Top 5 late-round NFL draft picks of all-time
The latter stages of the NFL can be a slow, unraveling process, one where the prospects' highlight reels get scarcer and grainier as the affair reaches its conclusion. Football casuals and die-hards alike nonetheless stick with it, eager to tell stories of where they were when their team added the future Super Bowl MVP.
We look back on the days of NFL Draft past, taking a glance at the finest late-round draft picks that made a sizable impact on the teams that took them
QB Tom Brady, New England (2000)
Has anyone done more for the television ratings of the NFL Draft's third day than Brady? The entire concept is now defined by fans sitting around and claiming that their team's day three ledger contains the services of the next Tom Terrific.
Any list of late-round NFL draft gems obviously has to start with Brady. Despite a respectable showing in two seasons as a starter at Michigan, Brady famously fell to the sixth round and 199th pick of the new century's first draft. By now, everyone knows that the rest is history: Brady has spent the past two decades going from No. 199 to No. 1, topping almost every major passing metric — the most valuable being the seven Super Bowl rings that grace his fingers.
C Tom Nalen (1994)
Skill players dominate the discussion when it comes to the Denver Broncos' success near the turn of the century. But John Elway, Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe and Co.'s success wouldn't have been possible without the trench antics of Nalen, the team's seventh-round pick (218th overall) in 1994. Nalen's impact was felt far beyond the championship triumphs: six different Denver running backs earned four-digit yardage seasons thanks to his protection over a 14-year-long career.