The 2025 NFL Draft starts on April 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with the 32 first-round picks. AL.com is counting down to the event by highlighting the best choice – overall, from the SEC and of players from Alabama high schools and colleges -- made with each of the first 32 picks in the 89 NFL drafts.
Best No. 24 pick: California quarterback Aaron Rodgers by the Green Bay Packers in 2005
The 24th selection in the NFL Draft has produced more than its share of good players. Pro Football Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed was chosen from Miami (Fla.) by the Baltimore Ravens at No. 24 in the 2002 draft. He’s among the 10 24th choices who have been first-team All-Pro at least once and the 29 who have been invited to at least one Pro Bowl.
Rodgers is the No. 24 with the most Pro Bowls at 10, even though he didn’t make his first NFL start until his fourth season. After 17 seasons as a QB1, he’s lining up his next NFL stop this offseason.
The NFL’s Most Valuable Player for the 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2021 seasons and the MVP of the Packers’ 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV to cap the 2010 campaign, Rodgers ranks seventh in passing yards and fifth in touchdown passes in NFL history. His career passing-efficiency rating of 102.6 is the league’s best.
Last year’s No. 24 pick was Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold by the Detroit Lions.
Best No. 24 pick from the SEC:Auburn running back James Brooks by the San Diego Chargers in 1981
Nine of the 18 SEC players selected with the 24th choice in an NFL Draft have been picked for 18 Pro Bowls, and four have combined for 16 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Four of those Pro Bowl selections and three of the 1,000-yard seasons belong to running back James Brooks.
In his first two seasons, Brooks led the NFL in all-purpose yards, and he also topped the league in kickoff-return yards in his second season.
After three seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Brooks was traded out of Chuck Muncie’s shadow and into the role of a No. 1 running back with the Cincinnati Bengals. Brooks was a Pro Bowler for the Bengals in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990.
In the best of his 12 NFL seasons, Brooks ran for 1,239 yards and seven touchdowns on 221 carries and caught 37 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns in 1989 as he helped Cincinnati win the AFC championship and reach Super Bowl XXIII.
The other 1,000-yard rushers picked in this spot by been Alabama’s Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris and Georgia’s Rodney Hampton. There’s also been a 1,000-yard receiver in the group – Mississippi State’s Eric Moulds.
The most recent No. 24 pick from the SEC is Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold in 2024 by the Detroit Lions.
Best No. 24 pick with Alabama football roots: Auburn running back James Brooks by the San Diego Chargers in 1981
All-star running backs have been the yield three of the five times that NFL teams have picked a prospect who played at an Alabama high school or college at No. 24 in the draft.
Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris, picked from Alabama in 2019 and 2021 respectively, are still building their resumes while Brooks has a whole career in the books.
Brooks began his career with the San Diego Chargers and led the NFL in all-purpose yards in his first two seasons. Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals on May 29, 1984, for running back Pete Johnson, Brooks averaged 4.8 yards per carry on his way to 6,447 rushing yards, added 3,012 receiving yards, scored 64 touchdowns, earned Pro Bowl recognition four times and played in Super Bowl XXIII over the next eight seasons.
For his career totals, Brooks compiled 7,962 yards and 49 touchdowns on 1,685 carries and 3,621 yards and 30 touchdowns on 383 receptions. He also threw a touchdown pass. Marshall Faulk and Lenny Moore, the other two players who have at least 49 touchdown runs and 30 touchdown receptions in NFL history, are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Minnesota Vikings hold the No. 24 pick in the NFL Draft on April 24.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.