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This offseason I am taking a position-by-position look at the best NFL draft values of the millennium: In short, which teams received the most bang for their draft-pick buck?
Higher draft picks were not dismissed for this exercise, but I tended to side with the highest-achieving lower selections. Extra weight was also given to longevity and the value those players provided for the teams that drafted them.
All that said, it’s remarkable to see how top-heavy the safety position is in terms of draft pedigree, with a slew of the best producers over the past 25 years also being early-round picks. On the one hand, it’s a lower-priority position for some teams, but on the other hand, it’s hard to find later-round steals — or at least those who thrived with the clubs that drafted them.
I did my best to sort through the list with draft value in mind, but some of the “best of the best” safeties were mid-to-later first-round picks who justifiably should have been selected even higher .
Drafted: Round 1 (No. 24 overall), 2002.
In the running for the best safety to ever play the game, Reed absolutely was a steal as a late first-round choice. His selection was one of the career-defining moves by former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome. Julius Peppers, the second overall pick in 2002, might be the only player from that draft whose career achievements are even in the same ballpark as Reed’s.
Reed was named first-team All-Pro five times and was the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year. He also earned nine Pro Bowl invitations. Reed’s 64 career interceptions are the most by any player who entered the NFL in the 2000s, and his 1,590 INT return yards are more than 100 yards better than anyone else in league history.
Reed was a no-brainer first-ballot choice for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he was an equally easy selection for this exercise, even as a first-rounder.
