The 9 Biggest Steals In The History Of The NFL Draft

Teams expect a solid return on their investment with the guys who get drafted in the first few rounds of the NFL Draft, but expectations tend to be significantly lower once they wrap up. However, you can certainly get a bargain in the later rounds, and there are plenty of sleepers who turned out to be an absolute steal.

NFL teams are usually taking a bit of a gamble when it comes to selecting guys in the later rounds of the draft, which tends to be the textbook definition of a “low-risk, high-reward” situation.

Plenty of overlooked players end up having a pretty solid career, but there are also some standouts that really stick out when it comes to the draft picks who more than exceeded the fairly low bar that was set for them based on where they ended up going.

Tom Brady: 199th Overall

I’m not really listing these in any particular order, but let’s get the most obvious one out of the way.

Tom Brady had a solid career at Michigan, but there were six quarterbacks who heard their names called before the Patriots selected him in the seventh round with the 199th overall pick in 2000.

Chad Pennington is the most notable name in that group (although Marc Bulger probably had the best career when everything was said and done), but as every NFL fan knows by now, the Patriots got a franchise QB and NFL legend who ended up winning seven Super Bowls by the time he retired.

Bart Starr: 200th Overall

Bart Starr was a quarterback, safety, and punter during his time at Alabama, and while he didn’t really stand out from the rest of the pack at any of those positions, the Packers thought he had potential as a passer and took a shot on him by getting him in the 17th round with the 200th pick in 1956.

Green Bay spent five seasons playing around with its QB situation until Starr became their primary starter in 1961 while leading them to the first of back-to-back NFL championships.

He was at the helm when the Packers won the first Super Bowl in NFL history in 1967 (they’d repeat as champions the following year), and he also added a regular season MVP to his Hall of Fame résumè that season.

Shannon Sharpe: 192nd Overall

Shannon Sharpe was a superstar at Savannah State, but the fact that he hailed from a DII program and didn’t fit the typical archetype for wide receivers or tight ends at the time led to him falling to the seventh round before the Broncos selected him with the 192nd pick in 1990.

That turned out to be a great call for a team that got a player who started his career as a WR before moving to TE and revolutionizing the position thanks to the combination of the speed and strength he harnessed to win three Super Bowls and retire as the all-time leader in receiving yards, touchdowns, and receptions for tight ends.

Terrell Davis: 196th Overall

Shannon Sharpe wasn’t the only player the Broncos snagged toward the end of the draft before seeing that decision pay off in a big way, as Terrell Davis certainly fits the bill as well.

There were three guys with the last name “Davis” who were off the board by the time Denver got the running back in the sixth round with the 196th overall pick in 1995, and he wasn’t expected to make much of an impact given the rushing weapons the team had at the time.

However, the Georgia product (by way of Long Beach State) defied expectations and earned the starting job ahead of a stellar rookie year that kicked off a career where he’d win two Super Bowls and be named Most Valuable Player for his standout campaign in 1998.

Deacon Jones: 186th Overall

David “Deacon” Jones flew under the radar during a two-year college career that he finished at what is now Mississippi Valley State after he was kicked off the team at South Carolina State for participating in a civil rights protest.

However, the defensive end caught the eye of the Rams after they noticed his speed while scouting running backs ahead of the draft in 1961, and they ended up getting him in the 14th round with the 186th overall pick.

The man who is credited with inventing the word “sack” had plenty of them during a Hall of Fame career where he earned the nickname “The Secretary of Defense” while reinventing the DE position due to his virtually unprecedented ability to navigate the field.

Richard Dent: 203rd Overall

The Bears also got themselves a sack machine when they selected Tennessee State DE Richard Dent in the eighth round in 1983 with the 203rd overall pick.

Dent ended up playing 11 seasons in Chicago and was a key member of the legendary Bears defense that made them a force to be reckoned with in the 1980s.

He was named the MVP in Super Bowl XX thanks to the 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles he had during the team’s 46-10 thrashing of the Patriots and won a second ring with the 49ers during his first season in San Francisco.

Ken Houston: 214th Overall

Prairie A&M was the only college that offered Ken Houston a scholarship coming out of high school, and while he initially played linebacker, he’d end up making a name for himself thanks to his skill as a safety.

He was still pretty unheralded when the Houston Oilers made a very apt selection by getting him in the ninth round with the 214th overall pick in 1967, but he quickly emerged as a turnover machine who made life very difficult for the many offenses that fell victim to his ability to patrol the gridiron.

Marques Colston: 252nd Overall

Marques Colston may not have racked up as many individual accolades as most of the guys on this list, but it would be foolish to discount what he achieved with the Saints after they got him out of Hofstra in the seventh round with the 252nd pick in 2006.

Colston spent the entirety of his 10-year NFL career with New Orleans and retired as the franchise leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns; he was also a key member of the offense during the season that ended with the Saints winning Super Bowl XLIV.

Joe Montana: 82nd Overall

Joe Montana is the only person on this list who wasn’t a triple-digit pick in the NFL Draft, but he’s still worth mentioning based on what he achieved in the league.

The Notre Dame product became the fourth QB to go off the board when the 49ers got him in the third round with the 82nd pick in 1979.

He was named the team’s full-time starter in 1981 and led San Francisco to the first of the four Super Bowls they’d win with him at the helm; he earned MVP honors in three of them and also got the award for his play in the regular season on back-to-back occasions beginning in 1989.