Tag: top NFL draft picks

Every No. 1 NFL draft pick from the University of Georgia

The Georgia Bulldogs have the (tied) most No. 1 picks in NFL draft history. Can you name all five?

The Georgia Bulldogs have the most No. 1 overall picks in NFL draft history along with Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC. All four programs have had five players selected with the top pick in the NFL draft.

Georgia tied the record when the Jacksonville Jaguars selected University of Georgia defensive end Travon Walker with the top selection in the 2022 NFL draft.

Nobody was projecting Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Travon Walker to be the number one pick in the 2022 NFL draft until very late in the draft process. AP Photo/John Raoux

Georgia’s 15 players selected in the 2022 NFL draft are the most picked from one school in a seven round draft in NFL history. The Dawgs also set a school record for the most players drafted for a second consecutive season.

Who is every top NFL draft pick from UGA? Can you name all five?

Greatest NFL Draft Picks of All-Time From Every Big Ten School

Who are the best NFL Draft picks from each of the Big Ten programs. Which players turned into the greatest stars at the next level?

Who are the best NFL Draft picks from each of the Big Ten programs. Which players turned into the greatest stars at the next level?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

With the history of the Big Ten, there are loads and loads of Hall of Famers and all-time great NFL draft picks to choose from. So who are the best of all-time?

This isn’t a list of the top pro players to come from the Big Ten schools – these are the best draft picks.

That means that guys who had great careers for someone other than the teams that drafted them get knocked down a peg, or aren’t on the list at all.

The goal for any draft pick is to get a player who performs at a high level for a long period of time, so longevity matters over one short burst of greatness.

CFN in 60: Why You Don’t Take A QB Early

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CFN 2020 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings
from the college perspective …
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | OG & C
DE | DT | LB | CB | Safeties

BIG TEN EAST

Indiana Greatest NFL Draft Picks

DE Pete Pihos
1945, 5th round, 41st pick overall, Philadelphia

Silver: DE Earl Faison, 1961, 1st round, 7th pick overall, San Diego
Bronze: C Bob DeMarco, 1960, 14th round, 157th pick overall, St. Louis

Pete Pihos is the lone Hall of Famer, playing nine years for Philadelphia and turning out to be way ahead of his time. He caught 373 passes over his career, finishing with spots on four straight All-Pro teams and with seven Pro Bowls.

Earl Faison only played five years for San Diego, but he made his era count going to the Pro Bowl each season and earning All-Pro honors four times.

Center Bob DeMarco had a 15-year career, doing most of his big things with St. Louis, going to three Pro Bowls and getting on two All-Pro teams in his nine years.

Maryland Greatest NFL Draft Picks

DT Randy White
1975, 1st round, 2nd pick overall, Dallas

Silver: DT/OG Stan Jones, 1953, 5th round, 54th pick overall, Chicago
Bronze: QB Boomer Esiason, 1984, 2nd round, 38th pick overall, Cincinnati

Dallas tried to make Randy White an outside linebacker. That didn’t really work, so he was moved to defensive tackle and he became one of the greatest linemen of all-time, being named to seven All-Pro teams, winning a Super Bowl, and getting into the Hall of Fame.

Stan Jones was a Hall of Famer for the Bears, going to seven Pro Bowls and getting on three All-Pro teams in his 12 years. Boomer Esiason became an MVP in 1988 and took Cincinnati to the Super Bowl. After famously having to wait too long and dropping in the draft, he went on to throw for over 27,000 yards with 187 touchdowns for the Bengals.

Michigan Greatest NFL Draft Picks

QB Tom Brady
2000, 6th round, 199th pick overall, New England

Silver: OL Dan Dierdorf, 1971, 2nd round, 43rd pick overall, St. Louis
Bronze: CB Charles Woodson, 1998, 1st round, 4th pick overall, Oakland

Good luck ever coming up with a better draft pick than New England taking Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000. He turned out okay with a whopping 14 Pro Bowl honors, three All-Pro teams, and six Super Bowls.

Dan Dierdorf is in Canton after a brilliant 13-year career with the Cardinals, earning All-Pro honors three times as a tackle.

Charles Woodson was terrific for Oakland in both his stints to start and end his career, but he was at his best late with Green Bay. He still makes the cut after starting out with four Pro Bowls and a 1999 All-Pro season for the Raiders.

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Michigan State Greatest NFL Draft Picks

CB Herb Adderley
1961, 1st round, 12th pick overall, Green Bay

Silver: OG Joe DeLamielleure, 1st round, 26th pick overall, Buffalo
Bronze: OG Ed Budde, 1st round, 8th pick overall, Kansas City

Herb Adderley turned into the playmaking Hall of Fame defensive back the Green Bay secondary worked around in his nine years. He was named to four All-Pro teams as the premier corner of the 1960s.

Joe DeLamielleure played seven years for Buffalo before going to Cleveland, but the three-time All-Pro’s work for the Bills were enough to earn a Hall of Fame bust, helping to pave the way for O.J. Simpson.

WR Derrick Mason probably belongs on the list, but Ed Budde spent 14 years as a rock for the Kansas City offense, going to seven Pro Bowls and making two All-Pro teams.

Ohio State Greatest NFL Draft Picks

OT Jim Parker
1957, 1st round, 8th pick overall, Baltimore

Silver: OT Orlando Pace, 1997, 1st round, 1st pick overall, St. Louis
Bronze: LB Randy Gradishar, 1974, 1st round, 14th pick overall, Denver

Jim Parker was an all-timer of an All-Pro blocker, getting named to the team eight times at various spots for Baltimore. He was the anchor of some of the NFL’s greatest teams, and he helped keep Johnny Unitas upright.

Orlando Pace took a little while to warm up, and then he became a Hall of Fame blocker and one of the stars of the Greatest Show On Turf. He was a three-time All-Pro and went to seven Pro Bowls.

Randy Gradishar is on the short list of the greatest players to not be in the Hall of Fame despite going to seven Pro Bowls and being named to two All-Pro teams.

Penn State Greatest NFL Draft Picks

LB Jack Ham
1971, 2nd round, 34th pick overall, Pittsburgh

Silver: RB Franco Harris, 1972, 1st round, 13th pick overall, Pittsburgh
Bronze: RB Lenny Moore, 1956, 1st round, 9th pick overall, Baltimore

A standout even on a Pittsburgh defense full of all-timers, Jack Ham was a seven-time All-Pro on the way to a Hall of Fame career. Very consistent and very good for a very long time, he played 12 years for the Steelers at the highest of levels.

Franco Harris was the missing piece of the Pittsburgh Super Bowl puzzle, adding the rushing punch with close to 12,000 yards with 91 touchdowns in his Hall of Fame career. He started out going to nine straight Pro Bowls and was named a 1977 All-Pro.

Lenny Moore played 12 years for Baltimore earning five All-Pro honors in his Hall of Fame career.

Rutgers Greatest NFL Draft Picks

S Deron Cherry, 
1981, Undrafted, Kansas City

Silver: RB Ray Rice, 2008, 2nd round, 55th pick overall, 2008
Bronze: S Devin McCourty, 2010, 1st round, 27th pick overall, 2010

Rutgers has a horrible, horrible history of NFL draft prospects, so go ahead and put Deron Cherry in this even though he wasn’t drafted. Kansas City did just fine, getting a six-time Pro Bowl talent and three-time All-Pro with 50 picks in his 11-year career.

Ray Rice – up until it all went off the rails – was a terrific pro for six years, running for over 1,000 yards four times and going to three Pro Bowls.

Devin McCourty was only named to two Pro Bowls, but he became a huge part of the New England defense for over a decade.

NEXT: Big Ten West

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Greatest NFL Draft Picks of All-Time From Every Big 12 School

Who are the best NFL Draft picks from each of the Big 12 programs. Which players turned into the greatest stars at the next level?

Who are the best NFL Draft picks from each of the Big 12 programs. Which players turned into the greatest stars at the next level?

The current Big 12 programs have more than their share of good all-time NFL players and draft picks, but the superstars aren’t there compared to the other top leagues. Even so, who are the Big 12’s best NFL draft selections of all-time?

This isn’t a list of the top pro players to come from the Big 12 schools – these are the best draft picks.

That means that guys who had great careers for someone other than the teams that drafted them get knocked down a peg, or aren’t on the list at all.

The goal for any draft pick is to get a player who performs at a high level for a long period of time, so longevity matters over one short burst of greatness. You’ll get the idea.

CFN in 60: Why You Don’t Take A QB Early

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CFN 2020 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings
from the college perspective …
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | OG & C
DE | DT | LB | CB | Safeties

Baylor Greatest NFL Draft Picks

LB Mike Singletary
1981, 2nd round, 38th pick overall, Chicago

Silver: DT Tom Sestak, 1962, 17th round, 132nd pick overall, Buffalo
Bronze: OT/DE Jimmy Ray Smith, 1954, 6th round, 64th pick overall, Cleveland

The Chicago Bears got their leader and quarterback for some of the greatest defenses in NFL history. Singletary was a seven-time All-Pro who went to the Pro Bowl in each of the last ten seasons of his 12-year Hall of Fame career. He was named the 1985 and 1988 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Tom Sestak was a three-time All-Pro for Buffalo in the early 1960s. He only played seven years, but he was the anchor of the line.

Jimmy Ray Smith played seven years for Cleveland as a mainstay of the O line at left guard. He was a three-time All-Pro and went to five Pro Bowls.

Iowa State Greatest NFL Draft Picks

LB Matt Blair
1974, 2nd round, 51st pick overall, Minnesota

Silver: OG Keith Sims, 1990, 2nd round, 39th pick overall, Miami
Bronze: S Marcus Robertson, 1991, 4th round, 102nd pick overall, Houston

One of the leaders and stars of the amazing Purple People Eater defenses of the 1970s and 1980s, Blair played 12 years for the Vikings and was named to the 1980 All-Pro team with six Pro Bowl appearances.

Keith Sims got to three straight Pro Bowls as a starting left guard for Miami for eight years, while Marcus Robertson was named an All-Pro for the Houston Oilers, finishing with 22 interceptions in a ten-year run with the franchise.

Kansas Greatest NFL Draft Picks

RB Gale Sayers
1965, 1st round, 4th pick overall, Chicago

Silver: FS Nolan Cromwell, 1977, 2nd round, 21st pick overall, Los Angeles Rams
Bronze: QB John Hadl, 1962, 3rd round, 24th pick overall, San Diego

It might have been a way-too-short run, but Gale Sayers managed to earn All-Pro recognition five times in his five years as a starting running back.

John Riggins is a Hall of Famer, but that’s mostly for what he did for Washington, not the New York Jets. The same goes for tackle Mike McCormack, a Hall of Famer for Cleveland after spending one year with the New York Yanks.

Nolan Cromwell was an all-star quarterback for the Jayhawks, but he turned into a three-time All-Pro safety for the Rams over his 11-year career. John Hadl spent 11 years with San Diego throwing for close to 27,000 yards with 201 touchdowns going to five Pro Bowls.

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Kansas State Greatest NFL Draft Picks

RB Larry Brown
1969, 8th round, 191st pick overall, Washington

Silver: QB Steve Grogan, 1975, 5th round, 116th pick overall, New England
Bronze: CB Terence Newman, 2003, 1st round, 5th pick overall, San Diego

Larry Brown only lasted eight years with Washington, but he was a two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler running for 5,875 yards and 35 scores. In 1972, he earned the NFL MVP honor running for 1,125 yards and five scores and catching 37 passes.

Steve Grogan was with New England for 16 years, and while he was never an elite quarterback, he finished with close to 27,000 yards with 182 touchdown passes. He also ran for 35 scores.

Terence Newman was a slight disappointment for Dallas considering he was the fifth pick overall, but he went to two Pro Bowls and lasted nine years with the team making 32 interceptions before moving on to keep the career rolling.

Oklahoma Greatest NFL Draft Picks

RB Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
2007, 1st round, 7th pick overall

Silver: DE/DT Lee Roy Selmon, 1976, 1st round, 1st pick overall, Tampa Bay
Bronze: CB Bobby Boyd, 1960, 10th round, 119th pick overall, Baltimore

Outside of a massive scandal, Adrian Peterson worked out just fine for the Vikings in his sure-thing Hall of Fame career, running for close to 12,000 yards in his first nine seasons in Minnesota. He ran for ten touchdowns or more in every year but the suspended 2014 and injured 2016 campaigns.

Lee Roy Selmon was the first ever draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, going on to have a nine-year Hall of Fame career with six straight Pro Bowl appearances. He was named the 1979 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Bobby Boyd doesn’t have a highway named after him like Selmon, but the three-time All-Pro was among the best defensive backs of the 1960s, coming up with 57 career interceptions.

NEXT: Big 12 teams Part 2

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2020 NFL Draft: Best Value Draft Teams In 2016. Who Did The Best Job?

How good are all the NFL teams at finding value? Four years after the 2016 NFL Draft, how did it really all shake out?

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How good are all the NFL teams at finding value? What are the best value positions? Which colleges are strongest? Four years after the 2016 NFL Draft, how did it really all shake out?

NFL Draft: Who Did The Best Job In 2016?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

So why is the 2016 NFL Draft such a big deal? That was four years ago, and now all of those draft picks who survived and advances are free agents.

It’s everything to an NFL team to find the best value possible – rookie contracts can change a franchise. It’s not all that expensive anymore to sign a first round talent, but come up with real, live players in the later rounds and the success usually follows.

Four years later – and with several of the top players dealing with the free agent market – which teams did the best job of finding value, and which ones struggled?

We go by the CFN NFL Draft Value Score, explained in way too much detail here.

Basically, the later the good draft pick, the better the score.

First round picks are going to be scored low mainly because it’s not all that hard to find a good player up top – at least it’s not supposed to be – and the value isn’t there like it is to get a good player at the same position in, say, the fourth round.

So which NFL teams did the best job of finding the value picks in 2016? The draft four years ago is supposed to be the foundation. How did it all go?

Not like you’d think it would have.

Value is about finding a steady starter late in the draft, and punters are usually the safest late picks possible. That’s fine, but you need the stars, too.

Rankings from the teams that came up with the best value, to the ones that got the least.

The overall draft pick is the first number, and the CFN Draft Value Score is the last one. The players are ranked from top value to the least.

1. Denver Broncos 157.50

219 S Will Parks Arizona 263.48
228 P Riley Dixon Syracuse 228.00
176 FB Andy Janovich Nebraska 189.75
144 OG Connor McGovern Missouri 186.75
98 S Justin Simmons Boston College 162.31
136 RB Devontae Booker Utah 142.38
63 DT Adam Gotsis Georgia Tech 83.67
26 QB Paxton Lynch Memphis 3.66

2. New York Jets 149

235 P Lac Edwards Sam Houston St 470.00
158 OT Brandon Shell South Carolina 219.72
83 OLB Jordan Jenkins Georgia 142.66
241 WR Charone Peake Clemson 120.50
118 CB Juston Burris NC State 66.38
20 OLB Darron Lee Ohio State 23.75
51 QB Christian Hackenberg Penn State 0.00

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3. Cincinnati Bengals 118.99

245 S Clayton Fejedelem Illinois 267.97
122 DT Andrew Billings Baylor 160.13
199 WR Cody Core Ole Miss 130.59
87 ILB Nick Vigil Utah State 123.70
55 WR Tyler Boyd Pitt 75.63
161 OG Christian Westerman Arizona State 45.28
24 CB William Jackson Houston 29.63

4. Philadelphia Eagles 112.30

233 S Jalen Mills LSU 298.53
164 OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai TCU 192.19
196 CB Blake Countess Auburn 125.56
153 RB Wendell Smallwood West Virginia 117.14
79 OG Isaac Seumalo Oregon State 102.45
251 ILB Joe Walker Oregon 58.83
2 QB Carson Wentz NDSU 3.70
240 DE Alex McCalister Florida 0.00

5. Atlanta Falcons 112.23

195 OG Wes Schweitzer San Jose State 249.84
115 OLB De’Vondre Campbell Minnesota 203.05
81 TE Austin Hooper Stanford 114.74
52 OLB Deion Jones LSU 85.99
17 S Keanu Neal Florida 19.76
238 WR Devin Fuller UCLA 0.00

6. Dallas Cowboys 105.31

135 QB Dak Prescott Mississippi State 277.71
189 CB Anthony Brown Purdue 265.78
212 S Kavon Frazier Central Michigan 152.38
67 DT Maliek Collins Nebraska 121.44
217 TE Rico Gathers Baylor 64.42
34 OLB Jaylon Smith Notre Dame 46.66
4 RB Ezekiel Elliott Ohio State 9.53
216 RB Darius Jackson Eastern Michigan 6.75
101 DE Charles Tapper Oklahoma 3.16

7. Green Bay Packers 105.12

131 LB Blake Martinez Stanford 241.53
137 DE Dean Lowry Northwestern 209.78
88 OLB Kyler Fackrell Utah State 96.25
163 WR Trevor Davis Cal 78.95
27 DT Kenny Clark UCLA 47.42
48 OT Jason Spriggs Indiana 33.75
200 OT Kyle Murphy Stanford 28.13

8. Minnesota Vikings 101.79

244 S Jayron Kearse Clemson 255.44
227 OLB Stephen Weatherly Vanderbilt 198.63
188 TE David Morgan UTSA 146.88
160 OLB Kentrell Brothers Missouri 130.00
54 CB Mackensie Alexander Clemson 54.84
23 WR Laquon Treadwell Ole Miss 24.80
121 OT Willie Beavers Western Michigan 3.78
180 WR Moritz Boehringer Germany (No College) 0.00

9. Kansas City Chiefs 93.77

165 WR Tyreek Hill West Alabama 389.25
126 WR Demarcus Robinson Florida 171.28
106 CB Eric Murray Minnesota 92.75
37 DT Chris Jones Mississippi State 60.03
203 DE Dadi Nicolas Virginia Tech 34.89
178 CB D.J. White Georgia Tech 30.59
74 CB KeiVarae Russell Notre Dame 24.28
162 QB Kevin Hogan Stanford 22.78
105 OG Parker Ehinger Cincinnati 18.05

10. Chicago Bears 92.05

150 RB Jordan Howard Indiana 213.28
113 ILB Nick Kwiatkowski West Virginia 139.48
185 S DeAndre Houston-Carson William & Mary 138.75
124 S Deon Bush Miami 120.13
56 OG Cody Whitehair Kansas State 113.60
72 DT Jonathan Bullard Florida 57.38
127 CB Deiondre Hall Northern Iowa 19.84
9 OLB Leonard Floyd Georgia 15.19
230 WR Daniel Braverman Western Michigan 10.78

NEXT: 2016 NFL Draft Value: Teams 11-20

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

NFL Draft: How Good Are Teams At Finding Value? The CFN Draft Value Formula

How good are all the NFL teams at finding value? What are the best positions? Which colleges are strongest? The CFN Draft Value Formula.

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How good are all the NFL teams at finding value? What are the best value positions? Which colleges are strongest? We figure it out with the CFN Draft Value Formula.

NFL Draft: Who’s The Best At Finding Value?

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Two years.

Four years on a rookie contract is the dream, but can you draft a guy who’ll start for your NFL team for just two seasons?

Forget about being a superstar or anything special. Set the bar at simply finding a regular starter. If you can hit that with any regularity, you win the draft.

That sounds easy, right? Nope, which is why we’re wondering …
How good are all the NFL general managers and team scouts when it comes to draft value?

While everyone loves to focus on the big calls in the first round that can make or break a franchise – like taking Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick in 2017 instead of Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson – that’s just the frosting on the cupcake. The real importance of this thing is being able to build up a base of talent to rely on.

Where’s the value in the NFL drafts over the years, and who did the best and worst jobs at finding it?

The goal here is to see 1) which NFL teams were best at finding value, 2) which colleges put out the most valuable NFL players, 3) which positions tend to provide the best value, and 4) is there really any value in drafting in the later rounds?

That last part matters when it comes to trades – more on that another time.

Here are the ground rules and theories here …

1. This has almost nothing to do with talent – it’s all about the value and timing of the picks.

Of course Mahomes is a better player than anyone taken in the entire 2017 draft, but he went with the 10th overall pick. You’re supposed to be able to nail that.

Mahomes is actually a bad example considering he’s a unicorn, but in general, you have to work to whiff on a first round pick. Finding a real, live starter after the 100th pick who can play for four years on a rookie contract is found gold.

For the purposes of this value exercise, it’s a much bigger deal for an NFL team to find a Dak Prescott in the fourth round than it is to take Jared Goff – even if the pick works out – with the No. 1 overall selection.

No matter where you pick a player, though …

2. All you can reasonably ask for out of a GM is to draft a two-year starter.

Again, it’s not really about the talent – this isn’t a ranking of how good these NFL players turned out to be.

If you dive into the history of the NFL draft, finding an All-Pro is random dumb luck – really, it is, and we’ll show why at the end of all the analysis that will come out over the upcoming weeks. Just find a player who’ll start for you for two to four years.

One important note – you don’t get credit for drafting a player who produced for someone else. The value of each of these picks is only counted while they were on the teams that drafted them.

Also, if a player is hurt or on the sidelines for a stretch, that hurts his value overall. It’s why there are a few outliers in the formula – like Mahomes – but Pro Bowls and All-Pro recognition are added into …

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3. The CFN Draft Value Formula

Again, this isn’t about talent. This is about what players turned into steady starters for the teams that drafted them. Find those guys to build around, and then go after the established stars for positions of need in free agency.

The formula is made up of …

– The overall pick. The later the pick, the higher the value. Anyone can pick in the first 50 and find a decent player. Find the guy in the fifth round who’ll produce. 

- How many games did he play in? A pick doesn’t work if he doesn’t play. Finding a starter is the goal, but a player brings value if he’s a part of a rotation, too. Merely getting on the field matters, but more importantly …

– How many games did he start? Valuable backups and special teamers are usually replaceable. Was the pick a starter, and for how long? Reliability is almost everything, and if he’s starting in the NFL he’s doing something right. But …

– All-Pro and Pro Bowl recognition counts. Finding a Pro Bowl player in the first round is harder than it seems, but it’s a first round pick – he’s supposed to be good. Finding one in the fourth round is massive. More weight is given to the score for All-Pro seasons – those are the true difference-making stars.

Way-too-long preamble short, who nailed their picks?

Number of games played, starts, Pro Bowls, and All-Pro nods are counted and then weighed into where the player was selected. The later the pick that worked out, the higher the score.

Who has been the best at finding the most value in the NFL Draft?

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