In every NFL Draft, there are busts and bad choices. Even in the First Round, some players just don’t make it. But what if you could put together a perfect draft class? It got us thinking about the best player selected at every spot in the draft, at least in the First Round. What would that draft class look like? Well, we can wonder no more because we’ve put together such a list. Obviously, some of these were easier to choose than others. Surprisingly, the higher the pick, the more options there seemed to be, go figure.
After making a few hard decisions, here is the perfect draft class, the best player ever selected in the top 32 spots in the draft.
32. Logan Mankings, 2005, New England Patriots
It’s only fitting that the best player ever drafted with the last pick of the first round by a member of the Patriots. After all, New England has practically made a living of being the last team to make a selection. They also tend to make good use of that pick.
Mankings, of course, is no exception to that. He went to seven Pro Bowls during his career as an offensive lineman, including a string of five in a row during his time with the Patriots. The kicker is that the Patriots somehow didn’t win a Super Bowl with Mankings. They won back-to-back titles before he was drafted and won the year after he was traded to Tampa. However, he’s still remembered as one of the all-time great New England linemen.
