The 10th Pick: A Hidden Gem in NFL Draft History

Is the 10th overall pick, the luckiest spot in the NFL draft.

While the top five get all the hype, number 10 has quietly built a dynasty of hall of Famers and game changers.

We're talking about the slot that delivered Super Bowl MVP Marcus Allen, the ferocious tee sizzle Terrell Suggs, and the most dominant bus in NFL history, Jerome Bettis.

Three rings and two MVPs later, the rest is history.

From lockdown corners to the face of the league, these are the legendary players selected 10th overall.

And it continues in the Pigskin Dispatch Countdown of 32 straight days to the NFL draft.

And we're joined once again by our guest, Ed Cleese.

We are entering into the great time here.

We are 10 days from the National Football League draft and we're going to talk about the top 10 picks from here on in.

Going the our countdown of 32 straight days.

Number 10 pick is on our slate today.

The history and the legends of the first 90 drafts are coming up.

Ed Cleese is joining us.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darren, how are you today?

I am doing super.

You know, we are in top 10 mode now, talking about some of the great legends of the game that we've talked about.

A bunch that were outside the top 10.

But this is really where the guys are going deep to pick here and expect.

Yeah, it's getting harder and the research is getting a little, a little, a little trickier for sure.

We're just getting bigger and bigger.

We're growing for sure.

No doubt.

And it's, it's been, it's, it's fun.

Yeah, it definitely is.

We're gonna be talking about a lot of legends today.

So what's your overview of these selections last 40 some years?

Recently it's kind of been hit or miss and there's one massive hit who we will talk about later and then I'd say one massive miss.

Some other names that are currently playing that were taken 10th overall that people would know for sure are Garrett Wilson and Devonte Smith.

Two really, really good receivers.

Todd Gurley was taken here who looked like he was strapped to a rocket and then his career just kind of ended.

Like a lot of running backs we've seen, but for a very brief period there was really excellent for the Rams.

A little bit of a trend with this, this area of the draft is that recent quarterbacks have not fared well.

I don't want to bury JJ McCarthy right now.

So he might be third string going.

Yeah, it's not, you know, it's not a good feeling I think right now if you're.

If you're the Vikings with him.

But he's still very early.

Three career wins, that's well bad.

He actually did play for 12 years the NFL, but his career record was 14 and 35, which is very bad.

And he spent most of that time as a backup.

As a backup.

Heisman Trophy winner too.

Just never really panned out for him in the National Football League.

Yeah.

So if you combine the 10th and 11th picks, with one notable exception coming up, there is recent history is quarterbacks have not fared well.

And in terms of.

I really couldn't find.

I was trying to think there's got to be at least one more that I would say is a big bust.

There was definitely a number of disappointing players taken here that didn't amount to a lot.

But for me, a bust is a pretty harsh label.

So I have a kind of a criteria for it.

Wide receiver for the Bengals, a gentleman named David verser.

He had 23 career catches for the Bengals.

So that kind of tells you all you need to know.

Do you have any idea who that was?

What year?

81.

81.

Oh, God.

I'm probably before Carl Pickens.

I. I don't have no idea.

Chris Collinsworth was it.

Oh, okay.

So it's kind of funny.

He was in the 70s.

Okay.

They went wide receiver in back to back picks in that draft and they on one and they missed on the other.

And so it was kind of interesting though.

The Verser did have a 40 yard kickoff return in the Freezer bowl, the infamous game in Cincinnati of the coldest game ever played against the Chargers.

He had one big play in there and then I didn't realize this.

He was credited with missing the block in the super bowl against the 49er.

There was an audible to a run that apparently he missed.

And he missed his block that led to a fourth and one stop near the goal line by the 49ers.

Some people have blamed poor David Verser for that all these years later, but that was kind of it when it came to the negative.

Okay, well, that's.

That's kind of a.

Maybe Versure had a better career than maybe Josh Rosen knows.

Or maybe Rosa might be the.

The bigger buster.

It was pretty rough.

We do have a number of honorable mentions.

And again, at this point in the draft, Darren, I'm not going to just read off good players.

I'll just ones that stick out to me.

Very good player.

Herman Moore, 91 for the Lions in the mid-90s.

Had a couple massive seasons.

Like, massive.

He didn't do it very long, but when they were running that run and shoot, man, he was all over.

He was like a major fantasy guy, big time.

Yeah, you know, we got some big stars when you're talking about Herman Moore on honorable mention, so.

Yeah, for sure.

Keith Byers is the guy that I always remember real strong in the old.

He's an old NFC east guy, you know, 86 taken by the Eagles.

He played that like no position.

He was sort of like running back, fullback, kind of receiver, kind of tight end.

Like no one statistic ever.

They just kind of did everything with.

Him before the H Vac maybe.

Yeah, he was kind of all over, so he was kind of a fun player.

Altoon was taken the year before by the jets in 85.

Really talented guy.

Had.

He was the first player that I remember as a kid dealing with concussions.

Like did.

I remember, like, that was like a big deal.

And I remember he could.

They said he couldn't see sometimes we had a bunch of issues with that.

And then there was two guys that I really wanted to put in the top five.

I actually had one of them there and I had a Hall of Famer out.

And at the last minute I switched because I guess I'm just a wiener weenie.

And then Willie Anderson was an offensive tackle that I really wanted to put in my top five.

Played for the Bengals, was taken in 96, three straight first team all pros.

And we've talked about this with some other guys.

He was on really bad teams, so he was probably better than we even know because it probably took him a while to get recognized.

But those just missed the cut.

Yeah, those are some good ones you're talking about.

You know, they're definitely some guys that probably borderline Canton and a couple of them, you know, maybe.

I don't know if they'll ever make it, but have some good names.

All right, well, you got plenty of hall of famers to talk about and some.

Some legends and guys will probably will be in Canton in your top five, I'm sure.

So why don't you give us a rundown?

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So my top five, my, my.

My.

My number five and my number four are guys that I didn't want to put in my top five because I actually think they're overrated.

But I think I had to put them there.

He's overrated, Darren.

Really?

Okay, so he.

And he was the opposite Rookie of the year and the strike shortened.

It wasn't because of a certain super bowl that he.

It's not just because I'm still bitter.

Because that actually is sounds a little salty.

Or Marcus Allen.

The Marcus Allen amazing touchdown run in the super bowl that against the Redskins and is literally one of the first plays I can ever remember as seen.

So maybe that's why.

Maybe it's just lingering.

That's Paul still in the wound, I think.

Right, right.

Okay, but now let's talk.

He played 12 more seasons after that.

Never got to a thousand yards again, never got to 900.

Had a bunch that were like in the 600, 400, 500.

He was very steady.

He was a presence for that.

He played for the Chiefs for a long time.

Ultimately I waffled, but I put him there because I said, you know what, if you look at the all time rushing list, he's 15th all time in yards, which is actually maybe not as high as you would think for as long as he played.

But then again that speaks to the fact that he really wasn't having big years.

And then it was more of a volume thing with him.

But he is third all time in rushing touchdowns and that does matter and that's a big deal.

And so I was like, you know what?

He's in the top five.

I got to put him in over Stefan Gilmore and Willie Anderson.

You know what though?

I think you got to look at his entire body of work because I think I think he's deserving of the hall of Fame.

I think he's deserving to be in a top five.

This guy, when he was like a junior or sophomore in college, he was a fullback, he was a blocking back.

And I think it was for Charles White, if I'm not mistaken, at USC and you know, the after White or whoever the back was, if I'm mistaken on weight, left the school, you know, to go in the NFL.

He became the Bell cow.

And I don't think it was anticipated that, you know, he wasn't the heir apparent, I guess, but he really took the position by storm and made no doubt that he deserved to be there and deserved to be in the NFL.

I think he was a gamer and I think he's, you know, was sort of that Back that we like today where they can catch the ball out of the backfield and make some, some good moves on defenders and get those tough yards.

I think Marcus Allen did all that and maybe the end of his career wasn't as good as the middle and the beginning of his career, but still pretty solid.

Yeah.

And two things can be true at once.

You can be a Hall of Famer and be overrated.

Now, I don't think he's quite as overrated as Alan, but I do think he's a little.

You think Jerome Bettis is overrated?

Okay, a little bit.

I want to hear this.

Now you have to understand that.

You have to understand this.

We're not comparing him to your average NFL running back working.

He's in the hall of Fame.

So we are comparing him to other hall of Fame running backs or maybe other running backs that are.

Have a debate to get in.

You know, like the guys may be on the edge.

So in that debate, I have him a little bit overrated.

Now he was the office of rookie of the year.

And then the Rams made a terrible trade after I think his third year in the league.

A terrible trade they thought they had.

They took Lawrence Phillips from Nebraska, who they thought was going to lead their offense, and they didn't need Bettis anymore.

They thought he was already winding down, traded into the Steelers for almost nothing.

This was interesting to me over those six seasons, Darren, he only averaged five touchdowns a year.

So he as big and burly and, you know, amazing as he was, he was barely getting in the end zone even for a lot of those good teams.

He was turning up yards and doing fine.

And I'd say that I have him listed as a volume guy, you know, not so much explosive.

And then one thing that did hurt him in my ranking was he was not good in the playoffs, or he at least didn't.

Wasn't very effective in the playoffs.

His yards per carry in the playoffs were not good.

So he was not.

And he doesn't have big numbers in the playoffs at all.

That said, I also value what I'll call like the cultural impact and his name was the Bus.

He's got to be about as fun to watch a dude I think everybody likes to see the big guy with the football in their hands and you know, we don't get to see it that often because, you know, a defensive lineman or somebody has to intercept the pass or pick up scoop, scoop a fumble up and everybody gets so excited to see the big guy run.

Well, with Bettis, you got to see it, you know, 22 times a game or whatever.

And he was a load.

He was a very good running back.

He was very productive.

He was on some good teams.

You know, obviously the super bowl team.

I think he had like 300 yards rushing that season.

So he wasn't a big part of the team.

He was more of like the spiritual veteran leader, I guess, you know, at that point, you know, trying to get over the top.

And they got him his ring in his hometown, which was great.

He was a real fun guy.

He was funny.

But you also had fast Willie Parker that was on the rise that year and, and he was a short yardage guy that year.

So if we, if we're talking about running backs, he's going to be a little lower on my list of all time running back lists.

Well, I will disagree with you being overrated.

And it's not just from a Steelers aspect, you know, and you're saying you wouldn't have them to top rushers.

He is currently number eight on all time rushing yards list in NFL history.

I mean, that's more than Tony Dorsett, more than Jim Brown, yards rushing.

The only ones above him are Emmett Smith, Peyton, Frank Gore, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, Curtis Martin, Lindan Tomlinson.

That's pretty good company to be in.

Yeah.

Guys that are behind him in yards and he didn't have, you know, he had a nice decent career, but not, you know, there's players that had longer careers than, than he did.

He had some health issues.

You know, he's, he's, you know, I met him a few years ago and he's, he's got bad knees and everything else.

He does have a son playing for Notre Dame just like he did.

Gonna be probably a big star wide receiver this year for the Irish.

But he was a gamer.

You know, his one downfall was probably that fumble against the Colts where Ben Rossberger had to make the shoestring tackle.

You know, we talked a couple days ago about beast mode giving him the short yardage.

Well, they gave it to Bettis who was, you know, that kind of back and he fumbled the ball.

So maybe it wasn't the safest thing.

Maybe they should have threw the, the slant pass.

No, I'm not saying.

But yeah, I, I definitely think Bettis deserves to be in the hall of Fame and I don't think he's overrated at all because he was a fun player, he was a productive player and he's in the top eight all time leading rushers.

Yes, I know.

But for me more of a volume guy and that does have value.

Longevity matters.

Being able to do it for a long time matters.

But I put a little more emphasis on how, how good is your good as Scott Van Pelt likes to say.

And when we pair him up against some of those other guys you mentioned, I'll take the other guys over him.

But.

Two most important things, he is a Super bowl champion and he's a proxy Western Pennsylvania.

So you're going to find a way.

To connect the dots to Western PA one way or the other.

That's right.

That's right.

Of course he is eighth all time in sacks.

Everybody around him on that list is in the hall of Fame, both above him and below him.

Everybody around him is in the hall of Fame.

He's the only one that's not.

I think he just became eligible very recently so I think he'll get the.

Nudge he'll be in the next couple years.

Yeah, yeah, he's the all this is something I really like.

He's now we've only been tracking this since 99, but he is the all time leader in tackles for loss in the history of the NFL, number one.

So that's.

So not only are you making, are you sacking the quarterback, you're getting in the backfield and disrupting other plays as well.

Defensive rookie of the year, he never had like an insane season.

So he never had like that JJ Watt, TJ Watt, like 20 sacks or whatever like that.

He tapped out at 14, but he was very consistently in that range.

He's a lot of playoff games.

He had two sacks in the overtime win in Denver that the, the Flacco touchdown pass where they tied it late and then the Ravens beat.

So he had two sacks in that game.

He was an impact player.

Was on some great defense.

You know, he wasn't on.

He was drafted in three.

So he missed that first window of Ravens defenses and was kind of like on that second wave of that, of that era of Ravens football.

But a real, a real monster for sure.

Yeah, he was a big dude.

He was built like a brick shithouse and, you know, played like a gamer.

Definitely gave trouble to anybody.

I had to watch him two or three times every year and he was very disruptive.

And you don't get the name T Sizzle as your nickname unless you're going to be productive.

And you didn't know that.

They call me E Sizzle.

They call you E Sizzle?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Little known fact.

I won't tell you why though.

Maybe you fried a lot of bacon.

I don't know.

Yes, yes.

You're short order cook.

I'm in the Bacon hall of Fame.

Not a bad place to be, but.

All right.

Who do you have above Suggs?

Number two is another Baltimore Ravens all time great, Rod Woodson.

Oh, okay.

I'm.

I'm about.

I think I have like some, something coming up out of my, my throat.

A Baltimore Raven.

Oh, so he remembers as I'm a ball.

Oh, wait, let's get to that.

He played 17 years in the NFL.

He had 71 interceptions.

He, that's six years.

He was five of those six years.

He was first team all pro and the defensive player in the year in 93.

He got hurt in week one of 95.

You probably remember that.

So unfortunately for him, he missed the entire season.

They went to the super bowl that year.

He didn't play.

He played in the first game and didn't play again.

He was okay in 96.

I think he did get it.

They did get him in the Super Bowl.

I think from a place I thought.

I looked and I didn't see that he had a.

Any stat.

I thought they did like in your.

Beginning of the game.

He wasn't productive.

He wasn't okay to play.

But just to get him in, I thought, I know.

He suited up.

I know.

Okay, gotcha.

I didn't see anything on the stat sheet.

I actually do not remember him playing for the 49ers in 97.

I don't remember that, so at that point, it looked like his career might be over or winding down.

You know, especially when you switch teams, it's like, okay, now he's, he had played 11 years in the NFL at that point, Darren, and in my opinion, had he retired right then, he would have gone to the hall of Fame.

He did not retire.

Then they transitioned him to safety.

He was incredible then.

And he had his most interceptions in his career that season at age 37.

This guy was unreal.

Who makes a position change in your mid-30s and is like, arguably just as good at the other position?

If you try to find anything negative about Rod Woodson would be that he played 20 career postseason games and he only had one interception.

I thought the Ravens part was the negative thing.

That's a whole different story.

But the truth is, yes, I think in my mind's eye, and I think in most people's mind's eye, you think of him as a Steeler in the yellow and black, but I think Ravens fans have every right to also claim him because he was a massive part of a Super bowl winning team and he was there for three years.

So it wasn't like it was just a mercenary year.

So I'm gonna go ahead and call him a Raven.

Darren.

Oh, I, I, I.

We've had too much western when, when you see them guys walking up the steps of Canton and they, you know, what they, they show.

They, you know, we talked about Jerome Bettis was drafted by the Rams.

Well, he was in a Steeler uniform and all the highlights and everything they showed.

He, he retired as a Steeler and is in the hall of Fame basically as a Steeler.

Rod Woodson definitely is a Steeler.

This guy, you know, was a track star, almost made the Olympic team.

He was so fast from his pur two days.

You know, I think he was one of the top NCAA runners at the time.

I believe the, the one where they handle the baton off.

I'm missing the name relay relay.

So I think that's what he was best thing was.

So he definitely had speed, but had a, a contract Negotiation, you know, and conflict as a rookie with Chuck Noel as the head coach.

So that didn't bode very well.

But they, they were patient.

They waited for him, finally got him signed, made camp, and, you know, made his impact with the Steelers.

But, yeah, he's definitely a Steeler.

There's no, no doubt about it.

That's nothing else.

We, we for even forget about the Niners and the Raiders and those dirty birds on in Maryland.

We forget about those.

I got you all fired up.

That's right.

But at least we got another Western Pennsylvania player in your conversation, so that's a good thing.

All right, well, this number one guy, I guess for a little while his dad also played in Western Pennsylvania, just not football.

Does that count?

Yeah, that counts.

That counts.

Oh, boy.

And I don't think it's too early to put him here.

And I don't think I'm even projecting.

I'm not even saying if he keeps going, there's no, like, I'm.

In my opinion, if he said tomorrow, I'm done.

He's still number one here.

We're not going to go through it.

He's.

I mean, if he can't play another down, he's first ballot hall of Famer,.

No doubt about it.

I'm not going to say much about it because we don't need to rattle it all off, but this is just one thing.

Just.

This is sort of a mic drop right now.

Darren, he is 17 and 4 in his career in the playoffs with a 46 to 10 touchdown to interception ratio.

So we know what he is in the regular season, and then somehow he's been even better in the postseason.

He's remarkable.

I think this is tough, but I actually, you know, at least two years ago, he's the best quarterback I've ever seen.

I mean, and I've.

And I, and I. I hold Montana and Brady in the highest regard.

And I don't think I would rank Mahomes above them quite yet because he has to continue to do it.

But if you just said, who do you think's the best?

Like, you got.

You got to get the ball to one of these dudes.

And obviously you're not going to go wrong with any of them.

But I'm just thinking, man, I'll give it to 15, because there's certain things that he can do physically that nobody else can do.

And he has all of the other attributes too, you know what I mean?

Like the smarts and the savvy and the clutch gene and all of that.

Like, he's got all of the Joe Cool, he's got all the Brady, he's got all the free snap and he's a physical freak.

So it's just, it's, it's, it's remarkable.

Patrick Mahomes is the best number tick 10 pick ever.

Come argue that.

No, yeah, no, no argument there, there.

I don't think anybody can argue that He's.

And they could pick, you know, perennial hall of Famers the next five years in a row at that position.

And I think Patrick Mahomes will still be number one no matter what's going on there.

So, yeah, those are some good, good selections, great players that we got to talk about here, here today.

The most popular pick, if you're thinking if your team's picking number 10 this year, the most popular trend at the number 10 spot is a defensive back.

So that very well could happen this year.

A lot of good ones in the draft this year.

A total of five hall of Famers so far in our draft.

We talked about Bettison Woodson and Marcus Allen.

We had these guys came out the other two within a three year span together.

No, no, no, no, no.

That's Webster's dad.

That's Webster's dad.

Yeah, that's right.

That's how I knew him at first.

Yeah, and yeah, he.

Well, I knew him at first from the scandal that.

Yeah, and he was also in Paper lion, right?

Yeah, yeah, Paper lion.

Yeah, he was in that movie too.

He wound up with the Chargers, Right.

Wasn't he a charger?

Yeah, he ended up being with the Chargers, but he was a Hall of Famer and somebody's not in the hall of Fame, but somebody worth mentioning.

He was a great player for them for many years.

So, poster on your wall growing up, what's that?

Do you have a Frankie Albert poster on your wall growing up?

Yeah, yeah, well, I was.

Yeah, that's.

See all that Western PA talk, I had to try to get back at you a little bit.

Yeah.

But yeah, but our draft out of the date is really Kind of a fun one.

And this happened at the number 10 spot.

And maybe you remember this.

Minnesota Vikings had a trade for the number 10 pick and agreed upon it, but failed to submit it before the time expired.

You know that little clock that's ticking as we're watching a draft?

Well, that it expired, actually expired.

So the other teams behind them rushed in, made their picks, causing the Vikings to skip their term.

And a moment of pure chaos.

And I'd forget where they ended up picking.

But all I remember was being elated because as a kid watching the draft all those years, I always wondered, well, I see the ticker.

What happens if they don't get it in?

And like, that will never happen.

And, you know, and.

And then it happened.

And like all the guys on the desk were like, I think something's weird's going on here.

I know what's going on.

And then when it happened, it was like it finally happened.

Somebody forgot to make their pick.

I was so excited.

I remember that.

Yeah, I remember I'm sitting there thinking like, well, what do they do next?

They, the Vikings automatically get like Mel Kuiper's highest ranked guy or, you know, what's going to happen here.

But, well, now we know what happens because you actually lose your turn for a bit and I forget exactly where they actually.

I guess I should have looked it up to see where they ended up drafting, but it was far, far less than 10.

So maybe the Browns should do that.

And just that way they don't get lambasted for making another bad pick.

They can just claim that they just didn't get it in in time.

It was.

It wasn't our fault.

The shorter clock in the first round got us.

My cell phone dropped.

The signal dropped.

Yeah, yeah.

There you go.

All right, well, that wraps up our number 10 spot.

Tune in tomorrow.

We were keeping that countdown alive and Ed's going to join us tomorrow for our nine selections.

Ed, we'll talk to you tomorrow.

See you tomorrow, Darren.

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