News flash: NFL teams have a shaky record at best when it comes to evaluating talent.
Every year, players who end up falling to later rounds of the draft emerge as better players than the dozens — if not hundreds — selected ahead of them. In the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, there will be several teams that get great value from players drafted on Days 2 and 3. There will also be teams regretting their choices in the earlier rounds.
There have been plenty of hidden gems in NFL drafts over the years, and some have aged better than others.
These 10 players are the top NFL draft steals of all time, taking into consideration both draft position and NFL production since making it pro.
Top 10 biggest NFL draft steals of all time
10. Brock Purdy, QB, San Francisco 49ers: Round 7, Pick 262 (2022)
Purdy earns a spot on this list as the first ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ — a title given to the last overall pick in a given year’s NFL draft — quarterback to ever start and win a playoff game. Not only did he accomplish that as a rookie, he also led his team to the Super Bowl in his second season. Purdy and the 49ers have yet to get over the hump and win a championship, but he already has earned a Pro Bowl nod and down-ballot MVP votes in his first three seasons.
9. Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans Saints: Round 7, Pick 252 (2006)
Colston is something of a wild-card pick on this list. Not only is he not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — as just about every player ahead of him either is or will be — he was never even a Pro Bowler. But it’s impossible to tell the story of the Drew Brees-era Saints without including Colston. The prolific seventh-rounder out of Hofstra recorded six 1,000-yard seasons in his first seven years in the pros. That includes his 1,038-yard rookie season when he finished as the offensive rookie of the year runner-up to Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young.
8. Jason Kelce, C, Philadelphia Eagles: Round 6, Pick 191 (2011)
Did the Eagles have any idea how good of a pick they were making when they took Kelce with the 191st overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft? Probably not. But seven Pro Bowls, six first-team All-Pros and a Super Bowl championship later, it definitely became clear. Kelce is going to be a Hall of Famer someday — only three players with that many first-team All-Pro selections have not been enshrined, and one of them is Aaron Donald, another a punter and the third, Jim Tyrer. His stalwart presence as the anchor of the Eagles’ offensive line included nine straight seasons without missing a single start to end his career.
7. Joe Montana, QB, San Francisco 49ers: Round 3, Pick 82 (1979)
The only reason Montana is this low on the list is because his status as a ‘steal’ is questionable compared to the much later rounds for the other players. Nevertheless, Joe Cool was the final pick of the third round in the 1979 NFL Draft and the fourth quarterback taken that year (Jack Thompson, Phil Simms, Steve Fuller — all in the first round).
He went on to win four Super Bowls, two NFL MVP awards, earn three first-team All-Pro nods and eight Pro Bowls and, in 2000, his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
6. Richard Dent, DE, Chicago Bears: Round 8, Pick 203 (1983)
The Super Bowl MVP of the 1985 Bears, Dent finished his 15-year career with eight double-digit-sack seasons. That included his league-leading 17 sacks in 1985, which broke Mark Gastineau’s run of two years leading the NFL in the statistic. Dent earned a first-team All-Pro nod that year, along with his second of four Pro Bowl nominations.
He also was named to the All-Pro second-team three other times. He never won another Super Bowl with the Bears, though he did play two games for the 1994 49ers, a team that Steve Young led to a Super Bowl championship.
Dent was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2011. There are no longer eight rounds in the NFL draft, but the 203rd overall pick would fall in the sixth round this year.
5. Terrell Davis, RB, Denver Broncos: Round 6, Pick 196 (1995)
Davis’ 1996 to 1998 run is still one of the greatest three-year stretches a running back has ever had in NFL history. After rushing for 1,117 yards in 14 games as a rookie, the 1995 sixth-round pick rushed for 1,538 yards in 1996; 1,750 in ’97; then a league-leading 2,008 yards in 1998. His touchdown production also increased by a steady rate year-over-year, with 13 in 1996, 15 in 1997 and 21 in 1998 — his 1997 and 1998 marks both led the league.
He was named the NFL MVP in 1998 and earned first-team All-Pro nods in each of those three remarkable seasons, also winning offensive player of the year awards in 1996 and 1998. Injuries derailed his career after that, as he never played more than eight games in any of the three seasons that followed before his retirement.
Davis was part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2017.
4. Shannon Sharpe, TE, Denver Broncos: Round 7, Pick 192 (1990)
The 1990s were a great time for the Broncos’ draft evaluators. Sharpe was the second-to-last pick in the seventh round (of 12) in the 1990 NFL Draft and the only player drafted outside of the top-two rounds that year to earn a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Savannah State product is still considered to be one of the greatest tight ends of all time with his 815 career catches for 10,060 receiving yards and 62 touchdowns. Sharpe earned seven straight Pro Bowl nominations between 1992 and 1998 — he also earned another with the Ravens in 2001 — and he finished his 14-year career with four first-team All-Pro nods, including three in a row between 1996 and ’98.
He was a 2011 inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
3. Ken Houston: DB, Houston Oilers: Round 9, Pick 214 (1967)
Houston wasn’t just a steal for the team that drafted him — though, as a ninth-round pick, he certainly was — he also (somehow) ended up being a steal for the Washington team that traded five players to acquire him. By the end of Houston’s 14-year NFL career, he had been named to 12 Pro Bowls. The only years that the star strong safety did not earn a Pro Bowl nod were his rookie season in 1967 and his final season in 1980.
Houston was also a first-team All-Pro for Washington in 1975 and 1978, and he was a second-team All-Pro in 1969 and 1979. He intercepted 49 passes — including nine returned for a touchdown — and recovered 21 fumbles in his career.
He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 1986.
2. Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay Packers: Round 17, Pick 200 (1956)
The Packers took a chance on a young quarterback out of Alabama in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He was the ninth quarterback selected in a time in which the league only had 12 teams. And, as has become something of a tradition with Packers quarterbacks, Starr did not age as a ‘steal’ for Green Bay until a few years into his career.
In his fourth season, 1959, new head coach Vince Lombardi named him the starting quarterback. The next year, he was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time and led the Packers to the NFL championship game, though they lost to the Eagles. In 1961, he earned a second straight Pro Bowl nod and won his first championship.
Starr went on to win four more NFL championships as the Packers’ starter and led Green Bay to wins in the first two Super Bowls after the 1966 and 1967 seasons. Starr was the winner of the first two Super Bowl MVP awards. He was also the NFL MVP in 1966 and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
1. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots: Round 6, Pick 199 (2000)
Only one player could ever have topped this list, and it’s the sixth-round pick that went on to win seven Super Bowls, five Super Bowl MVP awards, three MVP awards, 15 Pro Bowl nods and was named to the All-Pro first team three times. He holds dozens of NFL records, including most career passing yards (89,214), most career pass completions (7,753), most career passing attempts (12,050) and most career touchdown passes (649). His 15 Pro Bowl nods are also an NFL record, and he is the only player in football history to win seven championships.
Since he only retired two years ago, he has not been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame yet, but he will undoubtedly make it in on his first ballot in 2028.