Exploring the Impact of the Eighth Overall NFL Draft Pick

You know, there's something really special about the eighth overall draft pick in the NFL's ultimate wild card pick.

From the hall of Fame legends to some of the biggest what ifs in gridiron history, the number 8 spot has shaped dynasties and defined eras.

Today we're diving into the deep archives with Ed Cleese to break down the hits, the misses and the fascinating trends of the history of the eighth pick in the NFL draft.

Welcome to the pig pen.

You're in Pixie and dispatch's 32 day cycle of looking at every first round draft pick with Ed Cleese.

He's up now.

Bring us to history, Ed.

Hey, Darren, how are you?

I'm doing great, Ed.

You know, today's episode we are talking about slot number eight, another top 10 pick.

And what do you have to say about the number eight pick in the NFL drafts history?

Well, we've talked about it, Darren.

It sounds like we were kind of marking the 13th pick as where it all started to change.

That's kind of like where we started to say, okay, now we see we've stepped up in class and that has been consistent like 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, all really good, kind of almost a little bit, each one a little bit stronger than the one before or at least close.

And then this is the first one.

This is not a bad group, it's a very good group.

But this, I would say this eighth pick doesn't quite stack up to the past five picks or so, but it's still a, it's still a solid group, but maybe mildly disappointing from what I was expecting.

But still, still like we got some, we got some good names here.

Yeah, it's kind of an interesting pick.

You know, even when we go into this week's draft, people are going to be talking about trading back from this pick.

And even though it's top 10, sometimes these drafts don't have all the caliber of players that some other drafts do.

And Maybe there's not 10 players that people find to be first round worthy, let's say.

Of course, like you said, there's some, some golden apples here in a group that have been found.

So let's talk about your, you know, who your honorable mentions are and all that.

Yeah, as you, as you know, I always kind of like to start recent and I would say recently, very recently, the rookie of the year last year was the eighth pick in the draft and that would be Ted McMillan for the Panthers.

So we've got some real nice history.

Very recent and then kind of this kind of stuck out.

The Falcons had the eighth pick and eighth pick in the draft three years in a row.

And so they took, and it's kind of funny, they went running back or receiver, running back, quarterback.

So the three main skill positions they took, Drake London, who I'd say is good, you know, for sure a good player.

Bijan Robinson, who looks to be a great player.

And then the big one for them is Penix at quarterback, who is, you know, on the fence, you know, with a little bit of a down arrow because of the injury history, which is significant.

So if he doesn't work out, then it kind of makes the other two may not matter as much so.

But that was kind of interesting that those teams, all that one team took those three positions three years in a row.

Yeah, it's kind of neat.

You know, if they have any kind of luck like the Cowboys did, this could be those three picks at number eight in a row could be like their triplets, you know, if they take off and have become strong offensive performers more so than they are.

Right.

And then, then we, then we move on to quarterbacks.

We always like to look at the quarterbacks.

We had one real bust, unfortunately for the Titans.

And then the year, the very next year, the Dolphins took Ryan Tannehill at the eighth overall pick.

And it's kind of ironic, he actually winds up having his better years in Tennessee with the Titans kind of after they had given up on.

On Locker and Tanny Hill.

You know, that's one of those interesting ones.

I think you'd ultimately say he was not worth the eighth pick in the draft.

I don't think that's what the team, the team, certainly not the team that drafted him was hoping for.

But he also was nowhere near a bust.

So he had a nice career.

You know, he was a pretty good quarterback.

He had some decent seasons.

I think he was one of those guys that you felt could only take you so far, but certainly wasn't bad and kind of in that no man's land when we're judging whether a pick worked out or not.

Yeah, he's definitely an interesting player to talk about.

You know, he wasn't very popular when they did pick a mate, but I think he did all right for himself in his NFL career.

Yeah, he did just fine.

He did just fine.

And then there's a few guys that didn't do just fine.

And, you know, not any Nothing massive here, but we did have a couple of defensive ends that flamed out in the for their teams.

Jamal Anderson was taken by the Falcons.

Not that Jamal Anderson.

Not the Dirty Bird running back Jamal Anderson.

Which obviously if you're drafting a guy number eight to get sacks and he gets you seven in his career, that's not good.

His best season in the league was 311 yards rushing and he had three career touchdowns.

So those were a couple of guys, a few guys that really stuck out as not working out for their teams.

And, and unlike Tannehill, I think you'd say those guys were busts.

Yeah.

When you don't have the stats and you can only show maybe even a half of a season of what's expected for your career.

Not real good numbers.

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Yeah, but we've got some really good honorable mentions.

He was a bit of a polarizing player for the Redskins within the fan base he was one.

You know, whenever the corner gets beat, it's very obvious, right?

And he did have a tendency to sometimes get roasted.

He took some chances and sometimes he'd give up the big play.

But he was a big playmaker.

He had a, I think it was a four interception game on Jay Cutler in Chicago.

One he took to the house.

So he was a real big playmaker.

He showed up in a lot of big games.

I really liked him.

Another defensive back would be Roy Williams from oh, you played for the Cowboys.

He got off to like a, you know, rocket launcher start and it looked like, oh, he's going to be a star safety.

And then it just kind of leveled out.

And I think with him was, especially in college, he was that like hybrid linebacker almost.

He's one of the best college defensive players I've ever seen.

He was unbelievable in college and he kind of played that safety linebacker thing and, and I think in the NFL maybe he just didn't quite have the athleticism to be that long time safety, even though his career did start pretty well.

And he wound up having a nice, you know, decent, a decent run there.

You know, the tall, lanky, rangy receiver James Ferrier also was drafted in this spot, played for the jets and Steelers.

And my last cut was Joey Galloway, receiver taken in 95 by the Seahawks.

He played a really long time, like a lot longer than I remember.

And he never had that one big year.

I don't think he made any Pro Bowls or anything like that.

But he was always a deep threat.

He was always part of whoever he played for his offense, like as in that sort of like burner role to take the top off, the defense role.

And he did it very well for a very long time.

I can't believe you didn't take Potsy into your top five.

James Ferrier is my guy, man.

You love Potsy, huh?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Actually, I interviewed Dick LeBeau a couple years ago and he had a book out and he was talking.

The three guys that did the forwards were Palomalo, Harrison and Ferrier.

And he asked me during the interview, he goes, you know why I chose those three to do my forward?

I said I thought they're all outstanding players.

He goes, they were, they were.

Two of them were defensive player year and farrier should have been defensive player year.

Ray Lewis got it.

So you would even say Ray Lewis's name but a little shade back at the, at the Ravens at the same time.

I like it, I like it.

Yeah, Ferrier was a nice player for sure.

Yeah.

All right, so who did make your top five?

And he is one of those guys.

He actually, if you look at his numbers, Darren, he's not necessarily, especially when we factor in the short, shorter lifespan for running backs.

He's not necessarily trending to be on some of those all time lists because of the injuries.

But I test and just watching football, he is a game changer.

And I think anybody that watches these games feels that, knows it.

I'm sure defensive coordinators feel it and know it.

He is such a threat in both the run and the pass.

He's between the tackles.

He's tough, he can bust it outside.

He's a phenomenal athlete.

He's probably what he's.

This is tough to say, but I would list him probably pretty high up there in the all time running back athletes we've ever seen.

You know, just what his ability to affect everything on the field.

And he's got certainly has a chance still to move up the list if he can stay healthy and continue to produce at the level he does when he is healthy.

Yeah, he is a weapon and he's, you know, he's fearless.

He will, you know, he's not a big guy.

That's probably some of the injury problems he has.

But he will stick his nose in there with the big boys and you know, run between the A gaps and the B gaps all day long with the best of them.

And you really got to hand it to that guy because he's given up probably over 100 some pounds to some of the defenders.

He's a star.

Yeah, certainly is.

Good pick.

All right, so who's number four?

Number four is a guy that was a star, but nobody really remembers him as that.

And it's a guy that I kind of stumped for over the years.

Number four.

So he had this great rookie year that was kind of gone for two years due to, due to injury.

And as we've seen that era, we saw a lot of guys careers end early due to injury, but his did not because then he came back super strong.

He wound up and six out of seven years that followed, he had 12 and a half or more sacks in each of those seasons.

That was six Pro Bowls in an era where pro Bowls mattered.

And the one year he didn't, in those six out of seven, he had nine and a half.

So he's right there for me in.

We talked about John Abraham many episodes ago.

A guy that's really high up there on the all time sack list.

He's in the top 15 as well.

Leslie O'.

Neal.

And again, much like Abraham, Abraham and O' Neill are the two guys in this large group if you look at the all time sack leaders that are not in the hall of Fame.

And Abraham is a guy that I think some people kind of stump for a little bit because he's still somewhat recent.

Whereas now Leslie O' Neill's been out for, you know, 30 years now.

He hasn't played.

So I don't think anybody remembers him.

He, you know, he was, you know, Chargers, they were not great in that era.

They did go to the Super bowl in 94.

He was on that team.

But you know, I think he's a forgotten guy, but was a heck of a player and a really sort of an all time edge rusher.

Yeah, there's a bunch of those guys that are from that, you know, even before the Leslie o' Neal that there were just great pass rusters from the defensive line that are not in hall of Fame.

You know, the LC Greenwoods, Claude Humphreys, you know there, there's a handful of them that probably in that same category.

If you go on Pro Football Reference, they do have like the unofficial list that, that goes next to the official list.

So I think they've tried to piece it together, but it is unofficial.

Yeah, they had one of, one of my guests end up selling him that John Turney of.

Oh, really?

So they're unofficial, but I trust what John does because he does really good work.

That is dedication Journal and yeah, he, that was his life things and he ended up selling those stats over to pro football.

Oh, yeah.

So.

So, so they're pretty accurate, but yeah, definitely a good pick for Leslie o'.

Neill.

So who's number three?

Number three is a guy that's in the hall of Fame and he was a running mate to a guy that we had number one on our list several picks ago.

He basically had a parallel career with Bruce Matthews.

He did not play as long as Matthews.

Munchak was more like the 80s.

I think he played into the 90s just a little bit, whereas Matthews played two decades in the league, which is why we'll rank Matthews ahead of Munchak.

But basically you had a Hall of Fame guard left side.

So you had this incredible interior O line.

He made nine Pro Bowls.

He made two all Pro teams.

He was on the all decade team in the 80s.

Not much else to say other than he was a Hall of Fame, hall of Fame guard right there with another one right, right beside him.

Yeah, and a great offensive line coach too, later on in his career for multiple NFL teams.

So.

Yep, yeah, good, good selection there.

Who's next?

Let's stick with the o line.

Number two.

Now, how about this, Darren?

He's on two all decade teams.

You know, everybody remembers his nine years in New Orleans and then he had four years in Kansas City.

He was injured his last year in New Orleans and didn't, didn't make any all pro teams or anything, but he was first team all pro or second team all pro in his three years in Kansas City or four years, I'm sorry, in Kansas City.

So he had a little bit of a resurgence there was essentially just as dominant in Kansas City as he was in New Orleans.

I very much remember him.

You know, it's not often that an offensive lineman sticks out to sort of the casual fan, but I kind of feel like in the 90s, everybody knew that Willie Rofe was like a big deal and was like this awesome player on these not so awesome teams.

Like, a lot of people, you know, talked him up a little bit.

And.

And to back that up, he only played in three career playoff games through his hall of Fame, so he's never on very good teams.

But he was a really, really, really good offensive tackle.

And he has his gold jacket.

Yeah, definitely a big man and a big gold jacket to put on.

Just like munchacks were.

So, yeah, great, great selection there.

All right, so who's your top pick?

Number one man, talk about legend.

And just when you think of football, I just think this is one of those guys that pops in my head, especially for my age and my era, I would say, growing up.

And we're going to talk about kind of where I kind of rank him in a minute, but we'll go through his stuff.

First of all, he was on all four of the super bowl teams that paralleled with Montana in a lot of ways.

He and Montana were there almost the exact same time.

Montana was there a little bit before, and I think lot stayed a little bit after, you know, but they basically overlapped the entire 80s together.

So you had this quarterback of the offense and he had the quarterback of the defense, essentially.

He was first team all pro in his rookie year.

He led the league in interceptions twice.

He led the league in tackles once.

63 Career interceptions, 20 postseason games.

He has the most interceptions in postseason history.

Something that really, really sticks out and really sets him apart for me.

He was drafted as a corner.

He played his first four seasons in the league as a corner, and then they decided that he was such a ball hawker, they just wanted him and such a hitter, they wanted him to roam a little more.

So they changed his position mid career, and he wound up being just as good, if not better of a safety than he was a corner.

He was a Hall of Fame corner, and he was a Hall of Fame safety all at the same time.

He was a dominant player on a dominant team.

That wasn't always, you know, defense wasn't their mantra, Obviously, in the 80s, it was more of the offense, the west coast offense, they were very good on defense, and he was the standout for.

For sure.

So previously we had talked about three other safeties on our list.

I think two were number one on our list and one was number two, and that would be Steve Atwater, Troy Palomalu, and Ed Reed.

So I got to thinking, so previously I had said, okay, I've got Reed just a little bit ahead.

Palomalu.

And I had Palomalu a little bit ahead of Atwater.

And now I got.

I got lot a little bit ahead of all of them.

Just a little bit because.

And maybe it's a little bit of bias from when I grew up, but I think he was just affected the games just a little, a tad bit more.

And he did so much winning that Ronnie Lots, the legend, I think you boil it down.

I said I thought Ed Reed was in the running for best safety ever.

Palomalo's in the conversation, but I think our winner is Ronnie Lottie.

Yeah.

Anybody that can be in the middle of a game and have them take part of his finger off and go back into the game, that's one tough hombre that you want on your team.

When you go do.

Do some research on that.

I think that has been very romanticized over the years.

It sounds like, like lot doesn't tell it quite as romantically as other people do or that, you know, I don't think it happened.

You know, I think it went from like an off season thing that they decided to like.

It happened in the middle of the game.

They amputated his.

So it sounds like there's been some lore around that over the years.

But he did a funny quote.

He said when they took the tape off, he said, my Pinky looks like ET's head.

I kind of like that.

Yeah.

Phone home, right?

Yep.

There you go.

Another.

Another great 80s reference from a great 80s player.

He was very good at the end of his career with the Raiders and then the Jets.

Still, he did finish with the Raiders and Jets.

He was not a lifelong 49er.

Yeah.

And you, you said that you had three.

I think you may have even had a fourth one in there, if you count.

I think you had Rod Woodson who had a similar trajectory.

Yep, yep.

I know.

I like to forget about him being safety, but.

He shifted at the end of his career where a lot was closer to the beginning.

Yeah, yeah.

But probably that's why somebody had the idea to do it because of what was done with Ronnie.

Maybe.

Perhaps.

All right, well, that is.

I mean, that's a Great top five.

You had three of our six hall of Famers that were taken.

You just mentioned Heather, but one guy that I. I'm not sure that I remember you mentioning, though, but Roquan Smith was also taking this, and I think he's got a potential.

His career is, you know, great with Chicago, it's great with the Ravens.

He.

He might be wearing a gold jacket someday because he's a.

Definitely a good player, too.

We know he ended up going over to the AFL, playing with the Chargers, but he was in the NFL draft that year.

So.

That takes us to our most popular position.

If you're wondering, hey, what's somebody going to draft this year?

Well, chances are tackle will be taken because that has been the most popular position drafted at that number eight spot.

And our.

Our draft fact of the day is kind of an interesting one.

Of course, they had 17 rounds.

I believe that year.

Seattle and Tampa Bay were expansion teams.

That year they.

Tampa got the number one pick, Seattle got the number two pick.

I think it was a coin flip.

And then rounds two through five, they also got an extra pick.

Each of those expansion teams at the end of the round.

So took them up to 487, by far the most of any NFL draft.

It was reduced to 12 rounds in 77 and in the early 90s, down to seven rounds as we know it today.

And it didn't help the Bucs very much because, you know, they started owing 26.

Right, right.

Yeah.

And Seattle didn't do too bad.

They.

Right.

They were like at least mediocre to a decent team.

So.

Yeah.

So interesting drafts out of the day.

And that sort of wraps up our day eight coverage in our slot eight.

And the great history we talked about here today.

Ed, we'd love to have you Come back tomorrow and talk about the seventh spot in over NFL drafts.

We'll see you tomorrow, Darren.

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