Top five NFL draft values of the millennium at cornerback: Richard Sherman was a fifth-round FIND

Drafted: Round 5 (No. 154 overall), 2011.

In the running for one of the biggest draft steals ever at corner, Sherman is the most obvious candidate to head up the position in this exercise. He was a major sleeper coming out of Stanford, so much so that his former Cardinal coach (Jim Harbaugh, who had just taken the 49ers job in 2011) passed on him in the first four rounds of the draft.

As a converted receiver with only two years of college cornerbacking under his belt, Sherman entered the league with suspicion -- but also with advantageous tools. His length, strength and ball skills all would help make Sherman a terrific member of the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" secondary that made two Super Bowls, winning one, and earned its chapter in league lore.

A member of the All-Decade Team for the 2010s, with five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro mentions, Sherman ranks up there among the best corners of the past few decades. The fact that 33 defensive backs were drafted ahead of him -- even in a loaded 2011 class -- remains one of the wilder bits of draft arcana.

Drafted: Round 1 (No. 14 overall), 2007.

If a player is drafted 14th overall and we're still talking about him being a value pick, you know he had to be special. Revis wasn't just special -- he was his own island.

There was a time when there was no more feared cover man in football than Revis. He quickly acclimated to NFL receivers' size and skill and became a true shutdown corner in an era when those barely existed. Offenses boomed across the league during Revis' early years, and yet, there he was, putting even the NFL's finest receivers into dark, lonely cages.

Injuries eventually took their toll on Revis, and he bounced around a bit in the back half of his career, but his accomplishments (seven Pro Bowls, four first-team All-Pro honors, Super Bowl XLIX win and first-ballot Hall of Fame entry) speak for themselves. Even in a loaded 2007 draft class that features three other current HOFers, Revis certainly made his case in retrospect to have been considered top-five worthy that year.

Drafted: Round 2 (No. 36 overall), 2013.

The Lions might only have made the playoffs twice in Slay's seven years in Detroit (and were arguably in worse shape when they traded him away), but it's hard not to include him here.

Slay earned an immediate starting job before being benched as a rookie, but he developed into one of the league's better corners, earning the "Big Play" nickname he's worn ever since. He has been named to six Pro Bowls -- three in Detroit, three with Philadelphia -- and earned one first-team All-Pro honor, running back a combined five fumbles and INTs for touchdowns in his career.

Slay was the fifth cornerback selected in what's now considered a poor 2013 draft crop, and he's had a better career than any of the first four (Dee Milliner, D.J. Hayden, Desmond Trufant and Xavier Rhodes). The Lions might not have maximized their return in the trade that sent him to the Eagles -- turning that capital into Jonah Jackson, Quintez Cephus and John Penisini in the 2020 draft -- but it's impossible to argue they didn't get the pick very right in the first place.

Drafted: Round 2 (No. 35 overall), 2003.

Tillman might not populate every list of the best cornerbacks of the 21st century so far, but appreciation for his career appears only to have grown with time. He made just two Pro Bowls and earned only one first-team All-Pro mention, yet his name still resonates today.

Synonymous with the "Peanut Punch" -- a play on the corner's nickname and his propensity for popping balls loose -- Tillman's name seems to be brought up any time a player dislodges a football in games these days. Tillman was credited with 44 forced fumbles, which is tied for the sixth-most ever. Every name ahead of him on the list was a defensive lineman, and Tillman's 10 FFs in 2012 tied the all-time, single-season mark.

Tillman also intercepted 38 passes in his terrific career, spent mostly with the Bears, and he ran back eight of those for touchdowns -- tied for eighth on the all-time list. It's a shame that Tillman hasn't received a bit more respect in his Hall of Fame candidacy, but he left an indelible mark in a career that saw him take the ball away at a staggering rate. Finding a player such as that outside of Round 1 is highly unusual.

Drafted: Round 4 (No. 120 overall), 2003.

With 51 interceptions, including six pick-sixes, and four straight Pro Bowl honors in an 11-year career, Samuel certainly meets the criteria of a great draft value -- especially considering 119 players were taken ahead of him.

I did hesitate to add Samuel due to the fact that a large chunk of his career production happened outside of New England. The Patriots let him walk as a free agent, receiving only a compensatory pick in return. (That selection was used on the forgettable Tyrone McKenzie, who never played a game for the Pats.) But in the end, Samuel was an invaluable piece for a New England team that won two Super Bowls and played in 14 playoff games during his five seasons in Foxborough. He also played at a different level during the 2005 and '06 playoffs, intercepting four balls (three returned for TDs) and defending 14 passes in five combined postseason games.

Samuel might not have been as complete a cornerback as the others on this list, and less than half of his 11-year career was spent with the team that drafted him, but only Charles Woodson and Ed Reed boast more interceptions in the NFL since Samuel's rookie year of 2003.