Jack Bauer
Rookie
Do you know how many players who were the first pick in the entire draft made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame? From 1936 to 1989 (60 drafts, includes NFL and AFL drafts) there are a total of 11 Hall of Famers!
Here is the list, which will change this year when Troy Aikman joins the list:
1942 Bill Dudley, HB Pittsburgh Steelers
1945 Charley Trippi, HB Chicago Cardinals
1949 Chuck Bednarik, C/LB Philadelphia Eagles
1957 Paul Hornung, QB/HB Green Bay Packers
1963 (AFL) Buck Buchanan, DE/T Kansas City Chiefs
1968 Ron Yary, T Minnesota Vikings
1969 O.J. Simpson, RB Buffalo Bills
1970 Terry Bradshaw, QB Pittsburgh Steelers
1976 Lee Roy Selmon, DE Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1978 Earl Campbell, FB Houston Oilers
1983 John Elway, QB Baltimore Colts
Here is the link:
HOF Selected Number One in Draft
Using data from 1936 to 2005: The number 1 over all pick played a total of 654 years combined in the NFL and 154 of those years are "Pro Bowl" years. The number 2 overall picks played a total of 632 years combined in the NFL and 175 of those years are "Pro Bowl" years. This comes out to 25% of the years played for the number 1 overall pick and 28% of the years played for the number 2 overall pick.
Note: I am not sure what criteria they used before the Pro Bowl existed, but there are Pro Bowl years listed all the way back to 1939.
Here is the list, which will change this year when Troy Aikman joins the list:
1942 Bill Dudley, HB Pittsburgh Steelers
1945 Charley Trippi, HB Chicago Cardinals
1949 Chuck Bednarik, C/LB Philadelphia Eagles
1957 Paul Hornung, QB/HB Green Bay Packers
1963 (AFL) Buck Buchanan, DE/T Kansas City Chiefs
1968 Ron Yary, T Minnesota Vikings
1969 O.J. Simpson, RB Buffalo Bills
1970 Terry Bradshaw, QB Pittsburgh Steelers
1976 Lee Roy Selmon, DE Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1978 Earl Campbell, FB Houston Oilers
1983 John Elway, QB Baltimore Colts
Here is the link:
HOF Selected Number One in Draft
Using data from 1936 to 2005: The number 1 over all pick played a total of 654 years combined in the NFL and 154 of those years are "Pro Bowl" years. The number 2 overall picks played a total of 632 years combined in the NFL and 175 of those years are "Pro Bowl" years. This comes out to 25% of the years played for the number 1 overall pick and 28% of the years played for the number 2 overall pick.
Note: I am not sure what criteria they used before the Pro Bowl existed, but there are Pro Bowl years listed all the way back to 1939.