Three Gators among ESPN's best players of all-time in each NFL draft slot

USA Today

6 days ago

A classic male bonding is listing off arbitrary Day 3 picks from the NFL draft in years past, but ESPN's Ben Solak took the idea to a whole new extreme.
Solak broke down the best player drafted of all time in each of the 262 slots of the modern seven-round draft. The bookend picks aren't so difficult to make. Solak had his pick of 14 Hall of Famers to choose from at the No. 1 overall spot, and no one is arguing with Peyton Manning at the top. Brock Purdy in the Mr. Irrelevant spot is another easy one. But the middle rounds get tricky.
Three Florida Gators found their way onto this list: NFL rushing yards leader Emmitt Smith at No. 17, Hall of Fame defensive end Jack Youngblood at No. 20 and offensive tackle Trent Brown at No. 244.
One of these is not like the others, but that's okay. Perennial Pro Bowlers such as cornerback Joe Haden, do-it-all athlete Percy Harvin and the Pouncey twins missed the cut because of the format. It's an interesting exercise from the offseason and maybe a new factoid to drop at the next draft party members of Gator Nation attend.
17. Emmitt Smith, RB (1990) — Dallas Cowboys
Holding the NFL record for career anything should make a player a lock for this list, and Smith is still widely considered the GOAT at his position for his longevity and production. It's been 35 years since Smith donned the Orange and Blue, and his time came before the peak moments in Florida history, but he's still among the best to ever come through Gainesville.
"The leader for career rushing yards by almost 2,000 yards takes the top spot here. Just how incredible are Smith's 18,355 rushing yards? Derrick Henry -- who is 19th in career rushing yardage but ninth with 84 rushing yards per game over his career -- would need to maintain his career average over another five seasons to catch Smith."
Smith was always dominant on the field. It only took him two games to earn a starting role. In his first start as a true freshman, Smith broke a 57-year-old program record with 224 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries. He broke 1,000 yards in seven games, the fastest any running back had ever done so to start their college career, and Smith finished ninth in the Heisman voting as a true freshman.
A month-long recovery from a knee injury kept Smith from reaching 1,000 yards as a sophomore in 1988, but he broke the program record with 1,599 as a junior. Smith also set a record for rushing yards in a single game (316), longest rushing play (96), career rushing yards (3,928) and career rushing yards per game (126.7) and career rushing touchdowns (36), among 58 total records.
A three-time All-SEC First Team selection and the 1989 SEC Player of the Year, Smith earned a unanimous first-team All-American nod and finished seventh in the Heisman voting. With pass-heavy Steve Spurrier coming in to lead the program, Smith decided to forgo his senior year and enter the draft. Dallas traded up four spots to get Smith at No. 17, or else he'd be lower than Youngblood on this list.
The rest is history. Three Super Bowl rings, a Super Bowl MVP, an NFL MVP Award, four All-Pro selections, eight Pro Bowl selections and an 18-year career to rival all others.
20. Jack Youngblood, DE (1971) — Los Angeles Rams
Youngblood is the defensive counterpart to Smith on offense in Florida history. Both are in the Gators Ring of Honor, an exclusive six-member group of which Steve Spurrier, Wilber Marshall, Tim Tebow and Danny Wuerffel are also members. Youngblood predates the Smith and Spurrier eras. He was a member of the Florida team that tested for what is now known as Gatorade. If anyone is deserving of a spot on the Florida football Mount Rushmore, it's Youngblood.
"'What a great name for a pass rusher. Youngblood was a Rams lifer with eight All-Pro nominations and a retired jersey. His longevity just barely gives him the nod over another Hall of Famer, Steve Atwater, a legendary Broncos safety and winner of two Super Bowls. I flip-flopped on this one for a while."
An All-State linebacker out of high school, Youngblood shifted to defensive end as a freshman at Florida and spent some time at defensive tackle throughout his career. He came to national prominence with a five-sack game against Florida State as a sophomore and earned a first-team All-American nod as a junior in 1970. That year, Youngblood led the team with 10 sacks and recorded 58 tackles.
He spent all 14 years of his NFL career with the Rams, earning five first-team All-Pro selections, three second-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowl selections. Although sacks weren't officially recorded by the NFL until the 1980s, Youngblood's 151 1/2 career sacks rank sixth all-time.
244. Trent Brown, OT (2015) — San Francisco 49ers
Brown spent the first two years of his career at Georgia Military College, but he spent the bulk of his two years at Florida as a starter. He took over for tackle Tyler Moore after an injury during the Georgia game and moved to guard before the 2014 season. At 6-foot-8 and 363 pounds, Brown is the largest player in Florida history besides Desmond Watson. His projectability made him a seventh-round pick in the 2015 draft.
After 28 starts over three years with San Francisco, Brown was traded to New England in 2018, where he won Super Bowl LIII. He signed a four-year $66 million contract with Oakland in 2019 and earned his first Pro Bowl nod the same year. Much of 2020 was lost due to the pandemic and Brown's own health issues, and he was traded back to the Patriots in 2021. Despite another injury, this time to his calf, New England signed Bown to a two-year $14 million deal. A torn patellar tendon ended his 2024 with Cincinnati early, and now he's with Houston ahead of the 2025 season.
The sun is beginning to set for Brown's career, and he probably hasn't done enough to join the other two players on this list in the Hall of Fame, but a decade-long career in the NFL is something to applaud, especially for a seventh-rounder.
The next time a friend says, "Who cares about the 200th pick of the draft?" Tell them about Trent Brown.
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