FSU Football: Top first round draft classes in program history

The NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday with the first 32 picks – and the Seminoles have had plenty of years with an amazing group of picks in the same year.

By the end of Thursday night, the FSU football program will have at least one former star who has gone on to the pro game after being picked in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. While the Seminoles have seen their number of first round picks drop to just four in the last four drafts, the Noles have had some amazing moments in the first round before.

Since FSU football had their first player taken in the first round (wide receiver Ron Sellers drafted eighth overall in the AFL Draft by the Boston Patriots in 1969 with Barry Smith being the first in the NFL Draft by Green Bay in 1973), those who root for the Seminoles have had a chance to watch players draft all over the round – including Jameis Winston going first overall in 2015.

Of all those years the Seminoles have had multiple first round picks (nine in total), which NFL Draft year was the best of them all? We took a look at all the drafts from five years or more (since we still can’t evaluate the classes form 2013 to now as a whole, which leaves us with eight classes) and looked to see which four were the best.

1989 NFL Draft (Deion Sanders No. 5 to Atlanta and Sammie Smith No. 9 to Miami)

One of the first multi player first rounds for the Seminoles saw the best players on both offense and defense from the 1988 FSU football team go inside the top 10. Sanders lived up to the hype and is now in Canton as a Hall of Famer, while Smith couldn’t live up to his hype with the Dolphins and ran into off-field issues before turning his life around.

1995 NFL Draft (Derrick Alexander No. 11 to Minnesota, Devin Bush No. 26 to Atlanta and Derrick Brooks at No. 28 to Tampa Bay)

Alexander was drafted ahead of players like Warren Sapp and got five years out of his NFL career while Bush played in two Super Bowls and won one of those during an eight year career. Brooks, meanwhile, was one of the best linebackers to play in the NFL over the last three decades and found himself in the Hall of Fame because of it.

1997 NFL Draft (Peter Boulware No. 4 to Baltimore, Walter Jones No. 6 to Seattle, Warrick Dunn No. 12 to Tampa Bay and Reinard Wilson No. 14 to Cincinnati)

Yeah, this one might end up being the best out of the whole group. Boulware was the top rookie and was an All-Pro, Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champ. Jones is arguably the best left tackle to ever play in the game and is now a Hall of Famer while Dunn was one of the best running backs and an even better person. Heck, even Wilson had a six season, 24 sack career.

Next: FSU all-time players drafted by Florida NFL teams

2000 NFL Draft (Peter Boulware No. 4 to Cincinnati, Corey Simon No. 6 to Philadelphia and Sebastian Janikowski No. 17 to Oakland)

Warrick came off a monster national title season and spent six years in the league, including a trip to the Super Bowl with Seattle in 2005. Simon dealt with injuries and missed the entire 2006 title season for the Colts, but got eight years out of his career. Janikowski is still alive and kicking (sorry, bad kicker joke) and will be with Seattle this season after 18 seasons with the Raiders.