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Former Oregon QB Joey Harrington, center, smiles after the Lions made him the third overall pick in 2002. He's flanked by Matt Millen, left, and Marty Mornhinweg.

(AP File Photo)

ALLEN PARK -- We've looked at the Detroit Lions' entire draft history. We've looked at which colleges they've mined the most.

Now, in the final installment of our three-part draft data series, we'll look at which positions they've selected the most.

(Note: Because there are a few wonky position classifications from back in the day, we're only going back as far as 1970, which was the start of what is commonly referred to as the modern draft era.)

-- The Lions have drafted more defensive backs than any other position since 1970. With 92 selections, they're averaging more than two DBs per year. In fact, nearly 20 percent of Detroit's total draft haul has been defensive backs -- in other words, one out of every five picks is a DB. Of course, that makes some sense since defensive back actually includes multiple positions therein -- safety, cornerback, and nickelback. The Lions took two last year, in corners Alex Carter and Quandre Diggs. They took corner Nevin Lawson in 2014, corner Darius Slay in 2013, and corners Bill Bentley, Chris Greenwood and Jonte Green in 2012. Matter of fact, since 2001, the only time they didn't take a defensive back was in 2011, and that class is among their worst in recent memory. They had only five picks, and all of them -- Nick Fairley, Titus Young, Mikel Leshoure, Douglas Hogue and Johnny Culbreath were varying degrees of disappointment.

-- On offense, Detroit's top position is receiver, checking in at 12.9 percent of the club's overall draft choices. (Insert your Matt Millen and Martin Mayhew jokes here.) The Lions didn't take any receivers last year, but took at least one in the eight drafts before that, a stretch that began with the selection of Calvin Johnson with the second overall pick in 2007. That was a pretty good pick, but they have very little to show for the rest of them: Kenneth Moore, Derrick Williams, Timothy Toone, Titus Young, Ryan Broyles, Corey Fuller and TJ Jones.

-- The Lions have drafted 18 quarterbacks since 1970. That averages out to one every 2.6 years, though they've taken none in the past six. They're due. (And they're looking into it.)

And since everyone loves pie, here's a nice visual on the positional distribution:

There's a lot more cool stuff you can find, positionally or otherwise, by playing with the full Lions draft data. I especially liked looking at the quarterbacks that Detroit chose. What a group. Or something like that.

Anyway, for the last time, here is that full draft data. Have a ball, and see you guys tomorrow.

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