Any time you get drafted in the first round, you’re among good company when it comes to NFL history. Any time you can say that you were drafted inside the top-10, the group of people that are able to say the same in the history books gets even more exclusive.
After Thursday night, Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux can now say he’s among one of the most exclusive clubs in the world of professional football — a former top-5 pick in the NFL draft.
Among the members of that club are some of the best players to ever play the game. We wanted to take a look at some of the guys who accomplished that feat before, but to narrow it down a bit more than just top-5 picks from the dawn of the NFL, we glanced at specifically the players who were picked 5th in the draft. Who are the guys that were taken at the same spot as Thibodeaux in their respective years? It’s a pretty impressive list. Here are some of the most notable from the past 20 years.