Dan Patrick: Walsh is the Draft Man

Mel Kiper's story archive


Friday, April 20

Depth Chart: Top-five draft classes

Editor's note: ESPN.com has been compiling lists of the best or worst things about the NFL. This week, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. lists his top-five draft classes in NFL history.

To have one of the top draft classes of all time, the players must have contributed to a championship team. That's what the NFL is about -- winning championships.

The object of every team in the NFL draft is to select players who can hopefully carry the franchise to the top of the league. Other teams have had quality drafts that yielded several starting players, but only teams that succeeded in drafting Super Bowl-winning talent qualify on my list.

   
Mel Kiper Jr.'s top-five draft classes of all time
Pittsburgh Steelers 1. 1974 Steelers: The greatest draft class ever. Three of them -- receiver Lynn Swann (first round), linebacker Jack Lambert (second round) and center Mike Webster (fifth round) -- are Hall of Famers. A fourth, receiver John Stallworth (fourth round), may still end up in Canton. They were critical to four Super Bowl championships in Pittsburgh.
San Francisco 49ers 2. 1986 49ers: They traded down twice out of the first round and ended up without a first-round pick. But look at what they got: defensive tackle Larry Roberts in the second round; fullback Tom Rathman, cornerback Tim McKyer and receiver John Taylor in the third round; defensive end Charles Haley, offensive tackle Steve Wallace and defensive tackle Kevin Fagan in the fourth round; and cornerback Don Griffin in the sixth round. All eight were starters who helped form the foundation of two Super Bowl teams in San Francisco.
Chicago Bears 3. 1983 Bears: They drafted seven starters who were part of the dominant Bears team that won Super Bowl XX in a rout over New England. In the first round, they got tackle Jimbo Covert and receiver Willie Gault, then got cornerback Mike Richardson in the second round, strong safety Dave Duerson in the third round, guard Tom Thayer in the fourth round and defensive end Richard Dent -- the steal of the draft -- and guard Mark Bortz in the eighth round.
Dallas Cowboys 4. 1991 Cowboys: Of their three first-round picks, they used the No. 1 overall pick to draft defensive tackle Russell Maryland and also got receiver Alvin Harper. They also got linebacker Dixon Edwards in the second round, tackle Erik Williams in the third round and defensive tackle Leon Lett in the seventh round. The result? Three Super Bowl titles in four years.
Dallas Cowboys 5. 1975 Cowboys: The draft helped Dallas to three Super Bowl games and one championship. They picked defensive tackle Randy White and linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson in the first round, guard Burt Lawless in the second round, middle linebacker Bob Breunig in the third round, defensive end Pat Donovan in the fourth round, linebacker Mike Hegman in the seventh round and fullback Scott Laidlaw in the 14th round.

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