NFL Draft History: Patriots picks help create a recent dynasty
The history of the New England Patriots can be split into early and modern eras. The early era runs from the franchise’s inception into the American Football League in 1960 and runs through 2000. In that time, New England made the playoffs 10 times in 40 years, and played for a league title three times (blowout losses to the Chargers in the 1963 AFL Championship Game and the Bears in Super Bowl XX, as well as a defeat at the hands of the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI). Since 2001, the Patriots have not had a losing record, and have won 10 or more games in 18 of 19 seasons. They have appeared in 13 AFC title games (including eight in a row from 2011-18) and nine Super Bowls, winning six. Seven players on the team’s top 10 draft selections played during this successful period, especially Tom Brady, who is in the conversation for the greatest quarterback in NFL history.
BEST
10. Matthew Slater, ST (Round 5, Pick 153 in 2008) - Slater, the son of longtime Rams offensive lineman Jackie Slater, set kickoff return records at UCLA and was also a wide receiver for the Bruins. With New England, he has been a special teams dynamo, earning eight Pro Bowl and two All-Pro selections on coverage. The Patriots have had at least 10 wins in each of his 12 seasons, and Slater has been with New England in eight AFC Championship Games and three Super Bowl victories.
9. (tie) Jon Morris, C (Round 4, Pick 29 in 1964), Bruce Armstrong, T (Round 1, Pick 23 in 1987) and Logan Mankins, G (Round 1, Pick 32 in 2005) - Morris was a center and linebacker who earned All-American honors at Holy Cross in 1963. He chose the Patriots over the Packers, who drafted him in the second round of the NFL Draft. Morris earned AFL All-Star Game selections his first seven seasons, when the franchise was located in Boston. The 1966 All-Pro signed with the Lions in 1975 and, after three seasons in Detroit, finished his career with the Bears in 1978. After his retirement, he was an analyst for Patriots radio broadcasts and NFL coverage on NBC.
Although Armstrong played 14 seasons in New England, he missed most of their glory days. The Louisville graduate was a rookie in 1987, two years after the Patriots played in Super Bowl XX, and retired in 2000, a year before the franchise’s “dynasty” began. Armstrong did have a little taste of the postseason though, starting seven playoff games, including New England’s 35-21 loss to the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI. The six-time Pro Bowler started 212 games, second-most in team history behind Tom Brady’s 283. The only eight games he missed came in the 1992 season, when he tore all three knee ligaments (ACL, MCL, and PCL).
Mankins missed his junior season at Fresno State with a torn ACL, but he returned and earned All-Western Athletic Conference honors in 2004. The Patriots moved him from tackle to guard, and he became a six-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro in 2010, despite only playing nine games after holding out. Mankins also played in two Super Bowls with New England (both were losses to the Giants). He was traded to the Buccaneers in 2014 and played two years, making the Pro Bowl in 2015 before retiring.
8. (tie) Irving Fryar (Round 1, Pick 1 in 1984) and Curtis Martin, RB (Round 3, Pick 74 in 1995) - Fryar was an All-American at Nebraska in 1983 while playing alongside Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, who played with the Oilers and Falcons. Fryar was primarily a punt returner early in his Patriots career. He led the NFL with a 14.1-yard return average and made the Pro Bowl in 1985, then scored New England’s only touchdown in Super Bowl XX on a pass from Steve Grogan. In nine years with the franchise, he totaled 363 receptions (eighth in team history), 5,726 yards (sixth) and 38 touchdowns (seventh). He had his best years with the Dolphins and Eagles, notching two Pro Bowl selections and two 1,000-yard seasons with each club. Fryar retired in 2000 after playing two seasons with Washington. He got in some trouble in 2015 when he and his mother were convicted of mortgage fraud.
Martin was injury-prone at the University of Pittsburgh, missing all but two games of his junior season due to a sprained ankle. But he earned the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and made the Pro Bowl after rushing for 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns in 1995. Martin had two more 1,000-yard campaigns with the Patriots, and he also earned Pro Bowl honors in 1996. The future Hall of Famer became a free agent in 1997 and signed with the Jets, where he earned three Pro Bowl selections and ran for 1,000 yards seven times, including a league-leading 1,697 yards in 2004. Even though he only played with the Patriots for three years, he ranks fourth in team history with 3,799 yards, and is tied for sixth with 32 touchdowns.
7. (tie) Richard Seymour, DE (Round 1, Pick 6 in 2001) and Vince Wilfork, NT (Round 1, Pick 21 in 2004) - Seymour is a two-time All-SEC selection at Georgia and earned All-American honors at Georgia in 2000. He arrived in New England at the right time, and played for three championship teams in his first four seasons. Seymour was a five-time Pro Bowler and a three-time All-Pro in eight years with the Patriots, and his 39 sacks rank seventh on the all-time franchise list. In 2009, New England traded Seymour to Oakland, where he made two Pro Bowls before retiring in 2012. Since his football career ended, he has played poker professionally.
Another star on the team’s defensive line in the early 2000s, Wilfork was a member of the University of Miami’s National Championship team in 2001. In 11 years with New England, he was a five-time Pro Bowler who played in four Super Bowls. Wilfork earned his only All-Pro selection in 2012, when he registered 48 tackles and three sacks. He signed with Houston in 2015 and spent his final two seasons with the Texans before retiring in 2016.
6. Mike Haynes, CB (Round 1, Pick 5 in 1976) - Haynes was a two-time All-American at Arizona State and he split his 14-year NFL career evenly between New England and Oakland. He ranks sixth in Patriots history with 28 interceptions, including eight in 1976, when he was named Defensive Rookie of the Year. In seven seasons with New England, Haynes was selected to six Pro Bowls. He was traded to the Raiders in 1983, and was a three-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro in Oakland. Haynes won his only title in a Raiders win over the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. He earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team in 2019.
5. (tie) Stanley Morgan, WR (Round 1, Pick 25 in 1977) and Rob Gronkowski, TE (Round 2, Pick 42 in 2010) - Morgan was a jack-of-all-trades at Tennessee, starring as a rusher, receiver, and returner. The Patriots converted him to a full-time receiver and he responded with four Pro Bowl selections and three 1,000-yard seasons. Morgan is the team’s all-time leader with 10,352 yards, and he also ranks second in touchdowns (67) and fourth in receptions (534). He was the New England’s top receiver in Super Bowl XX, totaling six catches for 51 yards in a 46-10 loss to Chicago. After 13 seasons with the Patriots, Morgan signed with the Colts for one season before retiring in 1990.
Coming off an All-Pac-10 season with Arizona in 2008, Gronkowski missed his junior year due to back surgery. The Patriots traded with the Raiders to move up and draft the tight end in the middle of the second round, and the move paid off for New England. In nine seasons, “Gronk” was selected to five Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams. He was a three-time champion, although he missed the Super Bowl LI win over the Falcons after having surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. Gronkowski is the team’s all-time leader with 79 receiving touchdowns, and he ranks second with 7,861 yards and fifth with 521 catches. He became the first tight end to lead the league in touchdowns when he scored 17 times in 2011. However, back issues began to take their toll, and Gronkowski retired before the 2019 season. The hard-partying member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team has several endorsement deals and has made several television appearances. He recently signed with WWE and hosted Wrestlemania 36.
4. Ty Law, CB (Round 1, Pick 23 in 1995) - Law was a 1994 All-American at Michigan, and he went on to become a four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro with New England. Law was a member of three Patriots championship teams, and his 36 interceptions are tied for the most in team history, with a NFL-high nine coming in 1998. He signed with the Jets in 2005, then played two years with the Chiefs, another with the Jets and finally one with the Broncos before retiring in 2009. The 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee now runs a chain of entertainment facilities.
3. Andre Tippett, LB (Round 2, Pick 41 in 1983) - Tippett was a 1981 All-American and was part of a stout Iowa defense in the early 1980s. In 12 seasons with New England, he was selected to five straight Pro Bowls (1984-88) and was a two-time All-Pro. Tippett ranks first in team history with 100 sacks, including 18½ in 1985, 16½ in ’85 and 12½ in ’87. He also recovered 19 fumbles, the most among defensive players on the franchise list. Tippett missed the entire 1989 season with a shoulder injury, but played four more years before retiring in 1993. The Super Bowl XX starter was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He has been the Patriots’ Executive Director of Community Affairs since 2007.
2. John Hannah, G (Round 1, Pick 4 in 1973) - Hannah was a two-time All-American at Alabama under legendary head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He and Patriots teammate Leon Gray formed one of the best guard pairings in the 1970s. Hannah was selected to nine Pro Bowls and seven All-Pro teams in 13 seasons, all with New England. He was named to NFL All-Decade Teams in the 1970s and ’80s, plus the 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams. He retired in 1985, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991 and now runs a cattle farm in Alabama.
1. Tom Brady, QB (Round 6, Pick 199 in 2000) - When people use the term “late round gem” in terms of the NFL Draft, Tom Brady is one of the first names that gets mentioned. A three-sport star in high school, Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a catcher in 1995. He spent four years at Michigan, and moved up from fourth to second on New England’s depth chart by the end of his rookie season. After Drew Bledsoe suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest in 2001, Brady took over as a starter. Since then, the future Hall-of-Famer has built a legacy like no other: A record-tying 14 Pro Bowls, three NFL MVPs, three All-Pro selections, two Offensive Player of the Year awards, 13 AFC Championship Game appearances and a 6-3 record in Super Bowls. Brady ranks second in NFL history with 74,571 yards and 541 touchdowns. He led the league in yards three times and touchdown passes four times, including a then-record 50 in 2007. His one negative was 2008, when he tore his ACL in the first game and missed the rest of the season. After 20 years in New England, “TB12” signed a two-year contract with Tampa Bay on March 20.
WORST
10. (tie) Tony Eason, QB (Round 1, Pick 15 in 1983) and Aaron Hernandez, TE (Round 4, Pick 113 in 2010) - Eason spent his college years at Illinois, where he got the nickname “Champaign Tony” (for the city where the university is located). He was a part of “The Year of the Quarterback,” in which six signal-callers were taken during the first round of the 1983 Draft. Eason battled Steve Grogan for the starting spot in New England from 1983-89 before he was traded to the Jets. Eason retired after spending the 1990 season as backup to fellow 1983 draft choice Ken O’Brien in New York.
New England would have had an incredible tight end tandem if it were not for Hernandez’s off-field issues. He was an All-American and John Mackey Award winner as college football’s best tight end in 2009, when his Florida team won the National Championship. However, he had trouble with fighting and drugs, which almost resulted in head coach Urban Meyer kicking him off the team if not for lobbying by teammates Tim Tebow and Mike and Maurkice Pouncey. The two-tight end setup in New England worked for Rob Gronkowski and Hernandez, who totaled 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns in three seasons. He even caught a touchdown in a 21-17 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. However, his off-field behavior soon became too much. Hernandez was identified as a potential shooter in a pair of incidents in 2012 and ’13, but those charges were dismissed. However, he was convicted in the 2013 shooting death of his friend Odin Lloyd in Boston. Hernandez committed suicide in prison in 2017 while awaiting his appeal. After his death, an examination of his brain revealed he may have been suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition that is linked to concussions.
9. Jack Concannon, QB (Round 1, Pick 1 in 1964) - Concannon played at Boston College, so it would have made sense for him to play for the Patriots, who called Boston home when they selected him first overall in the 1964 AFL Draft. Instead, Concannon signed with Philadelphia, who drafted him with the 16th pick in the NFL Draft. He finished with a 20-24-1 record in 10 seasons with the Eagles, Bears, Lions, and Packers before retiring. Concannon also spent 1972 and ’73 on the Cowboys’ practice squad. He was charged with selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in the Chicago area, but was acquitted of the charges after he argued entrapment. Concannon died from a heart attack in 2005.
8. Chris Canty, CB (Round 1, Pick 29 in 1997) - Canty was a two-time All-American in 1995 and ’96 at Kansas State. However, his NFL career lasted just four seasons and 62 games with the Patriots, Seahawks and Saints. Canty totaled 146 tackles, four interceptions and three sacks before leaving the NFL in 2000. He played one season (2005) with the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League and three more (2006-08) with arenafootball2’s Rio Grande Valley Dorados.
7. (tie) Chad Jackson, WR (Round 2, Pick 36 in 2006) and Ras-I Dowling, DB (Round 2, Pick 33 in 2011) - Jackson earned All-SEC honors with Florida in 2005, then had three touchdowns in 12 games as a rookie with the Patriots. He suffered a torn ACL during the 2006 AFC Championship Game against the Colts and missed most of the following season. Jackson played four games with the Broncos in 2008, and had failed tryouts with the Bills, Raiders and the United Football League’s Omaha Nighthawks over the next three years before he retired in 2011.
Dowling had eight interceptions in three years at Virginia, and he was named to the All-ACC team in 2010. He missed time with a hip injury in 2011 and a torn thigh muscle the following year. The Patriots released him after nine games, and he spent the 2013 season on the Jets’ practice squad. After playing three games with the Raiders in 2014, Dowling was on the Panthers’ practice squad before retiring in 2015. He is now the cornerbacks coach for the College of William & Mary.
6. Dennis Byrd, DE (Round 1, Pick 6 in 1968) - He is not to be confused with the defensive tackle who played with the Jets in the early 1990s and was killed in a car accident in 2016. This Dennis Byrd was a two-time All-American in 1966 and ’67 at North Carolina State, but he suffered a knee injury that forced him to leave the NFL after starting all 14 games in the 1968 season. He spent 30 years as football coach at West Lincoln High School in North Carolina in 2004 and passed away in 2010.
5. Phil Olsen, DT (Round 1, Pick 4 in 1970) - The younger brother of Rams legend Merlin Olsen was a 1969 All-American at Utah State, but suffered a knee injury while practicing for the College All-Star Game and missed his rookie NFL season. The Patriots traded him to the Rams before the start of the 1971 season, and he played 79 games in six seasons with Los Angeles and Denver. He spent the 1977 seasons on the Broncos’ practice squad and signed with the Bills the following year, but another knee injury caused him to retire in 1978. He is now the president of the Know Your Strengths talent discovery agency.
4. Hart Lee Dykes, WR (Round 1, Pick 16 in 1989) - Dykes was a high school All-American in 1984, but he was part of a scandal that included four schools (Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Illinois), getting put on probation after a bidding war for his services was discovered. Dykes was an All-American at Oklahoma State in 1988, and was on a Sooners team that included Thurman Thomas and later, Barry Sanders at running back. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1988 amateur baseball draft, and a first round pick by the Patriots in the NFL Draft the following year. Dykes had two solid years in New England, but a fractured kneecap ended his time on the active roster in 1990 and his career two years later. He also sustained an eye injury during a bar fight that also involved teammate Irving Fryar.
3. Eugene Chung, T (Round 1, Pick 13 in 1992) - Chung was a Virginia Tech product who became the first player of Korean descent to be drafted in the first round. He played 34 games in three seasons with the Patriots before he was taken by the Jaguars in the 1995 Expansion Draft. Chung played with the Colts and spent the next three seasons on practice squads in Kansas City (1998-99) and Philadelphia (2000). He has been an offensive line coach with the Chiefs (2013-15) and Eagles (2010-12 and 2016-19) and won a championship ring with Philadelphia for their victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
2. Chris Singleton, LB (Round 1, Pick 8 in 1990) - Singleton was an Arizona product who played 41 games in three-plus seasons with New England. He had 126 tackles, four sacks and an 82-yard interception for a touchdown before signing with Miami in 1994. He played in 49 more games with the Dolphins, but suffered an ankle injury that required surgery to have four screws inserted. Singleton retired in 1996.
1. Kenneth Sims, DE (Round 1, Pick 1 in 1982) - At Texas, Sims backed up future Bears legend Steve McMichael before becoming a two-time All-American and the 1981 Lombardi Award winner as college football’s best defensive lineman. He played 74 games in eight seasons in the NFL, all with the Patriots. Sims totaled 17 career sacks with a high of 5½ in 1985. His biggest problem was work ethic, earning the nickname “Game Day” for his lack of effort at practice. New England released him after he showed up to training camp in 1990 out of shape, and he never played in the NFL again. Sims also had drug issues, including an arrest for possession of cocaine in 1990.
All statistics and awards courtesy of https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ and https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/
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