Foresight is so often blind. Hindsight is always 20/20. A college football analyst really seemed to take that latter principle to heart with a recent list of his.
Carl Reed Jr., a college football analyst for 247 Sports, revealed his list of the top 10 greatest NFL Draft prospects of all time. It’s safe to say that it doesn’t entirely add up.
The list, which was shared on Twitter/X by 247 Sports on Thursday, included Michigan quarterback Tom Brady, Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana, Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor, Mississippi Valley State receiver Jerry Rice, Florida running back Emmitt Smith, Florida State cornerback Deion Sanders, Miami defensive tackle Warren Sapp, Ohio State offensive tackle Orlando Pace and Mississippi Valley State defensive end Deacon Jones.
https://twitter.com/247Sports/status/1770942169638945026
If the goal here was to rank the 10 greatest players in NFL history, that’s a pretty formidable list. But greatest NFL Draft prospects of all-time? That doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Starting at the top, Brady was famously a sixth-round pick in 2000, selected No. 199 overall. The New England Patriots selected six players that year before Brady.
His inclusion was most widely mocked.
The 199th overall pick in his own draft as the best prospect of all time
— Football Analysis (@FBallAnalysisYT) March 22, 2024
https://twitter.com/DynoGameTheory/status/1771283496092516403
Prospects? Brady was drafted in the sixth. He wasn’t a top prospect… https://t.co/2NNHmbv4yc
— Dan Ruppert (@Dan_Ruppert) March 23, 2024
When you definitely know what the word prospect means https://t.co/svjVuF1ups
— Carter Donnick (@CDonnick1) March 23, 2024
This man has no idea what the word "prospect" means and apparently no one at 247Sports does either
Embarrassing https://t.co/udrmnI2XpU
— Tom Downey (@WhatGoingDowney) March 23, 2024
Moving on, we arrive at Montana, a third-round selection of the San Francisco 49ers — No. 82 overall — in 1979. The 49ers did not have a first-round pick that year but selected another player before Montana.
But not only is Brady not the only indefensible player listed, he’s not even the most indefensible player listed.
Manning and Pace certainly belong on any lists. They were both selected first overall and are regarded as two of the most highly regarded No. 1 overall selections. We also won’t dispute Taylor or Sanders, who were taken No. 2 and No. 5 overall, respectively, in their drafts. It’s harder to justify guys taken out of the top 10 — like Sapp (12th overall), Rice (16th overall) and Smith (17th overall). But for the sake of argument, we’ll leave those alone.
That brings us to Deacon Jones. We can’t leave his inclusion alone.
Jones was taken in the 14th round of the 1961 NFL Draft. If you’re relatively new to the NFL Draft, you might think that’s an error. After all, there are only seven rounds. That’s true, but it was not the case in 1961. NFL teams apparently viewed Jones as such a top prospect that they decided to wait until a round that no longer exists to take him.
In terms of his overall selection (No. 186), Jones (186) was actually ahead of Brady. There were far fewer teams in 1961 than in 2000, after all. But the Rams selected 15 players in 1961 before drafting Jones.
Again, if we want to call this a top NFL players list of all-time, it doesn’t look bad. There are some arguments to be had. But everyone but Brady is in the Hall of Fame. Brady certainly will be when he becomes eligible. Eight of the nine players currently in the Hall of Fame were elected on the first ballot.
But a greatest prospect of all-time list? That needs to include guys like John Elway, Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence. Including Brady, Montana and Jones is either not knowing what a prospect is, or using the benefit of hindsight.
