24. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
In retrospect, it’s unconscionable that Rodgers fell all the way to the 24th overall pick. To be fair, he was only the second quarterback chosen behind Alex Smith. There just weren’t a lot of teams in the market for a quarterback that year. Rodgers also went one pick ahead of quarterback Jason Campbell, who didn’t amount to much. Of course, if the teams that passed on Rodgers in those first 23 picks knew what he’d become, they probably would have picked him and moved on from their current quarterback.
For what it’s worth, 11 of the 23 players picked ahead of Rodgers became Pro Bowlers. But only a few of them were consistently invited to the Pro Bowl or made a lasting impact. Only Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware comes close to matching Rodgers as far as the best player in the class of 2005. As is always the case with the NFL Draft, hindsight is 20-20. Nobody knew that Rodgers would end up being a four-time MVP, a 10-time Pro Bowler, and one of the best quarterbacks of all time. But looking back, it still crazy to think that 23 players were selected before Rodgers.