Martin Mayhew: I wish I took Aaron Donald when I was Lions G.M.

[Rampage]

Getty Images

Martin Mayhew is headed to Miami for Super Bowl LIV with the rest of the 49ers organization and it marks the vice president of player personnel’s first trip to the game since he went to Super Bowl XXVI as a Washington defensive back.

Many in Detroit hoped that Mayhew would have found a way to get the Lions to their first Super Bowl during his seven-plus years as the team’s General Manager. The Lions made it to the playoffs a couple of times between Mayhew’s hiring in 2008 and his dismissal in 2015, but they never won a game in the postseason.

One of the choices Mayhew made in that failed effort to build a winner came in 2014 when he selected tight end Eric Ebron with the 10th overall pick. Taylor Lewan and Odell Beckham were the next two picks, but it was the 13th overall selection who Mayhew wishes he took instead of Ebron.

“I wish I would have taken Aaron Donald,” Mayhew said, via the Detroit Free Press. “That’s no knock on Ebron. I wish I would have taken him. It’s not a decision that’s made in a vacuum. We talked about a lot of different scenarios, different situations. Man, I wish I had taken him.”

Plenty of Lions fans wish Mayhew did the same thing as they go on waiting for their team’s first chance to play in the NFL’s biggest game.