Terrell Davis, Tom Brady, Antonio Brown, Matt Hasselbeck and Donald Driver are all examples of sixth or seventh round draft picks that went on to take the NFL by storm. The final two rounds of this year's draft may have some hidden gems in it as well.
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BIGGEST SURPRISE
This has to be Cleveland selecting Florida defensive tackle Caleb Brantley at the top of the sixth round. For much of the pre-draft process, I viewed Brantley as a first round talent that had the ability to become one of the best interior pass rushers in the league. However, once word got out that Brantley is facing a misdemeanor battery charge for alleged violence against a woman, I thought he was very likely to go undrafted. If the allegations are not true, then this could turn out to be the biggest steal of the draft.
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BIGGEST STEAL
Speaking of the biggest steal, one pick in the running for that will be Bucky Hodges to the Vikings in the sixth round. The Virginia Tech tight end is very unproven in the running game, but has the physical traits to be a matchup nightmare in the red zone and help put Minnesota over the top in close games.
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MOST INTRIGUING PICK
The Broncos selected Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly with the final pick of the draft, making him Mr. Irrelevant. This is a classic low risk/high reward scenario for the Broncos, who selected Paxton Lynch in the first round last year and had another young quarterback, Trevor Siemian, start in 2016. But for character and medical concerns, Kelly likely would have been selected in the top two or three rounds. Fast forwarding two or three years down the road, Denver may have a great problem on its hands in terms of having two or three legitimate starting quarterbacks on its roster.
Other picks in the final two rounds that stood out to me included Elijah Qualls to the Eagles, Brad Kaaya to the Lions, Stevie Tu'ikolovatu to the Buccaneers, Josh Harvey-Clemons to the Redskins, Noah Brown to the Cowboys, Malachi Dupre to the Packers and Stacy Coley to the Vikings.
Qualls showed glimpses of an ability to take over games with his explosiveness and power while at Washington, and if the Eagles can help him become more consistent, there's a lot of upside here.
As a pure passer, Kaaya doesn't take a back seat to many quarterbacks in this draft. If his pocket presence improves, the Lions could hit big on this one.
When an offensive lineman sees Tu'ikolovatu lined up across from him, he knows he's in for a long day. The former USC Trojan should be a run stopping machine that can also get after you in the passing game.
At 6-4, 217, Harvey-Clemons is a huge safety that can be an intriguing matchup piece on a week-to-week basis. With more and more hybrid tight ends that are more like big receivers coming into the league, a player with the size and skillset of Harvey-Clemons can be a valuable addition to the Redskins defense.
When it comes to receivers, there are so many of them closely grouped together in terms of talent that it often just comes down to personal preference. I was a little surprised to see Brown, Dupre and Coley all slip to the seventh round, but all three players have the physical traits to last in this league and prove that they were underdrafted.
