What if a single draft resulted in pick after pick of future Hall of Famers and career legends? That's what we're attempting to compile by creating the NFL Draft — the best player drafted with each pick of a seven-round draft.
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Using Sports Reference's Career AV statistic — which attempts to put a single number to determine the value of a player's career on a season-by-season basis — we've assembled a list of the most successful players at every single draft pick in NFL history, the players who've accumulated the highest total Career AV.
MORE: Highest NFL Draft Pick in the History of Each FBS Team
A couple of notes:
1. This lists the player at each pick from 1-224 who has the highest Career AV, per Sports Reference. I did not take any liberties and elevate a player who wasn't the No. 1 Career AV total from that draft slot. Don't @ me when you see who's on this list instead of Walter Payton at pick No. 4.
2. Because the NFL Draft has changed over time based on the number of teams in the league, we're simply looking at which pick the player was drafted with and applying that to today's standards. That means many of the players on this list were drafted in different rounds than they'll be slotted (Example: Kevin Greene is a Hall of Fame linebacker selected with the 113th pick of the 1985 NFL Draft. The 113th pick is a 4th-rounder in our draft even though he was a 5th-round pick in real life.)
3. Career AV is a cumulative stat that adds up after every season. That's why this list favors players who have finished their careers and only features fewer current players.
4. We only looked at the NFL Draft. That means if a player was selected in both the NFL and AFL Drafts, their NFL Draft slot was used, even if their AFL Draft slot was higher. It also means no supplementary picks are used (Sorry Reggie White, who was the 4th pick in the 1984 Supplementary Draft and has the sixth-best Career AV in NFL history).
So that's the methodology!
Here's a look at the most successful player selected at each draft pick from No. 1 to No. 224 over the course of NFL Draft history.
MORE: NFL Draft Perfect First Round: Best Player Drafted with Picks 1-32 in NFL History
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1st Round
[credit]
Peyton Manning has the highest Career AV of any first-round draft pick in NFL history. Julie Jacobson/AP Photo[/credit]
| Rnd | Pick | Year | Tm | Player | Pos | College | Career AV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1998 | IND | Peyton Manning | QB | Tennessee | 177 |
| 1 | 2 | 1981 | NYG | Lawrence Taylor (HOF) | LB | North Carolina | 137 |
| 1 | 3 | 1980 | CIN | Anthony Munoz (HOF) | T | USC | 133 |
| 1 | 4 | 2004 | NYG | Philip Rivers | QB | NC State | 134 |
| 1 | 5 | 2001 | SDG | LaDainian Tomlinson (HOF) | RB | TCU | 128 |
| 1 | 6 | 1964 | MIN | Carl Eller (HOF) | DE | Minnesota | 123 |
| 1 | 7 | 1999 | WAS | Champ Bailey | DB | Georgia | 111 |
| 1 | 8 | 1981 | SFO | Ronnie Lott (HOF) | DB | USC | 118 |
| 1 | 9 | 1983 | HOU | Bruce Matthews (HOF) | G | USC | 134 |
| 1 | 10 | 1987 | PIT | Rod Woodson (HOF) | DB | Purdue | 140 |
| 1 | 11 | 2004 | PIT | Ben Roethlisberger | QB | Miami (OH) | 120 |
| 1 | 12 | 1995 | TAM | Warren Sapp (HOF) | DT | Miami (FL) | 117 |
| 1 | 13 | 1961 | DAL | Bob Lilly (HOF) | DT | TCU | 108 |
| 1 | 14 | 1983 | BUF | Jim Kelly (HOF) | QB | Miami (FL) | 103 |
| 1 | 15 | 1967 | MIN | Alan Page (HOF) | DT | Notre Dame | 135 |
| 1 | 16 | 1985 | SFO | Jerry Rice (HOF) | WR | Miss. Valley St. | 159 |
| 1 | 17 | 1990 | DAL | Emmitt Smith (HOF) | RB | Florida | 129 |
| 1 | 18 | 1964 | WAS | Paul Krause (HOF) | DB | Iowa | 113 |
| 1 | 19 | 1996 | IND | Marvin Harrison (HOF) | WR | Syracuse | 124 |
| 1 | 20 | 1971 | RAM | Jack Youngblood (HOF) | DE | Florida | 105 |
| 1 | 21 | 1998 | MIN | Randy Moss (HOF) | WR | Marshall | 123 |
| 1 | 22 | 1970 | RAM | Jack Reynolds | LB | Tennessee | 79 |
| 1 | 23 | 1959 | CLE | Dick Schafrath | T | Ohio State | 89 |
| 1 | 24 | 2005 | GNB | Aaron Rodgers | QB | California | 128 |
| 1 | 25 | 1991 | SFO | Ted Washington | NT | Louisville | 91 |
| 1 | 26 | 1996 | BAL | Ray Lewis (HOF) | LB | Miami (FL) | 158 |
| 1 | 27 | 1983 | MIA | Dan Marino (HOF) | QB | Pittsburgh | 145 |
| 1 | 28 | 1995 | TAM | Derrick Brooks (HOF) | LB | Florida State | 141 |
| 1 | 29 | 1961 | MIN | Fran Tarkenton (HOF) | QB | Georgia | 149 |
| 1 | 30 | 2001 | IND | Reggie Wayne | WR | Miami (FL) | 117 |
| 1 | 31 | 1969 | CIN | Bill Bergey | LB | Arkansas State | 84 |
| 1 | 32 | 2001 | SDG | Drew Brees | QB | Purdue | 159 |
MORE: In-Depth Look at the Perfect First Round
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2nd Round
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Brett Favre has the highest Career AV of any second-round draft pick in NFL history, using today's draft standards. Jim Oxley/HERO Sports[/credit]
| Rnd | Pick | Year | Tm | Player | Pos | College | Career AV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 33 | 1991 | ATL | Brett Favre (HOF) | QB | Southern Miss | 156 |
| 2 | 34 | 1971 | PIT | Jack Ham (HOF) | LB | Penn St. | 114 |
| 2 | 35 | 1974 | SFO | Keith Fahnhorst | T | Minnesota | 75 |
| 2 | 36 | 1992 | DAL | Jimmy Smith | WR | Jackson St. | 109 |
| 2 | 37 | 1985 | PHI | Randall Cunningham | QB | UNLV | 107 |
| 2 | 38 | 1981 | CHI | Mike Singletary (HOF) | LB | Baylor | 123 |
| 2 | 39 | 1965 | DET | Fred Biletnikoff (HOF) | WR | Florida State | 89 |
| 2 | 40 | 1993 | NYG | Michael Strahan (HOF) | DE | Texas Southern | 121 |
| 2 | 41 | 1982 | NWE | Andre Tippett (HOF) | LB | Iowa | 90 |
| 2 | 42 | 1976 | SFO | Randy Cross | G | UCLA | 87 |
| 2 | 43 | 1957 | PHI | Sonny Jurgensen (HOF) | QB | Duke | 107 |
| 2 | 44 | 1960 | CLE | Jim Marshall | DE | Ohio State | 98 |
| 2 | 45 | 1991 | SFO | Ricky Watters | RB | Notre Dame | 102 |
| 2 | 46 | 1974 | PIT | Jack Lambert (HOF) | LB | Kent St. | 110 |
| 2 | 47 | 2007 | NYJ | David Harris | LB | Michigan | 82 |
| 2 | 48 | 1981 | OAK | Howie Long (HOF) | DE | Villanova | 95 |
| 2 | 49 | 1983 | SFO | Roger Craig | RB | Nebraska | 95 |
| 2 | 50 | 1961 | STL | Ron McDole | DE | Nebraska | 91 |
| 2 | 51 | 1981 | NOR | Rickey Jackson (HOF) | LB | Pittsburgh | 113 |
| 2 | 52* | 1957 | CLE | Henry Jordan (HOF) | DT | Virginia | 94 |
| 2 | 52* | 1968 | OAK | Ken Stabler (HOF) | QB | Alabama | 94 |
| 2 | 53 | 1970 | PIT | Mel Blount (HOF) | DB | Southern | 101 |
| 2 | 54 | 2003 | ARI | Anquan Boldin | WR | Florida State | 86 |
