The mixed history of NFL draft's No. 29 pick: Busts, Hall-of-Famers and a legendary Lion

Story by

Story by
The mixed history of NFL draft's No. 29 pick: Busts, Hall-of-Famers and a legendary Lion

Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press · Detroit Free Press

Tue, Apr 2, 2024 ·

6 min read

About Our Ads

He's not the most famous 29th pick of the NFL draft, but he might have drawn the most famous instant reaction.

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead were in the middle of a news conference when the New England Patriots took offensive lineman Cole Strange with the 29th pick of the 2022 draft.

"Wow. Strange just went," a stunned McVay said. "How 'bout that? And we wasted our time watching him thinking he'd be at 104 maybe."

Over-drafted or not, Strange started all 17 games at left guard as a rookie, which makes him a rarity among 29 th overall picks , which have run the gamut from all-time busts (offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson , the 29thpick of the 2020 draft) to having their bust in the Hall-of-Fame (ex-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who went 29thoverall in 1961) but in recent year, the picks have been mostly journeymen.

There've been lovers (Tom Casonova, presumably) and fighters (Marc Colombo, who may or may not have got into it with Joe Judge as a New York Giants assistant), ex-Wolverines (four: Marlin Jackson, Derrick Alexander, Bubba Paris and Jim Mandich) and ex-Spartans (Dimitrius Underwood), and a key member of the Detroit Lions 1952-53 championship teams (Vince Banonis).

Detroit Lions executive vice president and general manager Brad Holmes speak with media at the NFL combine at Indiana Convention Center, Feb. 27, 2024 in Indianapolis.

The Lions, actually, have employed some of the most successful 29thoverall picks.

They acquired Banonis, a Detroit native who played at Catholic Central and the University of Detroit, in a trade with the Chicago Cardinals nearly a decade after that team took him in the fourth round of the 1942 draft, and in 1988 they took Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman, who remains a key figure with the organization today.

Spielman played eight seasons with the Lions, was runner-up for Defensive Rookie of the Year, made four Pro Bowls and logged more than 1,100 tackles while serving as the face of the defense in the early 1990s. He fell in the draft because of a 4.86-second 40-yard dash, but made up for his comparatively average athleticism with instincts and a work ethic few could match.

"The one thing about Chris Spielman, the intensity of the young man far exceeds some of the players," then-Lions coach Darryl Rogers told the Free Press after the draft. "That's an asset. Some guys have that and it carries them over to be a very fine player."

The Lions have the 29thpick in this year's draft for the third time in history – they also took running back Garry James at No. 29 in 1986 – and will be looking more for a Spielman-type football player than a Strange-like immediate starter.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said at the NFL's annual meeting last week his team is approaching this year's draft similar to the past three drafts, when they held top-10 overall picks. The goal, Campbell said, is to "go for what you believe is going to fit your team, and what you feel like is the best player at the time," and not worry about need.

CRACKING OPEN THE HEART: Dan Campbell rewatched end of 49ers game, convinced Lions 'not going to break' in 2024

"I think what's unique is those first two, three years, we did have a lot of holes, so it just naturally like, 'Well, here we go. That worked out,' cause you've got eight holes, your odds are pretty good you're going to get a guy that's going to fill a hole," Campbell said. "Every team in this league's got warts. I say it all the time, it doesn't matter how good you are, you've got areas that you're always going to want to improve in. Nobody's a perfect roster, but we're the best we've been in four years and we feel like, man, we've got a lot of those holes filled, and so this kind of feels like the first draft we're going in and we're still best player available, but we've kind of got places taken care of going into the draft, which is, that's pretty cool."

In the past 10 years, teams have taken five defensive linemen, two offensive linemen, one wide receiver, one tight end and one cornerback with the 29thoverall pick – mostly positions that project to populate the end of this year's first round.

The pick has been involved in two draft-day trades (and two more pre-draft trades) in that time, with the Kansas City Chiefs packaging it with third- and fourth-round picks to go up to No. 22 and take cornerback Trent McDuffie in 2022 (in the Strange draft), and the Green Bay Packers trading down for Picks 33 and 108 when the Cleveland Browns moved up to select tight end David Njoku in 2017.

Njoku is the only Pro Bowler to be picked 29thin the past decade, though Harrison Smith and Cordarrelle Patterson went 29thoverall in 2012-13, respectively. Wilson, who played one game for the Tennessee Titans before being cut, is easily the biggest bust. And Bryan Bresee , last year's 29th pick, had 4.5 sacks in 17 games as a backup with the New Orleans Saints .

Bresee projects as a key player on the Saints' defensive line this fall, and the Lions' first-round pick could follow a similar trajectory.

"That's where you want to be in your roster, where you're picking guys whether it's even at Pick 29 or on Day 2, you're picking guys that if he plays, he plays," general manager Brad Holmes said. "I mean, that's really how it was last year with Brian Branch . We had signed C.J. (Gardner-Johnson) to be the nickel. We felt good at safety at that point. Branch was just the best player that we wanted and we were like, 'I don't know if he's going to play or not. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.'

"So that's kinda how we operate. I know it's always like, 'Oh, there's a need, man. Let's get this need.' You don't know how that rookie is going to really develop. We try to do the best we can. I feel very confident in our process in forecasting that stuff, but, end of the day, man, it's just, it's hard to bank on that stuff."