Lions 21st in NFL in draft picks still on roster

A couple weeks ago, ESPN's Kevin Seifert took a look at an interesting stat related to the NFL Draft. Specifically, he examined how many draft picks are still on their original team in the NFC North. In other words, it was a look at which teams have picked the most players who have shown enough to keep a roster spot.

In the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are third in draft picks still on their roster. 30 of their picks are still around, meaning the other 59 roster spots that are currently filled are occupied by players who were acquired via a method other than the draft.

In the NFL as a whole, the Lions are ranked 21st for how many draft picks remain on their roster. The Green Bay Packers are actually first in the NFC North and first in the NFL in general with a total of 45 picks still on their roster. The Minnesota Vikings are second in the division and seventh in the NFL with 39 picks still under contract.

The Chicago Bears, interestingly, are near the bottom of the NFL (28th) with only 27 picks still on their roster. As Seifert noted, part of this stems from all of the trades the Bears have made involving draft picks in recent years. With that in mind, it's important to consider that these numbers don't necessarily reflect the quality of drafts given that picks can be traded away for players already in the league.

One other note on the Lions' number: 28 of the 30 picks still around were drafted by Martin Mayhew. Calvin Johnson and Dominic Raiola are the only Lions draft picks left from the Matt Millen era.