Written By: Dave Manuel
The NFL Draft is supposed to be the happiest day of a young player's life. You've worked for this your entire career. Your family is there. The cameras are on you. And then the pick comes - just not the one you expected, not at the slot you were promised, not anywhere close.Every year there are players who fall. Some fall a little. Some fall a lot. And some fall so far that people are still talking about it 20 years later. Here is what the records show.
With the 2026 NFL Draft just weeks away, we went back through the archives to find the players who fell the furthest on draft day. Some were scandals. Some were mysteries. One cost a man $8 million in about 30 seconds.
The Biggest NFL Draft Day Drops in NFL History
The most famous drop in NFL Draft history, and somehow only the second-most dramatic story on this list. Rodgers walked into Radio City Music Hall on April 23, 2005 believing he was the second quarterback off the board at the very worst. He sat in that green room for hours while 23 teams passed on him.
The morning of draft day, Rodgers was a consensus top-five pick. Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden had personally called him two days before to hint he would be taken fifth. The 49ers were picking first and everyone assumed they were choosing between Rodgers and Alex Smith. When San Francisco took Smith, Rodgers expected the next call to come quickly. Cleveland at #3 took a lineman. Minnesota at #7 took a receiver. Miami at #9 - who had actually mailed a Dolphins hat to Rodgers' college coach as a not-very-subtle hint - took Ted Ginn Jr.
The nightmare snowballed because the middle of the 2005 draft was full of teams that did not need quarterbacks. Rodgers finally got the call from Green Bay at #24. They already had Brett Favre. It was, in his own words at the time, "a great disappointment."
His draft drop is ranked #1 on NFL Network's Top 10 Draft Day Moments. Ranked #1 for good reason. He became a four-time MVP, won Super Bowl XLV, and is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. The 49ers, who took Alex Smith instead, are still regretting their choice.
No other story on this list comes close to Tunsil's in terms of sheer drama, speed, and chaos. Mel Kiper had him ranked #1 on his final big board. Ten minutes before the 2016 NFL Draft started, someone hacked Tunsil's Twitter account and posted a video of him wearing a gas mask attached to a bong, smoking marijuana.
Within minutes, every NFL team's draft room was buzzing. The Baltimore Ravens - who had Tunsil ranked ahead of Ronnie Stanley on their board - took him completely off their list. The Tennessee Titans, who needed a left tackle desperately, passed. The New York Giants at #10 passed. Tunsil sat in the green room watching pick after pick knowing exactly why his phone wasn't ringing.
His agent immediately told teams the account was hacked. The video was confirmed to be two years old. It didn't matter. Miami eventually took him at #13 and got one of the biggest steals in recent draft history. Tunsil went on to become one of the best left tackles in the league, made five Pro Bowls, earned $121 million in career earnings, and in March 2026 signed a two-year extension with the Washington Commanders. The drop from #1 to #13 on draft night cost him roughly $8 million but his career has more than made up for it.
The Vikings' GM at the time, Jeff Diamond, later admitted they had Moss rated in their top five and fully expected someone to take him before Dallas at #8. Nobody did. 20 teams passed on a 6'4" receiver running a 4.25 40-yard dash with a 47-inch vertical jump - numbers that still make your jaw drop 28 years later.
The reasons were real. Moss had been convicted of misdemeanor battery in high school. Notre Dame rescinded his scholarship offer. Florida State kicked him off the team for failing a marijuana test. He missed the NFL Scouting Combine - which NFL teams treat as a red flag even today. A fight at the combine before a morning meeting he skipped scared off the Bears, who desperately needed a receiver.
His agent, Bus Cook, said: "We didn't expect him to fall past Dallas at #8. The past just kept haunting Randy." But Dennis Green in Minnesota was willing to take the gamble. Moss went on to have one of the greatest wide receiver careers in NFL history, including a 2007 season with the Patriots where he caught 23 touchdown passes - a single-season record that still stands.
If you want a picture of draft day misery, Brady Quinn at Radio City Music Hall in 2007 is your photograph. He was labeled "a franchise quarterback in the mold of Carson Palmer" before the draft. Multiple analysts had him going top three. Cleveland actually sent a Dolphins hat to his college coach as a hint they'd take him at #9.
JaMarcus Russell went first to Oakland. Then Cleveland at #3 took Joe Thomas at left tackle instead of Quinn. Minnesota at #7 took Adrian Peterson. Miami at #9 - the team that had all but promised him - shocked everyone by taking Ted Ginn Jr. from Ohio State. Quinn sat in the green room for 5.5 hours while the cameras kept cutting back to him. Commissioner Roger Goodell eventually took him into his private suite to get him away from the spotlight.
The Browns finally traded up to #22 by giving Dallas a 2007 second-round pick and a 2008 first-round pick. It was a heavy price. Quinn went on to play for five teams and never lived up to the hype. He is now a Fox Sports college football analyst alongside Matt Leinart - another player on this list - which is either poetic or cruel depending on how you look at it.
Manziel is the only player on this list where the teams that passed on him were almost certainly right to do so. The 2013 Heisman Trophy winner was a phenomenon at Texas A&M, but the warning signs were everywhere going into the draft. An autograph-signing-for-pay scandal. Reports of lifestyle concerns. Questions about his work ethic. And despite all of it, multiple teams were still projected to take him in the top five.
He fell to Cleveland at #22, who had just passed on him at #4 to take Justin Gilbert. Cleveland decided to take him anyway on the second chance - the kind of move that defined that era in Browns history. Manziel made 8 starts, threw 7 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and was released after 15 months. He never played another regular season game. He was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which explains some of what the league witnessed but does not erase the on-field results.
The bigger story might be Cleveland, who used two first-round picks in the same draft on players who both busted. The Browns were so determined to find their franchise quarterback that they drafted a guy they already had concerns about, twice.
The Rest of the List
Beyond the top five, there are several more notable falls worth documenting.
Matt Leinart (2006, #10) - The USC Trojans quarterback was expected to go top three, maybe even #1 overall. He had character questions, a perception that he coasted at USC because of surrounding talent, and a Senior Bowl that worried some teams. He fell to the Arizona Cardinals at #10 and had a disappointing career as a starter before becoming a broadcasting presence. He is now on Big Noon Kickoff on Fox alongside Brady Quinn, which makes that show perhaps the most decorated green room survivor panel in television history.
Geno Smith (2013, #39) - This one is technically the biggest raw points drop on our list. Smith was projected somewhere between #10 and #15 by most analysts before his Senior Bowl in January 2013 went sideways. An awful performance dropped him rapidly. He went #39 overall to the Jets in the second round, a fall of roughly 24 spots from his pre-draft consensus projection. The Jets years were rough. But Smith signed with Seattle in 2022, won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, threw for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns, and made the Pro Bowl. One of the better second-act stories in recent draft history.
Christian Hackenberg (2016, #51) - Our biggest raw drop in terms of round and pick number. Hackenberg was projected as a late first-round pick coming out of Penn State, but a disastrous college career after his freshman year and concerns about his mechanics caused him to slide all the way to the Jets in the second round at #51. He never threw a single pass in a regular season NFL game. Not one. He is technically the player who fell the furthest by raw number on this list, but since he was never projected above the mid-20s his story lacks the drama of the others.
Lawrence Phillips (1996, #6) - Worth including as a historical footnote and a cautionary tale. Phillips was a consensus top-two running back prospect coming out of Nebraska, with some having him in the top three overall. An assault conviction - he dragged his ex-girlfriend down a flight of stairs by her hair - caused teams to drop him. He still went #6 to the St. Louis Rams, showing how desperate some organizations were for elite running back talent. His career imploded quickly and he was out of the league by 1999. He later died in prison in 2016 while serving a 31-year sentence for additional crimes. The darkest story connected to any draft drop on this list.
Complete Reference Table
| Player | Year | Position | Projected | Actual Pick | Raw Drop | Team | Career Grade | Reason for Drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Hackenberg | 2016 | QB | ~#20 | #51 | ~31 | NY Jets | F | Mechanics breakdown, poor college stats after yr 1 |
| Geno Smith | 2013 | QB | ~#15 | #39 | ~24 | NY Jets | C+ | Disastrous Senior Bowl, character questions |
| Aaron Rodgers | 2005 | QB | ~#2-3 | #24 | ~21 | Green Bay | A+ | 49ers took Smith; no QB-needy teams between #2-23 |
| Brady Quinn | 2007 | QB | ~#3-5 | #22 | ~17 | Cleveland | D | Teams passed for other positions; no QB run formed |
| Randy Moss | 1998 | WR | ~#3-5 | #21 | ~16 | Minnesota | A+ | Criminal record, drug test failure, skipped combine |
| Johnny Manziel | 2014 | QB | ~#5-10 | #22 | ~12 | Cleveland | F | Lifestyle concerns, autograph scandal, work ethic |
| Laremy Tunsil | 2016 | OT | #1 | #13 | 12 | Miami | A | Twitter hacked 10 min before draft; gas mask video |
| Matt Leinart | 2006 | QB | ~#3 | #10 | ~7 | Arizona | D+ | Character concerns, perceived coasting at USC |
| Lawrence Phillips | 1996 | RB | Top 3 | #6 | ~3 | St. Louis | F | Assault conviction (still went relatively high) |
Bonus: The Drop That Went the Other Way
No article about NFL Draft drops is complete without a mention of the greatest reverse-drop in history. Tom Brady. Sixth round, pick #199. The Patriots took him as a developmental backup in 2000 after a college career at Michigan where he split time with Drew Henson and a combine performance that was, by the generous description, unremarkable. He was projected as a late-round pick and went right where he was projected.
Then he won seven Super Bowls. So technically Brady does not belong on this list. But when you are sitting there looking at Aaron Rodgers falling 21 spots and wondering how teams get it so wrong, Brady is the answer to why they keep swinging anyway. One of those late-round guys turns into the greatest of all time. You just never know which one.
