Top five NFL draft values of the millennium at QB: Who joins Tom Brady at the front of the pack?
Top five NFL draft values of the millennium at WR: Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson bring booming returns
Top five NFL draft values of the millennium at TE: Travis Kelce, Rob Gronkowski among all-time greats
Top five NFL draft values of the millennium at OL: Jason Kelce massive steal for Eagles
This offseason I am taking a position-by-position look at the best NFL draft values of the millennium: In short, which teams received the most bang for their draft-pick buck?
Higher draft picks were not dismissed for this exercise, but I tended to side with the highest-achieving lower selections. Extra weight was also given to longevity and the value those players provided for the teams that drafted them.
Quarterback is a position that sits on a higher perch than any other, and the definition of value can only be stretched so far. After all, a successful quarterback must be among the best 10 or 15 at their job in the league for an extended period, so it slims down the list of candidates.
Yet, calling top-10 selections -- even in the case of 2017 10th overall choice Patrick Mahomes, whom the Chiefs traded up for -- true "value picks" was just a bridge too far. Likewise, you're free to consider 2001 second-rounder Drew Brees a bargain, but his drafting team (the Chargers) didn't receive the bulk of that value; the Saints, who signed him as a free agent in 2006, and with whom he made the Pro Bowl 12 times and won a Super Bowl, did.
Fear not, though: My list still contains some of the best of the best to do it over the past quarter century.
Drafted: Round 6 (No. 199 overall), 2000.
The 2000 NFL Draft is already infamous for the Brady pick, which helped launch a Patriots dynasty that lasted two decades. NFL Films made an entire documentary called The Brady 6, which revolved around Brady's journey into the NFL and the six quarterbacks drafted ahead of him: Chad Pennington (18th overall), Giovanni Carmazzi (65th overall), Chris Redman (75th overall), Tee Martin (163rd overall), Marc Bulger (168th overall) and Spergon Wynn (183rd overall).
Brady, of course, blew all of them out of the water. Pennington had a respectable, resilient career with the Jets and Dolphins, and Bulger (a Saints pick) had some moments with the Rams, but the rest were a forgettable lot. Redman, Martin and Wynn barely saw the field. Carmazzi, who was picked by Brady's hometown 49ers, never took a regular-season snap. With 89,214 career passing yards and 649 TD passes, Brady more than doubled the combined totals of the six QBs taken ahead of him. And, you know, he won seven Super Bowl rings.
Brady is probably the best value pick in draft history. In the 25 drafts since he was selected, there have been 48 quarterbacks chosen in Round 6, including five this past April. So far, only a handful -- Tyrod Taylor, Gardner Minshew and Derek Anderson -- have had a modicum of success in the league. Teams looking for the next Brady have mostly been left grasping at straws.
Drafted: Round 1 (No. 24 overall), 2005.
Those of a certain age will remember Rodgers' draft-day slide, which featured the potential top-five pick sitting in the green room for hours, until Green Bay came to the rescue. Picking Rodgers 24th overall ended up being one of the great draft decisions in Packers history, bolstering the legacy of late general manager Ted Thompson. Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick that year, had a commendable career, but Rodgers hit a different plateau.
Though he had to bide his time for a few seasons, with Hall of Famer Brett Favre still operating at a high level, Rodgers' moment would come. In his 15 seasons starting in Green Bay, Rodgers led the Packers to a victory in Super Bowl XLV and won four league MVP awards. Rodgers' exit from the team, and his play since, are open to scrutiny, but it's hard to poke too many holes in his otherwise brilliant career.
And if you stack up their Packers tenures side by side, Rodgers comes out ahead of Favre in most categories. There aren't too many names above his in the all-time annals, and all it cost the Packers was a late first-round pick. Not bad for a player selected between Fabian Washington and Jason Campbell.
Drafted: Round 1 (No. 32 overall), 2018.
The 2018 draft class was notable for its five first-round quarterbacks, four of whom are still starting in the league now. Josh Allen is the only one, though, who can boast a career similar to that of Jackson, selected 25 picks after Allen went to the Bills at No. 7 overall.
The Ravens watched as the first four were all drafted in the top 10 (including Josh Rosen, who went 10th overall to the Cardinals and proceeded to log 21 interceptions, including five pick-sixes, in 513 career passes) then traded up 20 spots from mid-Round 2 to the final pick of the first round to take Jackson. It has unquestionably been one of the best picks of the Ravens' strong drafting history, and that it came in GM Ozzie Newsome's final draft added another feather to his Hall of Fame cap.
Jackson has yet to lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl, but his credentials are above scrutiny. He's a two-time league MVP (and runner-up this past season, to Allen), and though he's made just 94 career regular-season starts, he's already established himself as one of the great dual-threat quarterbacks in league history.
Drafted: Round 3 (No. 75 overall), 2012.
Wilson's career has taken a downturn in recent seasons, but he was able to sting defenses in multiple ways with great early success, thanks in part to his run-around, time-buying approach that changed the way teams evaluate shorter quarterbacks.
Earning the Seahawks' top job by Week 1 as a rookie, Wilson (who measured 5-foot-10 5/8 at the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine) would go on to start 149 straight regular-season games (165, including playoffs) for Seattle, the sixth-best QB mark in NFL history. He led the franchise to a rousing Super Bowl XLVIII victory over Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Wilson has made 10 Pro Bowls, including in each of his first four seasons in the NFL, and he's been a top-five finisher in Offensive Player of the Year voting three times.
That not only qualifies him as one of the best value quarterbacks ever, but also as one of the great draft bargains of all time, regardless of position.
Drafted: Round 7 (No. 262 overall), 2022.
The title of Mr. Irrelevant, annually awarded to the final player selected in the NFL draft, always felt like something of a backhanded compliment -- at least, until Purdy made it much cooler. Taken with pick No. 262 (tied for the latest pick since the seven-round format was introduced in 1994), Purdy was thrown into the mix in December of his rookie year, leading the 49ers to seven straight wins (including two in the playoffs) before suffering a major elbow injury in the 49ers' NFC Championship Game loss.
Purdy not only recovered from the injury, but he turned in his finest season to date in 2023, finishing fourth in the MVP voting and leading the Niners back to the Super Bowl. They might have lost that game to the Chiefs, but Purdy's play earned him a new level of respect. Even a down 2024 season didn't dissuade the franchise from making him one of the 10 highest-paid players in the NFL, at an average of $53 million per year.
Purdy's body of work remains incomplete and doesn't stack up next to those of some Hall of Fame-caliber passers drafted in the past 25 years. But none of them were drafted in this range. While we don't yet know if Purdy will become one of the all-time greats, his impressive résumé, contract extension and surprising draft pedigree make him worthy of inclusion on this list.