Favorite "Never Was" Lions Player

In the vein of the other two threads about “most hated” and “coulda been” players, I thought it might be fun to reminisce about the “never was” players - the guys who, for whatever reason, were draft or preseason favorites that we as fans counted on (for little to no reason) to develop who never really materialized.

David Kircus is a good example.

My favorite for this category is Ronnell “The Hammer” Lewis. Lots of people loved him as a draft choice and projected him to contribute for several years, even when he never really showed anything on the field.

Who’s your favorite “never was” guy?

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Slip Watkins. Guy was so fast he was almost an Olympic sprinter

Mikel LeShoure. I thought he had great talent but we never got to see it because of the injuries.

Oh, and probably the pot, too.

Hmmmmmm. Teddy Lehman?

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Ooh… maybe a top contender… Jason Fox, the tackle from Miami.

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Most linebackers we draft, fit into this category. Lehman, Russel, Tavai, Follet, Bailey, Sims, etc, etc.

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My favorite is Mikel LeShoure.

My Fantasy Football team name is Diesel Potpourri for that very reason.

Another one is Kevin Smith, that RB from UCF.

But really there are so many…

Zack " The Pain Train" Follet
This is the hit he absolutely destroyed Amendola.

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Can I make a horrible, embarrassing confession? I was actually really optimistic about… Ikaika Alama-Francis (ducks all the rotting fruit now being hurled at my head for writing that name here).

I’d read a glowing predraft profile of him, and I thought we might’ve gotten a really nice under-the-radar player there. You know, because Millen was so good at finding those kind of guys in the second round.

In all seriousness, and his name came up a bunch in the other thread, I was shocked that Boss Bailey ended up so disappointing. I really thought he’d be a cornerstone of our D.

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I’m torn between 3…
Tim Toone
Tavai
Dizon

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Dayum it’s really true, we could host a “never was” hall of fame full of just second-round linebackers the Lions have drafted the last 20 years.

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There are a pile of WRs and RBs, too.
Truth is, we could probably come close to a full roster from 2nd round busts.

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This deserves its own thread.

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Not that the direction this has gone in isn’t simultaneously fun and sad, but I wasn’t just looking for “dudes who never panned out”.

Rather, I wanted to remember some of the players that had a weird cult following and support for little to no reason that was justified on the field. Those guys that we, as a community, kept thinking were going to earn a starting role and counting on when there was no evidence to really back that up.

Lots of us wanted to see more of Circus Kircus, and there were a fair number of posters who assumed, for several years in a row, that The Hammer was going to bring the pain train in our linebacking corps.

Another example that came to mind… there were a fair number of people just waiting for Luke Staley to heal up so he could run roughshod over Lions opponents.

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Andre Ware. Ouch.
OK - with your clarification, I’d go with either Willie Young or Mike McMahon. Both showed real flashes (moreso Willie) but just weren’t consistent enough.

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It’s all good. I loved Daniel Bullocks.

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Remember Demario Ballard… he was going to be the next CJ for like… 3 weeks in preseason one year.

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I’ll stick with Tim Toone then. (There’s ALWAYS a training camp WR that develops a cult following. Toone is the most memorable of the lot.)

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Boss Bailey

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What about the Osprey? I can’t remember what that kid’s name is. Definitely had an unearned following here.

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