The National Football League is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the draft by honoring the 75 Most Valuable Draft Picks of All Time. In addition, a top 10 list has been compiled for each team.
Today the NFL released the Patriots' top 10 picks as ranked by the nearly 45 million fans who voted on NFL.com.
By no surprise, the Patriots' list was topped by Tom Brady, who after being selected with the 199th overall pick of the 2000 NFL Draft went on to lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles. Brady could also be among the head of the class when the top 10 greatest draft picks will be revealed during NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 NFL Draft on Thursday. The order of the NFL top 10 will be revealed following the conclusion of the second sound of the draft on Friday night.
Four Hall of Famers - Andre Tippett, John Hannah, Nick Buoniconti and Mike Haynes - are represented in the Patriots' top 10 list and the honorees combined to appear in 45 AFL All-Star games and NFL Pro Bowls as members of the team.
The NFL's list of the Patriots' top 10 draft picks is as follows:
*# Name POS RD Pick *1 Tom Brady QB 6 199 2 Curtis Martin RB 3 74 3 Ty Law DB 1 23 4 Richard Seymour DE 1 6 5 Andre Tippett LB 2 41 6 John Hannah G 1 4 7 Nick Buoniconti LB 13 102 8 Mike Haynes DB 1 5 9 Lawyer Milloy DB 2 36 10 Lee Roy Jordan* LB 2 14
* Note: Jordan was selected by the Patriots in the 1963 AFL Draft, but never played with the Patriots. He was also selected in the 1963 NFL Draft by Dallas and played his entire 14-year career with the Cowboys.
