sent him to a conference rival that twice did with Slay what the Lions never have — appear in a Super Bowl,” Knox wrote.
To be quite honest, it’s too harsh to call the Slay trade the Lions’ worst of the last 10 years.
After all, the Lions were faced with paying big money to an elite but aging corner when the team was terrible, and Slay had understandably become disgruntled with then-head coach Matt Patricia.
The return for Slay was pretty good, also, with the Lions receiving third- and fifth-round picks in return. Those picks turned out to be Jonah Jackson and Quintez Cephus, with the former being a Pro Bowler and four-year starter in Detroit.
If there’s one gripe we had with the trade, it’s that the Lions pulled it off one year too late. Had the Lions not traded him in the final year of his contract, they could’ve gotten a better return.
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