Did Deion Sanders Make ESPN’s List of Best NFL Draft Picks? originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
ESPN recently released a list of “The best NFL draft pick ever at every slot from No. 1 to 262.” As expected, the best of the best were featured with a few surprises.
However, one name expected to be part of the greatest was on the list. Deion Sanders was given the title of best No. 5 pick in NFL history. The Colorado Buffaloes coach beat out a few all-time talent to be considered as the GOAT pick for the Atlanta Falcons.
While there are a few inaccuracies with the list, ESPN’s Ben Solak did an outstanding job putting it all together. Here was the reasoning behind his analysis.
Hello. I tried to name the best draft pick st every single selection — 1 through 262 — in the modern draft era https://t.co/negOi1PPc2
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) July 3, 2025
I know this because I’ve spent the past month or so looking at every draft pick since the common draft era began (1967) and using the modern seven-round format (Nos. 1-262) to answer that very question: Who was the best player taken at this draft slot? Plenty of “Oh, I remember him!” moments … and plenty of impossible decisions.
How I went about things:
I took “best” to mean some combination of “most talented” and “most successful.” As is always the challenge in debating the bestness of football players, any argument that exclusively looks at Super Bowl wins and All-Pro nods is insufficient and lacks context. Similarly, any argument that leans solely on individual player stats and film impressions is lacking as well. I generally tried to use historical accolades to contextualize career-long production. Peak season performance and single-season record-setting also mattered to me; this isn’t just a measure of who played the longest but also who played … well, the best. And of course, rings matter because rings always matter. But there’s no formula here. There’s my read on each pick, levied as fairly as I could make it. Disagreement is expected.
In order to be the best draft pick, you kind of have to play for the team that drafted you. I only used this rule to the water’s edge — I’m not dumb enough to knock Brett Favre because he was drafted by the Falcons. But when it came to splitting hairs, the spirit of the exercise implies that the player was talented and the team that drafted him was successful because of the pick. Lifers for one franchise got an edge over career journeymen.
There isn’t a bump for QB value (unless it was inescapable). Again, the specifics of the exercise established a guardrail. Is “best draft pick” the same as “most valuable draft pick?” If that feels like a pointless distinction, understand that I had to make it in order to solve several ties. I’m interested in finding the best player regardless of position, which means that safeties can beat quarterbacks, and guards can beat pass rushers. Only in cases of the blatantly obvious (see: Purdy, Brock) did I let the expanded impact of the quarterback position affect my choice.
I am 28 years old. I did my best with the stars of the 1970s and 1980s, but please do not interpret any mischaracterizations of the historical GOATs as ageist propaganda. When I’m being deliberately anti-throwbacks, I’ll make it very clear, I promise
Related: Nike Pays Homage to Deion Sanders’ Untouchable ‘Double Play’ Feat
Sanders went fifth overall in 1989 NFL Draft. He was ‘Prime Time’ for a reason and lived up to that nickname during his illustrious career
“It’s a loaded fifth pick (Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jalen Ramsey and Ja’Marr Chase), but Sanders gets the nod for his unique place as a two-way player (not to mention his two rings — one of which came in his Defensive Player of the Year season — and his six first-team All-Pro appearances),” Solak writes. “Does he also get a bump for providing excellent return on a sixth-round draft pick in the MLB draft? Who’s to say?”
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Nobody can argue about Sanders’ place on this list. He’s one of the greatest athletes on the face of the planet with a mark in not only the NFL, but MLB as well. During his Prime (no pun intended), Sanders could’ve played in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks and was giving an opportunity to try out in the early 90s.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 4, 2025, where it first appeared.