TheDetroit Lions are a professionalAmerican football team based inDetroit,Michigan. The Lions compete in theNational Football League (NFL) as a member of theNorth Division of theNational Football Conference.^[1] The franchise was founded inPortsmouth, Ohio, as thePortsmouth Spartans and joined the NFL on July 12, 1930.^[2] After being purchased byGeorge A. Richards in 1934, the franchise wasrelocated to Detroit and renamed to the Detroit Lions in reference to the city'sMajor League Baseball franchise, theDetroit Tigers.^[3][4] The team plays its home games atFord Field inDowntown Detroit.^[5]

Since their founding,hundreds of players have played at least one game for the team. Many, but not all of these players were selected by the Lions in theNFL draft, which began in1936. To honor their contributions to the team, the Lions have recognized their own players in various ways, includingretiring uniform numbers and establishinga team hall of fame. Additionally, Lions' players have been recognized nationally for their performance, most notably throughinduction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lions' players have also beenselected for the Pro Bowl and named to numerous "All-Time Teams". The following lists provide an overview of notable groupings of Detroit Lions players.

• Detroit Lions roster – the team's active roster andpractice squad, typically composed of 53 and 16 players, respectively.^[6][7][8]
• Detroit Lions all-time roster (A–Las) – the team's all-time roster with last names starting with "A" through "Las", composed of any player who has participated in at least oneregular season orpostseason game (preseason games do not apply).
• Detroit Lions all-time roster (Lat–Z) – the team's all-time roster with last names starting with "Lat" through "Z", composed of any player who has participated in at least oneregular season orpostseason game (preseason games do not apply).
  • List of Detroit Lions starting quarterbacks – a list of quarterbacks who have started at least one game for the team since 1950.^[9]

• Detroit Lions draft history – overview of every draft the team has participated in since theinaugural draft in 1936.^[10]
  • Detroit Lions draft picks (1936–1969) – a list of every draft selection by the team from 1936 to 1969.^[10]
  • Detroit Lions draft picks (1970–present) – a list of every draft selection by the team from 1970 to the present.^[10]
  • List of Detroit Lions first-round draft picks – a list of every first-round draft selection by the team.^[10]

• List of Detroit Lions retired numbers – a list of every uniform number retired by the team.
• Pride of the Lions – the team'shall of fame, which includes a list of all inductees.

• List of Detroit Lions in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – a list of inductees into thePro Football Hall of Fame who played for the team.^[11]
• List of Detroit Lions Pro Bowl selections – a list of players selected to thePro Bowl while on the team.^[12]
• List of Detroit Lions NFL All-Decade Team selections – a list of players who were part of the team and selected for anNFL All-Decade Team.^[13]

• Category:Detroit Lions players
• Lists of American football players

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDetroit Lions players.

• Detroit Lions All-Time Roster at FootballDb.com
• Detroit Lions Historical Starting Lineups atPro-Football-Reference.com

This article includes a sports people-relatedlist of lists.

• Lists of sports people lists
• Detroit Lions players
• Lists of players by NFL team
• Detroit Lions lists

• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
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• Long lists of lists