In my years as Minnesota Vikings general manager and Tennessee Titans president, I had a standard speech I would make to our player personnel/scouting staff and coaches as we entered Day 3 of the NFL draft.
I’d say the draft is an inexact science and emphasize that there are great, Hall of Fame-caliber players in every round. We needed to identify and select such players in Rounds 4-7.
Some of those players will develop into future starters, depth players and special teams standouts who will have an outsized impact on their teams and the league at large. A select few might even join the list of the best late-round draft steals in NFL history.
To determine which players merit that distinction right now, we considered their career longevity, number of Super Bowls and postseason success, overall career production, career accolades/honors, and position impact. Elite quarterbacks, pass-rushers, wide receivers, offensive tackles and shutdown corners will generally rank higher, which coincides with their salaries usually being the highest position-wise.
Draft round was also a key factor. A star seventh-round pick is a bigger steal than a fourth-round pick if both have similar stats/accolades/impact.
With that in mind, we’ve ranked the 25 best late-round NFL draft steals of the modern era (since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970).