4. RT Trent Brown
Brown was drafted. Barely. He was the 244th pick in the 2015 draft, which is 12 spots from Mr. Irrelevant. Seventh-round picks don’t have much more standing on a team than undrafted free agents. They’re merely the ones the team figures wouldn’t sign with them, so they use their last pick on them instead.
For context, of the 38 players selected in the seventh round in 2015, only 12 are still in the NFL. That includes three picks by the Raiders, two of whom never played an NFL snap, and none of whom are still in the league.
Brown didn’t get his first NFL snap on offense until Week 9 and in Week 15, he started his first game after an injury to guard Alex Boone had the team move Erik Pears inside and put Brown in at right tackle. He impressed the team enough in those two starts that he became the full time starting right tackle after that.
Another season as the starting right tackle in San Francisco and he was traded to the Patriots, where he became their starting left tackle, helping them to win the Super Bowl. Then the Raiders made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. Four years from undrafted to a record contract. Hard to imagine anyone having a shot at doing that among this year’s crop.
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