Brett Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons 33rd overall in 1991
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Brett Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons 33rd overall in 1991
ESPN recently released a list called “The best NFL draft pick ever at every slot from No. 1 to 262” and the Atlanta Falcons are on it a few times for good reason. For the sake of brevity, we’ll just look at the big ones in the first two rounds.
The Falcons have a pair and if they don’t immediately come to mind, then you haven’t really thought hard about it. First, let’s take a quick look at the criteria used by writer Ben Solak, who I give a lot of credit as a self-proclaimed NFL historian myself. He put some work into this and I was excited to read it because it is extremely slow in the NFL world right now.
Solak writes:
-I took “best” to mean some combination of “most talented” and “most successful.”
-In order to be the best draft pick, you kind of have to play for the team that drafted you.
-There isn’t a bump for QB value (unless it was inescapable).
Click the link for more details on these guidelines. But, that should give you an idea of the 28-year old’s (I appreciate him mentioning his age because that does give some context) thought process in determining just who was the best at each draft slot going back to the common draft in 1967. He also decided to keep it to seven rounds, which is smart; there is no need to go past that.
Deion Sanders, 5th overall in 1989
Shocker.
“It’s a loaded fifth pick (Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jalen Ramsey and Ja’Marr Chase), but Sanders gets the nod for his unique place as a two-way player (not to mention his two rings — one of which came in his Defensive Player of the Year season — and his six first-team All-Pro appearances),” Solak writes. “Does he also get a bump for providing excellent return on a sixth-round draft pick in the MLB draft? Who’s to say?”
There isn’t going to be much argument about Sanders being on this list and no one really needs to extol his virtues here. We all get it. But, there is some pushback here on Jalen Ramsey even being in the discussion. No way is Ramsey on the same planet as the other players mentioned and I’m not even sure I’d even put him in the “great” category. He was at one time, but his play hasn’t passed the eyeball test of an elite cornerback in years.
Brett Favre, 33rd overall in 1991
“The 33rd pick has produced four Hall of Famers, but Isaac Bruce, Fred Dean and Ted Hendricks can’t clear the value of Favre, a three-time MVP and one of the league’s most electric passers ever,” Solak writes. “An excellent draft pick by the Falcons, though they reaped absolutely none of what they sowed.”
Sure, there is the stated criteria about the weight the pick has if you played a lot for the team that drafted you, which is not remotely the case here. After a year of getting nothing out of Favre, the Falcons flipped him to the Green Bay Packers for a first-round pick in 1992. So, they used a second round pick for a rental care that stayed in the garage and got a first-round selection out of it. That should get accolades all by itself.
No accolades, however, for using that first-round pick on running back Tony Smith. Check his career stats to see how much that was worth it. They probably got more out of Favre than Smith. Think about that for a minute.
And Favre has admitted in the past that he partied his way off of the Falcons so there is a likelihood that he never would have become “Brett Favre” in Atlanta. Who knows? If he stayed, he could have been out of football for good by 1993 for all we know.
Check Solak’s full list for a good read on a slow summer holiday weekend.