Last week, we laid out the 2008 rosters of the Denver Broncos and NJ Jets and where the players that comprised those rosters are now. The purpose was to see how much work Denver coach Josh McDaniels and GM Brian Xanders had on their hands when they were hired, as compared with the Jets, who also replaced their coach following the 2008 season.
Today, at the suggestion of IAOFM reader Chibronx, we’ll take a look at another franchise which overhauled their front office following a rough (historically bad, actually) 2008 - the Detroit Lions.
Those Lions, of course, went 0-16 and were rightfully the laughingstock of the NFL, if not all of professional sports. It’s not necessary to rehash all the gory details of Matt Millen’s disastrous tenure as Detroit’s GM, but perhaps the names Joey Harrington, Charlie Rogers and Mike Williams ring a bell? The Ford family (who owns the Lions), like Pat Bowlen in Denver, decided to start over with a young duo, if not as young as Denver’s. Ex-player Martin Mayhew was retained as GM, while Titans DC Jim Schwartz, a math guy like McDaniels, was hired to be the head coach.
We’ve divided these rosters to show which players remain with their teams, which are elsewhere in the league (or on IR), and finally those players who have since retired or been unable to find a job playing football in the NFL. What we’re doing here is a bit of crowdsourcing - that is, if 30 NFL franchises may qualify as a crowd. That crowd, if we may, has deemed 29 players from Denver’s 2008 roster as currently unworthy of putting on the pads for their teams (or just too old). By comparison, that same fate only befell 10 of the Jets’ 2008 players.
But what of the Lions? As the only team to go winless over the course of a 16-game season, that 2008 roster must have been a complete shambles, right? Well, let’s take a look…
| Broncos | Active | IR/PUP | Inactive/Retired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Champ Bailey | Hamza Abdullah | Josh Barrett | Boss Bailey |
| 2 | Ryan Clady | Dre’ Bly | Josh Bell | Tatum Bell |
| 3 | Elvis Dumervil | Tim Crowder | Jack Williams | Cory Boyd |
| 4 | Daniel Graham | Jay Cutler | Nic Clemons | |
| 5 | Mario Haggan | Ben Hamilton | Keary Colbert | |
| 6 | Ryan Harris | Peyton Hillis | Ebenezer Ekuban | |
| 7 | Chris Kuper | Brett Kern | John Engelberger | |
| 8 | Spencer Larsen | Niko Koutouvides | Vernon Fox | |
| 9 | Jarvis Moss | Mike Leach | Louis Green | |
| 10 | Matt Prater | Kory Lichtensteiger | Andre Hall | |
| 11 | Eddie Royal | Brandon Marshall | Chad Jackson | |
| 12 | Marcus Thomas | Karl Paymah | Darrell Jackson | |
| 13 | D.J. Williams | Tyler Polumbus | Nate Jackson | |
| 14 | Wesley Woodyard | Patrick Ramsey | Herana-Daze Jones | |
| 15 | Tony Scheffler | Calvin Lowry | ||
| 16 | Brandon Stokley | Marquand Manuel | ||
| 17 | Ryan Torain | Glenn Martinez | ||
| 18 | Casey Wiegmann | Marlon McCree | ||
| 19 | Jamie Winborn | Chad Mustard | ||
| 20 | Kenny Peterson | |||
| 21 | Michael Pittman | |||
| 22 | P.J. Pope | |||
| 23 | Jeb Putzier | |||
| 24 | Dewayne Robertson | |||
| 25 | Roderick Rogers | |||
| 26 | Cliff Russell | |||
| 27 | Josh Shaw | |||
| 28 | Nate Webster | |||
| 29 | Selvin Young |
| Lions | Active | IR/PUP | Inactive/Retired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cliff Avril | Ikaika Alama-Francis | Darian Barnes | |
| 2 | Jeff Backus | Gerald Alexander | Daniel Bullocks | |
| 3 | Gosder Cherilus | Darnell Bing | Daniel Campbell | |
| 4 | Jared DeVries | Leigh Bodden | Anthony Cannon | |
| 5 | Jordon Dizon | Shaun Cody | Aveion Cason | |
| 6 | Jerome Felton | Landon Cohen | Keary Colbert | |
| 7 | Andre Fluellen | Travis Fisher | Damion Cook | |
| 8 | Jason Hanson | Mike Furrey | Daunte Culpepper | |
| 9 | Nick Harris | Jon Kitna | Chartric Darby | |
| 10 | Calvin Johnson | Paris Lenon | Casey Fitzsimmons | |
| 11 | Don Muhlbach | Moran Norris | George Foster | |
| 12 | Stephen Peterman | Dan Orlovsky | Michael Gaines | |
| 13 | Dominic Raiola | John Owens | Gilbert Gardner | |
| 14 | Manuel Ramirez | Cory Redding | Drew Henson | |
| 15 | Kevin Smith | Ramzee Robinson | LaMarcus Hicks | |
| 16 | Drew Stanton | Ernie Sims | Adam Jennings | |
| 17 | Roy E. Williams | Rudi Johnson | ||
| 18 | Brian Kelly | |||
| 19 | Alex Lewis | |||
| 20 | Andy McCollum | |||
| 21 | Shaun McDonald | |||
| 22 | Brandon Middleton | |||
| 23 | Langston Moore | |||
| 24 | Edwin Mulitalo | |||
| 25 | Ryan Nece | |||
| 26 | Kalvin Pearson | |||
| 27 | Chris Roberson | |||
| 28 | Stuart Schweigert | |||
| 29 | Corey Smith | |||
| 30 | Dwight Smith | |||
| 31 | Keith Smith | |||
| 32 | John Standeford | |||
| 33 | Marcus Thomas | |||
| 34 | Dewayne White | |||
| 35 | Dexter Wynn |
Surprisingly, not that different:
- The 2008 Lions dressed 68 players, or three more than Denver did that season.
- Detroit has actually retained two more players than Denver has, including 4/5 of its current starting offensive line.
- The Lions have 17 former players littered throughout the league, two fewer than Denver has.
- Including players currently on IR, 36 of the 2008 Broncos are still in the NFL, as compared to 33 of the 2008 Lions.
- 35 members of that infamous Lions squad are now out of the NFL, including our old friend George Foster and temporary visitor Keary Colbert (no relation to Stephen).
As always, take whatever you will of this. Whether you compare the numbers or study the names is up to you. But do not mistake this for a deep statistical analysis - it’s not, and we’re not about to go around comparing Denver to every other franchise in this manner. But here you have it - a frame of reference for just how much rebuilding Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders have had to accomplish relative to that of the Jets and Lions.
That’s not to say they’re anywhere near done with the process (they’re not), nor that several of the current players won’t find themselves on the trash heap in a couple of months (they will). This is simply a look backwards, to see from whence the Broncos have come - and on some level, why they are currently where they are today.
