Taking a look at the best NFL Draft moments of all time, including the iconic moment with Bill Belichick’s dog.
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Every year, the NFL Draft gives fans a few moments that somehow we’ve never seen before. Even with the NFL being around as long as it has, there are still somehow moments that shock and excite football fans as only the NFL Draft can do. While every year has plenty of interesting moments, we decided to look at some of the best and/or craziest moments that have ever transpired. We made sure to put a premium on moments that all fans experienced.
While it was truly wacky that Norm Michael didn’t realize he had been drafted for over 50 years, it wasn’t one that was watched by football fans, so it didn’t make the list. Without further ado, here are the best NFL Draft moments of all time.
Best NFL Draft Moments
Bill Tobin Rips Mel Kiper Jr. (1994)
If we’re being honest with ourselves, Mel Kiper Jr. and the infatuation around him have run their course. He is nothing but a loudmouth “analyst” who always gushes over a few prospects each year and rips any team that passes on them. Back in 1994, he was subjected to quite the lashing from then-Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Tobin that gave us one of the first “viral” NFL Draft moments.
It all started when the Indianapolis Colts took Nebraska linebacker Trev Alberts with the fifth overall pick after taking Marshall Faulk with the second overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft. That pick flummoxed Mel Kiper Jr., who decided to make his thoughts on the pick well-known. Kiper didn’t just say the Colts made the wrong pick; he went so far as to say that those picks were the reason why the Colts are drafting early in the draft every year.
After hearing this, Bill Tobin decided he wouldn’t go quietly and that he would fight fire with fire. In an interview with ESPN later on that night, he famously said: “Who the hell is Mel Kiper anyway?!” Tobin didn’t stop there either, calling a press conference where he continued to go off on Mel Kiper Jr. for a few minutes, even going as far as saying Kiper was biased towards the Colts ever since they moved away from where he grew up in Baltimore. This was not only shocking due to how heated both men got off the bat, but also due to the fact that it was, and still remains, one of the extremely rare times a front office executive and an analyst were openly feuding.
Ricky Williams Traded for Every Pick….And More (1999)
Every year, the NFL Draft sees one or two massive trades that reverberate throughout the entire league. All of those trades, however, pale in comparison to the trade made between the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Redskins. Head coach of the Saints, Mike Ditka, wanted Ricky Williams, and boy, did he want him badly. So badly that he and the organization pulled the trigger on one of the biggest trades the league has ever seen to this day. The Saints received the fifth pick from Washington and, in return, sent them their first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh-round picks in the 1999 NFL Draft, along with an additional first and third-round pick in the 2000 draft as well.
This trade isn’t just remembered for how many picks were sent over to Washington for Ricky Williams; it was also remembered for the weird saga that came after it. Immediately after, Mike Ditka and Ricky Williams posed for the cover of ESPN The Magazine dressed as a bride and groom, with Williams fully decked out in a wedding dress and Ditka in a tuxedo.
The trade didn’t age well for either party, with the Saints limping to a 3-13 record and basically the entire coaching staff being fired after the season. While Williams would bounce back the next two seasons, he expressed a desire to play professional baseball, which led the Saints to select Deuce McAllister in the 2001 draft and trade Williams to the Miami Dolphins. The pure shock factor of this trade and how poorly it played out will never be forgotten, especially for Saints fans, making for one of the great NFL Draft moments ever.
Minnesota Vikings Miss Their Pick (2003)
While it has happened since then, this was the first instance where an NFL team missed making their pick. To any fans who questioned what would happen if a team missed their pick, they promptly found out. The Minnesota Vikings were working out trades with multiple teams for the seventh overall pick. While trying to finalize a trade, the Minnesota Vikings went over their allotted time. While that was already embarrassing enough, their issue was compounded by the fact that it quickly became a free-for-all.
As the rules state, that pick then goes to whoever gets their pick next. Although the Vikings had the right to the seventh pick, they were passed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who got their pick before them. Then the Carolina Panthers got their pick in before Minnesota, too, and everyone at home, along with the analysts, was in utter disbelief.
Fortunately for the Vikings, they got their man anyway when they drafted star defensive tackle Kevin Williams with the ninth overall pick. However, it’s a moment that will forever live in NFL Draft lore due to its unprecedented nature.
Aaron Rodgers Drops To 24th (2005)
Going into the 2005 NFL Draft, there were certainly some questions about who would land in certain places, but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of exciting moments. Instead, football fans were treated to one of the most infamous draft night moments of all time. The San Francisco 49ers held the first overall pick in the draft, and many felt that Aaron Rodgers would be taken by them to solve their quarterback issue. Instead, the San Francisco 49ers decided to pass on the local kid and 49ers fan and go with Alex Smith.
While the selection of Smith on its own wasn’t that surprising, what followed was. Plenty of teams had larger positional needs, so nobody else looked at the future Hall of Fame quarterback. As the picks flew by, Rodgers was still stuck in that green room waiting to hear his name called, and the cameras would not leave him alone. Clearly, nobody needed or wanted a quarterback until the 24th pick when he was selected by the Green Bay Packers.
Of course, this pick also had its own shock element as the team already had a Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm by the name of Brett Favre. Packers fans were in turmoil; few wanted Favre to go, but eventually this slide ushered in the Aaron Rodgers era in Titletown. Who knows what would’ve happened if Smith had been the one to fall instead of Rodgers?
Bill Belichick’s Dog Steals Spotlight (2020)
There aren’t many lighthearted moments in the NFL Draft historically. While that’s not to say the draft is a somber event, as it is the culmination of a life’s work for over two hundred players, it isn’t often that you see much joking around or fun things happening. That all changed in the 2020 NFL Draft, which most people will remember as the COVID draft. The draft was done with Zoom cameras at the homes of top executives, and even the commissioner himself was in his own home reading off the draft cards.
The best of the NFL Draft moments that came this year was the internet getting to know Bill Belichick’s dog.
Long before he became head coach at North Carolina and long before him and his super young girlfriend Jordon Hudson became a weird, and borderline creepy thing, Bill Belichick was known as one of the hard asses in the NFL. That’s why the NFL Draft coverage switching to the live stream in his house of his dog, blankly staring at two computers in front of him, was so funny and caught so many fans off guard. Seeing his dog instantly become a meme and hearing it howling in the background brought brevity to such a dark time and will certainly be a unique moment fans remember for years to come.
