Ranking the 10 Best NFL Draft Classes of All Time

The 1989 draft doesn't crack the top 5 on HOF count alone. It lands here because of what happened at the very top of the board - four of the first five picks became Pro Football Hall of Famers. That has never been done before or since in the history of the draft.

The fifth HOFer, safety Steve Atwater, went 20th overall to Denver. Beyond the HOFers, the class also produced Pro Bowl corners Eric Allen and Carnell Lake, and defensive tackle Tim Goad. But the legacy of this draft will always be the top five - and the eternal question of what might have been had Green Bay not picked Tony Mandarich second overall instead of Sanders, Thomas, or Sanders.

Five HOFers isn't enough to crack the top 5 on its own. But this class has Jerry Rice. That alone puts it in a different conversation. Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver - and one of the greatest players - in the history of the NFL. He went 16th overall to San Francisco. The 49ers didn't even need to reach to get the best receiver ever.

Bruce Smith's 200 career sacks is the all-time NFL record. Jerry Rice's receiving records have stood for more than two decades. Kevin Greene, taken in the fifth round at 113th overall, went on to record 160 career sacks - third-most in NFL history. The depth of this class at the pass-rusher position alone was extraordinary.

The 1974 NFL Draft is the most team-specific class in history. The Pittsburgh Steelers used this draft to add four future Hall of Famers in a single afternoon - and those four players were the backbone of one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. What Chuck Noll built in Pittsburgh in 1974 is something NFL teams have been trying to replicate ever since.

Also worth noting: Ed "Too Tall" Jones went 1st overall to Dallas that year, Danny White went to Dallas in round 5, Billy Johnson (one of the great returners) went in round 15, and linebacker Randy Gradishar - who many argue should also be in Canton - went in the first round to Denver. The Steelers got the most out of the draft but this class was loaded beyond just Pittsburgh.

If you want the greatest draft class of the modern era - the salary cap era, the Super Bowl era - it's 1996. Six confirmed Hall of Famers, including arguably the greatest linebacker to ever play the game. The depth beyond the HOFers is equally impressive: Keyshawn Johnson, Eddie George, Tedy Bruschi, Lawyer Milloy, Simeon Rice. This class shaped the NFL for the next fifteen years.

The AFL and NFL held their first common draft in 1967. The second one, in 1968, produced eight Hall of Famers - a class that helped define football in the 1970s. This was the draft that gave the Oakland Raiders Ken Stabler and Art Shell in the same year. Larry Csonka became the bruising heart of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. Ron Yary anchored the Vikings' offensive line for more than a decade.

By sheer Hall of Famer count, the 1964 draft is tied for the most ever produced by any class. Ten confirmed inductees. And the story that defines this class isn't even about a player taken in the first round - it's about a quarterback taken in the 10th round, 129th overall, by the Dallas Cowboys. A quarterback who couldn't even play for four years because of a military commitment. A quarterback named Roger Staubach.

Bob Hayes, an Olympic gold medalist, was taken in the 7th round. He was so fast that defenses had to invent the zone coverage to contain him - a legacy that reshaped how the entire NFL plays defense to this day. Leroy Kelly went 110th overall and made six Pro Bowls. This class had Hall of Famers buried through round 10, which is something no other draft can match.

Nine Hall of Famers from a single draft. That alone puts this class in the all-time conversation. But what elevates it above a statistical exercise is that one of those nine was Jim Brown - the most physically dominant runner in the history of the sport, and a man that many serious football historians consider the greatest player ever to set foot on a field.

What makes this class particularly remarkable is the depth outside the HOFers. Quarterback John Brodie, taken in round 1 by San Francisco, threw for over 31,000 yards over a 17-year career. This was a class built on star power at the top and quiet production throughout - nine names in Canton and a Pro Bowl total (37+) that most classes can't touch.

The very first AFL-NFL common draft took place in 1967 - and it produced ten Hall of Famers. Ten. In the first year that both leagues competed for the same college talent. Gene Upshaw became the anchor of the Oakland Raiders' offensive line. Alan Page was the engine of Minnesota's Purple People Eaters defense and later served on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Bob Griese led the Miami Dolphins to back-to-back Super Bowl titles and was the quarterback of the only perfect season in NFL history.

Michigan State dominated the top of this draft - four of the top eight picks came from the Spartans, coming off a #2 national ranking. But the legacy belongs to the players, not the college. This class had extraordinary range: two HOFers in the first five picks, two more HOFers in the second round. The draft that launched the merger era of football did not disappoint.

Lawrence Taylor went first overall to the New York Giants in 1981. Within two years, the NFL had changed its rules specifically because of him - offensive coordinators could no longer line up their backs without blocking assignments designed around one specific player. If you ask most football historians to name the greatest defensive player who ever lived, more than half of them will say Lawrence Taylor. He went #1 overall. He was worth every bit of it.

But what makes 1981 more than just a Lawrence Taylor story is that he wasn't even close to the only Hall of Famer in this class. Ronnie Lott - perhaps the greatest strong safety of all time - went 8th overall. Mike Singletary, the cerebral heart of the Bears' dominant defense, went 38th overall in round 2. Howie Long, one of the most complete defensive ends ever, went in round 2. The class produced seven Hall of Famers, and it is not a stretch to argue it is the single best defensive draft class in NFL history.

Russ Grimm, taken in round 3, became one of the founding members of the Washington Hogs - one of the greatest offensive lines ever assembled. Kenny Easley, taken 4th overall by Seattle, won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 1984. Rickey Jackson, a second-round pick at 51st overall, became one of the premier pass-rushing linebackers of the 1980s. Seven HOFers, predominantly from the defensive side of the ball, and not one of them was wasted.

There is no argument. There is no close second. The 1983 NFL Draft is the greatest draft class in NFL history and it isn't particularly close. Every other class on this list is competing for the right to be mentioned in the same conversation. The Class of '83 owns the conversation.

Six quarterbacks went in the first round. Three of them are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. From 1984 to 1994 - eleven years - an AFC team quarterbacked by a member of the 1983 class played in the Super Bowl in nine of those eleven seasons. Nine. The class didn't just change how teams drafted quarterbacks. It changed how the NFL played football.

Dan Marino's 1984 season - 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns - was so far ahead of its time that his records stood untouched for over two decades. Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards, set in 1984, still stands today. Bruce Matthews played 19 seasons and made 14 Pro Bowls. Richard Dent was taken 203rd overall and won Super Bowl XX MVP. Darrell Green played 20 seasons for Washington and was still starting at cornerback at age 42.

This class didn't just produce Hall of Famers. It produced records that have never been broken, a passing revolution that remade the modern game, and a quarterback legacy that dominated the AFC for over a decade. The 1983 NFL Draft is the greatest in history. It's not a close call.