Where are they now? A look at Bob Quinn’s 2016 draft class

The year is 2016. Martin Mayhew had just been fired several months prior, and Bob Quinn has been brought in to be the new general manager of the Detroit Lions.

Quinn had a tough task ahead of him. Mayhew had some disappointing drafts over his tenure in Detroit and Quinn had to prove that he could turn things around and use his scouting expertise to make the most of his nine draft picks.

Now, sights are set on the 2021 season and Quinn is out of a job. In this series, ‘Where are they now?’, we’ll explore each and every draft pick that Bob Quinn has made and determine just how successful he was on draft day.

Of course, we’ll start at the beginning with the 2016 NFL draft.

Round 1, Pick 16: OT Taylor Decker, Ohio State

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For quite some time, the Detroit Lions had a glaring hole at the right tackle position. Coming off a 2015 season that had players such as Cornelius Lucas, Corey Robinson, and Michael Ola all taking turns in that position, it was clear that the offensive tackle position needed a major upgrade. Leading up to draft day, just about every national media outlet connected the dots between Ohio State product Taylor Decker and the Detroit Lions. As Bob Quinn’s first draft selection, choosing Decker was both the safest and best move for the team. So how did this pick work out for Detroit? Decker became the team’s starting left tackle immediately, and Riley Reiff got moved over to the right side of the line. Not only did he start every game at left tackle, but he took every single offensive snap of the season at the position. His stellar performance, allowing just five sacks over that span, led him to be named the Lions’ Rookie of the Year. The following season, it was his absence that proved just how valuable he was to the team. Missing half of the season due to a shoulder injury suffered in a June minicamp, Detroit relied on former first-round pick Greg Robinson to hold down the left side, a choice that proved costly for them. It was then that everyone saw just how valuable of a player Decker really was. From 2018 to 2019, he appeared in all but one game and allowed 10 sacks over that span. He also recorded his first career touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Matthew Stafford. Prior to the 2020 season, Decker signed a 5-year, $70.35 million contract extension to stay in Detroit, further cementing his role as the team’s franchise left tackle. As Bob Quinn’s first-ever draft selection, it’s clear to say that choosing Decker was the right call.

Round 2, Pick 46: DT A’Shawn Robinson, Alabama

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Quinn stated when he was hired that success in the NFL comes from the trenches, and his next pick in the 2016 draft proved that he meant what he said. In the second round, the Lions selected A’Shawn Robinson, a big-bodied defensive tackle out of Alabama. Despite being drafted so high, Robinson began his rookie year at the bottom of the depth chart behind Haloti Ngata, Tyrion Walker, Stefan Charles, and Khyri Thornton. Robinson played in a limited, rotational role at first, but was still able to make quite the impact. As injuries and poor play piled up at the position, Robinson saw himself move quickly up the depth chart until he was starting alongside Ngata. The rookie started six games at the end of the season, counting the team’s appearance in the playoffs. Over that span, he had seven pass breakups, which was the most that season by a defensive tackle. Robinson also came away with two sacks and several more tackles that went for a loss of yardage. Robinson went on to start every game in 2017 following the retirement of Ngata. Over that season, he mustered up six more pass defenses, his first career interception and touchdown, half a sack, and forced fumble. Though he had plenty of successes in his increased role on defense, his career saw some downturns once Matt Patricia came to Detroit as the new head coach. The change in the Lions’ defensive scheme cut Robinson’s defensive snaps significantly, and the interior defensive lineman only started 16 games throughout the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Over that time, as his role decreased, he still was able to produce for the defense. He was one of the league’s top run defenders over that time, amassing 66 tackles and two forced fumbles. Following the 2019 season, Robinson became a free agent and immediately went to sign with the Los Angeles Rams. Later tweets from him revealed that he and Patricia had some personal issues between them. In Los Angeles, Robinson missed most of the season due to injury, and only contributed six tackles and a quarterback hit over five games. This was not a bad draft pick for Quinn, as Robinson contributed quite a lot on defense over his four years in Detroit. Unfortunately, it seems that Quinn and Patricia didn’t build the kind of team culture that Robinson wanted to be a part of long-term.

Round 3, Pick 95: IOL Graham Glasgow, Michigan

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Keeping up with his quest to buff up the trenches, Quinn opted to draft another offensive lineman. The selection of Graham Glasgow was an interesting one at the time. Just one year prior, the team had drafted left guard Laken Tomlinson with their first-round pick. Detroit also had their two other starters on the interior offensive line locked in with Travis Swanson and Larry Warford at center and right guard, respectively. The former Michigan walk-on was no stranger to adversity and knew he’d have to put in work to crack the starting lineup. Glasgow shared first-team reps at center throughout his rookie training camp, but did not find himself as a starter when the regular season began. Glasgow was inactive for the first week of the 2016 season and his role was strictly on special teams for the following three games. In the Week 5 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Tomlinson was benched due to poor play and Glasgow saw his first snaps on offense. He went on to start the next seven games at left guard before shifting over to center after an injury ended Swanson’s season. Before the 2017 season began, the Lions traded Tomlinson to the San Fransisco 49ers and made Glasgow their permanent starter at left guard. He was on the field for every single offensive snap that year and allowed just three sacks. The following year, Swanson left in free agency and the Lions drafted offensive lineman Frank Ragnow in the first round. There was some speculation as to where Ragnow and Glasgow would line up, as both were centers in college. Glasgow ended up winning the starting role and Ragnow shifted over to left guard. He took all but one snap on offense in 2018 at center and allowed one sack. The 2019 season is where things started getting strange for Glasgow and the rest of Detroit’s offensive line. Head coach Matt Patricia began implementing a rotation at offensive guard that often swapped out Glasgow with backup Kenny Wiggins. Glasgow had shifted back over to right guard following the retirement of T.J. Lang and was arguably the team’s best lineman, making it all the more confusing when he would get replaced by his backup during random offensive series. Overall, he had a career year despite taking the lowest amount of snaps since his rookie season. He was one of eight interior linemen to not allow a sack in 2019 while playing both guard and center. The frustration of the guard rotation, plus contract talks that seemed to be going nowhere, caused Glasgow to test the waters of free agency heading into 2020. He was considered to be one of the top players available and quickly reached a four-year, $44 million deal with the Denver Broncos. He started 13 games at right guard for them in 2020.

Round 4, Pick 111: S Miles Killebrew, Southern Utah

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Killebrew was drafted as a new trend of hybrid safeties/linebackers began emerging more in the NFL. An extremely physical small-school player, expectations were low for Killebrew his rookie year as the Lions recently signed both Tavon Wilson and Rafael Bush to start t safety alongside Glover Quin. Despite only playing 15-percent of snaps in 2016, he quickly became one of the most efficient players on Detroit’s defense. As a rookie, he had 28 tackles, one interception, and one quarterback hit while only playing 149 snaps in the defensive secondary. He started off the following year with quite the performance due to his pick-six on Carson Palmer in the 2017 season opener. He went on to double his snap count from the previous year while becoming much more productive as a defender. Killebrew was credited with four more pass defenses and 38 tackles in his second season as a Lion. The door to a bigger role in Detroit seemed open for Killebrew until Matt Patricia was brought in as the new head coach in 2018. Despite very little change to the safety depth chart, Killebrew went from a reliable third safety and role player to not taking a single defensive snap for the entirety of the season. Under Patricia from 2018 to 2020, Killebrew began transitioning more to the linebacker position while also becoming a valuable member of the special teams unit. He took a total of 88 defensive snaps over that span. His most notable play was a blocked punt he recorded against Indianapolis during the 2020 season. https://twitter.com/erikschlitt/status/1322967842325729280?s=20

Round 5, Pick 151: OL Joe Dahl, Washington State

In his commitment to fixing the offensive line, Quinn decided to take another versatile interior lineman in Joe Dahl out of Washington State. Known for his pass-blocking ability in his college’s air-raid style offensive, Dahl was expected to be a backup and develop over the season. He was sparingly used for his first three seasons, filling in as needed when injuries arose. His big break came in 2019 when he became the Lions’ starting left guard. Dahl started 13 games for Detroit before getting hurt and going to injured reserve. Though he played well, he too suffered through the unnecessary guard rotation that subbed him out occasionally for Oday Aboushi. More frustration and confusion over his role with the team came the following season. Dahl returned as the starting left guard in the first game against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. When Dahl returned in Week 6, he became the backup right guard and filled in for Oday Aboushi. He only played on offense in three other games, filling in at right guard and center. The rest of the time, his role was strictly special teams. It’s unclear why Dahl seemed to have lost the confidence of the Lions’ coaching staff, but he will return in 2021 in hopes of winning back a starting job at one of the guard positions.

Round 5, Pick 169: LB Antwione Williams, Georgia Southern

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Williams was drafted to bolster the depth at the linebacker position and he did just that in the 2016 season. He appeared in 14 games and is credited with 27 tackles. Williams was waived by the Lions as they began to cut down their roster before the 2017 season. He floated from practice squad to practice squad over the rest of his career before a short stint with the DC Defenders of the now-defunct XFL.

Round 6, Pick 191: QB Jake Rudock

(AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

The first quarterback drafted by Detroit since Matthew Stafford, Rudock was expected to be the player that would be groomed as Stafford’s eventual replacement. Many drew the illogical comparisons to Tom Brady, another sixth-round quarterback from Michigan, and hype around Rudock grew before training camp. None of that seemed to matter, as he was waived by Detroit after the 2016 preseason and added to the practice squad. He was called up to the active roster near the end of his rookie season, but didn’t see the field in Detroit until his second year as a pro. Taking a total of nine snaps against the Baltimore Ravens in 2017, Rudock completed three of five passes for 24 yards and also threw his first and only career interception. Rudock’s 2018 season was spent on the practice squad, and he opted to sign with Miami following the conclusion of that year. He has since gone back-and-forth between the Dolphins’ practice squad and active roster.

Round 6, Pick 202: DL Anthony Zettel, Penn State

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Zettel was drafted to help provide some depth and help on the defensive line, and he exceeded expectations as a sixth-round pick. The northern Michigan native played in a limited role in his rookie season but still managed to record his first career sack and make 13 tackles. He flashed a lot of potential in year one which helped boost him to the starting lineup in 2017. His sophomore performance with the Detroit Lions ended up showing his skill set as both a pass rusher and run defender, which were things lacking on the team’s defensive line. Zettel contributed 6.5 sacks and 43 tackles that season. What was more impressive was his 16 quarterback hits, 11 tackles for losses of yardage, and a forced fumble. Unfortunately for Zettel, the hiring of Matt Patricia meant a new defensive scheme that he apparently was not going to be a part of. He was waived by Detroit and replaced by Romeo Okwara. Zettel has since been on the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings. Despite his successes in Detroit, he has not been able to make an impact for any of these other teams. He currently is on the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad.

Round 6, Pick 210: LS Jimmy Landes, Baylor

(AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Arguably one of the most questionable draft picks of Bob Quinn’s career as general manager was the drafting of a long snapper. To put this in perspective, out of the 32 starting long snappers in the NFL right now, only four were drafted. The Lions had Don Muhlbach, who has been with the team since 2004 and did not seem ready for his career to end. While there was a bit of competition during training camp, Landes did suffer an injury that ended his season before it even began. Landes was placed on injured reserve and released a year later without ever playing a regular season game. Muhlbach just completed his 17th season in the NFL with no signs of hanging up his cleats anytime soon.

Round 7, Pick 236: RB Dwayne Washington, Washington

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The Lions drafted Dwayne Washington hoping that he could round out their stable of running backs led by Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick. Washington was in a stiff competition with Zach Zenner and George Winn for the backup running back spot. In Week 1 of his rookie year, he took two snaps and on those snaps he had two carries for one yard and a touchdown. Abdullah and Riddick both finished the season on injured reserve, which created some new opportunities for Washington. He rushed 90 times for 265 yards and also contributed as a receiver with 62 more receiving yards in his rookie season. He returned to Detroit the following season in 2017 as the team’s fourth running back and only appeared in five games, making little impact overall on offense. After the 2018 preseason, he was waived and later signed to the Saints’ practice squad. He has remained in New Orleans ever since.

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