The Best First Rounds in History
-
Here is a recitation of what I believe are the best First rounds in the history of the NFL Draft. For this....I am taking the Top 32 picks of any draft....even if that meant going into lower rounds. And, also, for this, I am only basically going by the number of Hall of Famers that have come out of these drafts. Maybe not the best way of doing this...comparing draft quality....but it is the way I am doing it here. So here are what seem to be the best overall First rounds of all past drafts:
1964.....may be the best ever. 7 of the Top 32 made HOF.....among them Leroy Kelly, Paul Warfield,
1983....probably next best. 6 of the Top 32 made HOF....Elway/Kelly/Marino/Dickerson/Green/Matthews
1952....5 of the Top 32 made HOF...and 6 of the top 34 Richter/McElhenny/Gifford/Marchetti/Matson...and Yale Lary
1957....5 of the Top 32 made HOF....plus....4 of the Top 8: Dawson/Jim Brown/Hornung/Jim Parker/Tommy McDonald
1961....5 of the Top 32 made HOF....Ditka, Adderly, Tarkenton,/Lilly/Jimmy Johnson
1967 and 1968....in each of those years 4 of the Top 32 made HOF
1969 and 1975.....while in each of these years...only 3 of the Top 32 made HOF...but...in both years #33 made it: Ted Hendricks in 69 and Fred Dean in 1975
1989 In this year, 4 of the Top 32 made HOF....but, amazingly......they were 4 of the Top 5 players drafted: Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derek Thomas, Deion Sanders. the guy who did not?: Tony Mandarich
1998. Only Randy Moss so far has made the HOF from this draft....but it is probable that at least 3 more from this year's first round will make it: Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson and Alan Faneca.
There have been 14 years in which 3 HOF players were taken in Top 32.
As far as drafts since 2000:
2001 could get 3 of Top 32: Urlacher already in. Drew Brees for Certain, Steve Hutchinson
2002....likely only Julius Peppers and Ed Reed...unless you think Dwight Freeny could get in.
2003....Polamalu and Suggs are possibles. WR Andre Johnson? Big maybe
2004...I say this year gets 4: Eli/Rivers/Ben R....and Larry Fitzgerald
2007...the year of the worst QB picks....could get 5: Joe Thomas, Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Darelle Revis.
And..it is likely too early to look past 2007 ...so we will leave it right there.
-
On a related note somewhat, the following are the Drafts that have produced at least 2 HOF QBs:
1937 Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker
1944 Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield
1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle
1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda
1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson
1983 Elway, Kelly Marino
and that is it so far.
as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:
2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers
and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:
2008 Ryan and Flacco
-
I predict that this year's draft will be at the top of this list in 20 years. Can you name the 8 top players who will be in HofF on day.
-
I predict that this year's draft will be at the top of this list in 20 years. Can you name the 8 top players who will be in HofF on day.
I predict that this year's draft will be at the top of this list in 20 years. Can you name the 8 top players who will be in HofF on day.
No, because if history is any indication, some guy taken in the 5th round will be in there.
Examples, recent HOF inductees:
Curtis Martin, drafted in 3rd round
Cris Carter....4th round
Kevin Greene 5th round
Shannon Sharp 7th round
And Brady of course....6th round.
Other possible HOFers from the 2000s from lower rounds:
Steve Smith WR 3rd round
Jason Witten TE 3rd round
Jared Allen DL 4th round
Frank Gore RB 3rd round
Jahri Evans 4th round
Brandon Marshall 4th round.
-
Gip, I think your going to like John Dorsey's historical mind of thinking..listening to a radio show from combine with Dorsey, Dorsey has already researched his luck of drafting so high in first round with 2 picks. Dorsey spoke of pulling off his favorite of 3 by pulling off... Da Bears draft of 1964..1.3=Dic.k Butkus 1.4=Gale Sayers
-
All we can hope is that this is one of the greatest Browns first rds in history.
Well....here are all the Browns first round draft picks. Determine for your own which is the best first round they have ever had:
Drafted Players
-
Share & more
- Modify & Share Table
- Embed this Table
- Get as Excel Workbook (experimental)
- Get table as CSV (for Excel)
- Strip Mobile Formatting
- Copy Link to Table to Clipboard
- About Sharing Tools
- Video: SR Sharing Tools & How-to
- Video: Stats Table Tips & Tricks
- Glossary
Rk Year Rnd Pick Pos DrAge From To AP1 PB St CarAV G GS QBrec Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD Int Sk College/Univ 1 2017 1 1 Myles Garrett DE 21 2017 2017 0 0 1 4 11 9 7.0 Texas A&M College Stats 2 2017 1 25 Jabrill Peppers S 21 2017 2017 0 0 1 5 13 13 1 Michigan College Stats 3 2017 1 29 David Njoku TE 21 2017 2017 0 0 0 2 16 5 1 1 0 32 386 4 Miami (FL) College Stats 4 2016 1 15 Corey Coleman WR 22 2016 2017 0 0 2 5 19 18 2 10 0 56 718 5 Baylor College Stats 5 2015 1 12 Danny Shelton NT 22 2015 2017 0 0 3 16 46 44 1.5 Washington College Stats 6 2015 1 19 Cameron Erving C 23 2015 2017 0 0 1 10 42 21 Florida St. College Stats 7 2014 1 8 Justin Gilbert DB 22 2014 2016 0 0 0 4 35 3 1 Oklahoma St. College Stats 8 2014 1 22 Johnny Manziel QB 21 2014 2015 0 0 0 5 15 8 2-6-0 147 258 1675 7 7 46 259 1 Texas A&M College Stats 9 2013 1 6 Barkevious Mingo LB 22 2013 2017 0 0 1 16 78 23 1 9.0 LSU College Stats 10 2012 1 3 Trent Richardson RB 22 2012 2014 0 0 3 17 46 37 614 2032 17 113 912 2 Alabama College Stats 11 2012 1 22 Brandon Weeden QB 28 2012 2015 0 0 1 14 34 25 6-19-0 559 965 6462 31 30 61 201 1 0 -9 0 Oklahoma St. College Stats 12 2011 1 21 Phil Taylor DT 23 2011 2014 0 0 2 20 44 42 7.0 Baylor College Stats 13 2010 1 7 Joe Haden DB 21 2010 2017 0 2 6 43 101 92 20 3.0 Florida College Stats 14 2009 1 21 Alex Mack C 23 2009 2017 0 5 8 65 133 133 California College Stats 15 2007 1 3 Joe Thomas T 22 2007 2017 6 10 10 83 167 167 Wisconsin College Stats 16 2007 1 22 Brady Quinn QB 22 2007 2012 0 0 2 2 24 20 4-16-0 296 550 3043 12 17 44 185 1 1 18 0 Notre Dame College Stats 17 2006 1 13 Kamerion Wimbley DE 22 2006 2014 0 0 8 46 140 123 2 53.5 Florida St. College Stats 18 2005 1 3 Braylon Edwards WR 22 2005 2012 0 1 5 41 112 93 0 1 0 0 0 4 11 0 359 5522 40 Michigan College Stats 19 2004 1 6 Kellen Winslow TE 21 2004 2013 0 1 6 38 105 83 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 469 5236 25 Miami (FL) College Stats 20 2003 1 21 Jeff Faine C 22 2003 2012 0 0 9 46 125 124 1 0 0 1 -1 0 Notre Dame 21 2002 1 16 William Green RB 22 2002 2005 0 0 2 14 46 30 568 2109 9 45 277 0 Boston Col. College Stats 22 2001 1 3 Gerard Warren DT 23 2001 2011 0 0 8 52 163 137 36.5 Florida 23 2000 1 1 Courtney Brown DE 22 2000 2005 0 0 4 28 61 60 19.0 Penn St. College Stats 24 1999 1 1 Tim Couch QB 22 1999 2003 0 0 4 30 62 59 22-37-0 1025 1714 11131 64 67 124 556 2 2 -13 0 Kentucky College Stats 25 1995 1 30 Craig Powell LB 23 1995 1998 0 0 0 1 14 0 Ohio St. 26 1994 1 9 Antonio Langham DB 22 1994 2000 0 0 4 29 102 76 14 1.0 Alabama College Stats 27 1994 1 29 Derrick Alexander WR 22 1994 2002 0 0 6 56 126 102 16 210 1 417 6971 40 Michigan College Stats 28 1993 1 14 Steve Everitt C 23 1993 2000 0 0 6 36 103 98 Michigan 29 1992 1 9 Tommy Vardell RB 23 1992 1999 0 0 4 19 87 57 403 1427 18 119 1010 3 Stanford College Stats 30 1991 1 2 Eric Turner DB 22 1991 1999 1 2 7 51 109 105 30 3.0 UCLA Rk Year Rnd Pick Player Pos DrAge From To AP1 PB St CarAV G GS QBrec Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD Int Sk College/Univ College_link 31 1989 1 13 Eric Metcalf RB 21 1989 2002 2 3 6 63 179 77 1 5 32 1 0 630 2392 12 541 5572 31 Texas College Stats 32 1988 1 21 Clifford Charlton LB 23 1988 1989 0 0 0 3 31 1 1.0 Florida 33 1987 1 5 Mike Junkin LB 22 1987 1989 0 0 0 3 20 7 Duke 34 1984 1 18 Don Rogers DB 21 1984 1985 0 0 2 13 31 30 2 UCLA College Stats 35 1982 1 3 Chip Banks LB 22 1982 1992 1 4 10 72 138 136 9 46.0 USC 36 1981 1 22 Hanford Dixon DB 22 1981 1989 2 3 9 68 131 128 26 2.0 Southern Miss 37 1980 1 27 Charles White RB 22 1980 1988 1 1 3 29 108 41 780 3075 23 114 860 1 USC College Stats 38 1979 1 20 Willis Adams WR 23 1979 1985 0 0 0 9 75 10 5 13 0 61 962 2 Houston College Stats 39 1978 1 12 Clay Matthews LB 22 1978 1996 0 4 16 94 278 248 16 69.5 USC 40 1978 1 23 Ozzie Newsome HOF TE 22 1978 1990 1 3 13 59 198 191 18 135 2 662 7980 47 Alabama College Stats 41 1977 1 17 Robert Jackson LB 23 1978 1982 0 0 2 15 62 33 2 Texas A&M 42 1976 1 7 Mike Pruitt RB 22 1976 1986 0 2 8 60 152 114 1844 7378 51 270 1860 5 Purdue College Stats 43 1975 1 5 Mack Mitchell DE 23 1975 1979 0 0 3 17 69 44 Houston 44 1973 1 16 Steve Holden WR 22 1973 1977 0 0 2 10 54 21 3 2 0 62 927 4 Arizona St. College Stats 45 1973 1 22 Pete Adams G 22 1974 1976 0 0 2 12 25 22 USC 46 1972 1 18 Thom Darden DB 22 1972 1981 0 1 9 53 128 124 45 Michigan 47 1971 1 14 Clarence Scott DB 22 1971 1983 0 1 12 59 186 166 39 Kansas St. 48 1970 1 3 Mike Phipps QB 22 1970 1981 0 0 5 40 119 71 38-31-2 886 1799 10506 55 108 254 1278 13 Purdue College Stats 49 1970 1 21 Bob McKay T 22 1970 1978 0 0 5 33 105 71 Texas College Stats 50 1969 1 20 Ron Johnson RB 21 1969 1975 1 2 5 60 81 68 0 2 0 0 0 1204 4308 40 213 1977 15 Michigan College Stats 51 1968 1 21 Marvin Upshaw DE 21 1968 1976 0 0 5 39 99 77 2 Trinity (TX) 52 1967 1 18 Bob Matheson LB 22 1967 1979 0 0 5 42 180 75 12 Duke College Stats 53 1966 1 14 Milt Morin TE 23 1966 1975 0 2 8 48 129 100 5 41 0 271 4208 16 Massachusetts 54 1964 1 11 Paul Warfield HOF WR 21 1964 1977 2 8 11 106 157 152 22 204 0 427 8565 85 Ohio St. College Stats 55 1963 1 9 Tom Hutchinson TE 22 1963 1966 0 0 0 5 47 19 409 2 Kentucky College Stats 56 1962 1 4 Gary Collins FL 22 1962 1971 0 2 9 74 127 106 4 60 0 331 5299 70 Maryland College Stats 57 1962 1 11 Leroy Jackson HB 22 1962 1963 0 0 0 4 15 4 52 142 0 10 253 1 West. Illinois 58 1961 1 10 Bobby Crespino SE 23 1961 1968 0 0 0 8 107 23 58 741 9 Mississippi College Stats 59 1960 1 8 Jim Houston LB 22 1960 1972 0 4 10 60 177 141 1 10 1 14 Ohio St. College Stats 60 1959 1 11 Rich Kreitling E 23 1959 1964 0 0 5 21 79 64 2 -13 0 123 1775 17 Illinois College Stats Rk Year Rnd Pick Player Pos DrAge From To AP1 PB St CarAV G GS QBrec Cmp Att Yds TD Int Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD Int Sk College/Univ College_link 61 1958 1 13 Jim Shofner DB 22 1958 1963 0 0 5 29 76 57 20 TCU College Stats 62 1957 1 6 Jim Brown HOF FB 21 1957 1965 8 9 9 108 118 118 4 12 117 3 0 2359 12312 106 262 2499 20 Syracuse College Stats 63 1956 1 13 Preston Carpenter E 22 1956 1967 0 1 10 29 149 126 1 3 2 0 0 223 884 1 305 4457 23 Arkansas 64 1955 1 13 Kurt Burris C 0 0 0 Oklahoma College Stats 65 1954 1 1 Bobby Garrett QB 22 1954 1954 0 0 0 0 9 15 30 143 0 1 1 -3 0 Stanford 66 1954 1 12 John Bauer T 22 1954 1954 0 0 0 0 2 0 Illinois 67 1953 1 11 Doug Atkins HOF DE 23 1953 1969 1 8 15 71 205 177 3 Tennessee 68 1952 1 10 Bert Rechichar DB 22 1952 1961 0 3 6 4 99 67 1 -1 0 7 185 3 31 Tennessee 69 1952 1 12 Harry Agganis QB 0 0 0 Boston Univ. 70 1951 1 14 Ken Konz DB 22 1953 1959 0 1 5 0 84 67 30 LSU 71 1950 1 13 Ken Carpenter HB 24 1950 1960 0 1 4 4 49 37 0 1 0 0 1 242 1199 11 71 823 6 Oregon St. -
Share & more
-
From the above, I think it is fair to say that the Best Browns First Round ever was:
1978. Drafted HOF Ozzie Newsome...and borderline HOF Clay Matthews
Honorable Mentions:
1957 with the draft of Jim Brown in round one.......and 1964 with Paul Warfield. 57/64/78 are the only years in which the Browns 1st round pick made HOF
.....errr....actually, that is incorrect. The Brown drafted Dough Atkins in 1953.....but he was like traded after two years to the Bears..where he went on to an HOF career
Now...the bad news:
The "Dishonorable Mention" Years.....and unfortuneatly there have been more of those...mostly recently:
1954 Bobby Garrett and John "Jack" Bauer. Garrett QB taken #1 overall.....had all of 30 career pass attempts. Bauer, an OG #12 pick that year.....played in all of 2 games in his career....for the Giants.
1973 Steve Holden and Pete Adams. Holden had all of 62 career receptions in the 4 years he hung around the NFL. Adams was also an OG who played in only 25 games. I think injuries likely got to him
2012.. Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden. TR only played 3 years, with his rookie season being fairly decent: 950 yards rushing. But he went downhill from there. Has not played since 2014. Weeden.....we know about him.....Has been a journeyman. Not even sure if he is now with a team.
2014. Justin Gilbert and John P. Manziel. Both now out of football...at least the NFL. Gilbert just will not play. Maybe JMZ can hook on in Canada
2015 Danny Shelton and Cam Erving. Maybe these guys can have a semi-decent career. Shelton more apt than Erving. At least they are still in the league, unlike 2014.
But let's face it.....In the Browns 70 year history....at least 3 of their worst 5 drafts ever have come in the last 6 years. I mean, yes, they have had first round busts perhaps as bad as these guys.....the Craig Powell's Mike Junkins, Clifford Charlton, Brady Quinn etc. But those were confined to one per year. In these years there was so much hope with 2 first round picks....and so much ultimate disappointment.
Fair to say?
-
On a related note somewhat, the following are the Drafts that have produced at least 2 HOF QBs:
1937 Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker
1944 Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield
1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle
1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda
1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson
1983 Elway, Kelly Marino
and that is it so far.
as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:
2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers
and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:
2008 Ryan and Flacco
On a related note somewhat, the following are the Drafts that have produced at least 2 HOF QBs:
1937 Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker
1944 Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield
1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle
1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda
1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson
1983 Elway, Kelly Marino
and that is it so far.
as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:
2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers
and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:
2008 Ryan and Flacco
A couple of other things the 1930s, 40s, 50s fewer teams and players fewer HOF candidates and most of them were quarterbacks. But maybe things haven't really changed that much the franchise quarterbacks are still the most important single positions in sports.
In the great quarterback class of 1983 those three HOF guys of course came to the top but after the R1 picks a lot of players were taken before the next quarterback was taken none really notable.
Still a better system than the stingy MLB HOF.
-
On a related note somewhat, the following are the Drafts that have produced at least 2 HOF QBs:
1937 Sammy Baugh and Clarence Ace Parker
1944 Otto Graham and Bob Waterfield
1948 Bobby Layne and Y.A. Tittle
1949 Norm Van Brocklin and George Blanda
1957 Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgenson
1983 Elway, Kelly Marino
and that is it so far.
as far as beyond 1983...any draft producing more than one potential HOFer....I see only one probable:
2004 with Eli/BR/Rivers
and one big maybe...if these guys can do quite a bit more with their careers:
2008 Ryan and Flacco
A couple of other things the 1930s, 40s, 50s fewer teams and players fewer HOF candidates and most of them were quarterbacks. But maybe things haven't really changed that much the franchise quarterbacks are still the most important single positions in sports.
In the great quarterback class of 1983 those three HOF guys of course came to the top but after the R1 picks a lot of players were taken before the next quarterback was taken none really notable.
Still a better system than the stingy MLB HOF.
A couple of other things the 1930s, 40s, 50s fewer teams and players fewer HOF candidates and most of them were quarterbacks. But maybe things haven't really changed that much the franchise quarterbacks are still the most important single positions in sports.
In the great quarterback class of 1983 those three HOF guys of course came to the top but after the R1 picks a lot of players were taken before the next quarterback was taken none really notable.
Still a better system than the stingy MLB HOF.
I don't know why the league having fewer teams and fewer players would have anything to do with HOF worthiness. Whether you play in a 16 team league or a 32 team league, if you're good, you're good. A draft class in this day and age can have several HOF worthy QBs. The three guys from the 2004 class proved that...and 1983.
I mean....the great debate is whether or not this year's QB class.....which could conceivably have 6 QBs taken in the first round....could be as good as 2004 or even 1983.
What do you all think?
-
It is fairly well presumed that this year we will see at least 4-5, maybe 6 QBs taken in round one. The following are the years in which 4 or more QBs were selected in round one:
1949 Frank Tripuka, Bobby Thomason, Stan Heath, John Rauch
(remember of course that the number of teams picking was much fewer pre merger...so 4 is a lot for that time. Several pre merger years did see 3 QBs taken, but I am not listing those here)
1983 Elway, Marino, Kelly, Blackledge, O'Brien, Eaton
1987 Testaverde, Kelly Stouffer, Jim Harbaugh, Chris Miller
1999 Couch, McNabb, Akili, Culpepper, McCown
2003 Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman
2004 Eli, Rivers, Ben R., JP Losman
2011 Cam Newton, Locker, Gabbert, Ponder
2012 Luck, Griffin, Tannehill, Weeden
As you can see....just because there are a lot of QBs considered to be first round worthy.....does NOT mean that you will have a lot of quality NFL QBs coming out of that class.
-
Some of the current quarterback rally might be the lack of starters and qualified backups, probably just a cyclical thing it happens in sports.
32 starters + 32 backups right now = a lot of pent up demand which also drives up salaries, a simple economics supply and demand thing.
The opposite side of that coin would be when you have a lot of "Bret Favre types" that just don't leave.
Do 3 to 6 rather mediocre but in demand quarterbacks equal a bunch of can't miss franchise quarterbacks? I guess we will wait and see. Best Quarterback class in 35 years or a big bust, see you in 2 to 5 years to have a feel on that one.
-
Fair enough. Yes.....the questions about this QB class will likely be answered in 2-5 years. Will it be 1983/2004 like....3-4 HOF or at least quality QBs or 1999/2011 like....one decent guy and a bunch of drek?
-
Fair enough. Yes.....the questions about this QB class will likely be answered in 2-5 years. Will it be 1983/2004 like....3-4 HOF or at least quality QBs or 1999/2011 like....one decent guy and a bunch of drek?
Fair enough. ........one decent guy and a bunch of drek?
Yeah the Star + drek class of 2018 or WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login