Late-round NFL draft finds for every Power 5 team, from Tom Brady to Richard Sherman
While much of the considerable attention paid to the NFL draft focuses on the first round and the top prospects, there is plenty of talent available in the later rounds. It’s just a matter of finding it.
A team’s draft class can be made by landing a diamond in the rough, a player who, for one reason or another, slips through the cracks for the first few rounds but ends up being a major contributor in the NFL. Sometimes it’s the result of shrewd scouting, sometimes it’s taking a chance on a player coming off an injury, sometimes it’s dumb luck. Hitting it big with a top-10 pick is all well and good, but who doesn’t love a bargain?
We’re here to salute the best late-round NFL draft finds from every Power 5 school. Our parameters are players who were chosen in Rounds 4-7 (Day 3 of the current draft format) since 1994, when the draft went to seven rounds. We asked our college football reporters to pick the best player, based on their NFL career, who fits that criteria from each Power 5 school. Here’s who they came up with.
Jump to a conference:
ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten
Pac-12 | SEC
ACC
Matt Hasselbeck, QB (1998, sixth round, 187th overall, Green Bay)
At 6-foot-4 with a strong arm, it’s easy to see how Hasselbeck might have been considered a serious prospect, but his relatively lackluster numbers at BC — 22 career TD passes, 26 interceptions — didn’t exactly scream superstar. So he landed with Green Bay, where he backed up Brett Favre before following coach Mike Holmgren to Seattle. He spent a decade as the Seahawks’ starter, made three Pro Bowls, and led the team to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005. He retired in 2015 with 212 career TD passes. — David Hale
Grady Jarrett, DT (2015, fifth round, 137th overall, Atlanta)
Jarrett was overlooked coming out of high school. He was a two-star prospect who was supposedly undersized for an interior lineman, but nobody worked harder. Jarrett became a star at Clemson, but he was usually overshadowed by teammate Vic Beasley, who would be selected in the first round in 2015. Jarrett slid to the fifth round, and both players ended up with the Falcons. Beasley had some solid years in Atlanta, but it was Jarrett who became a Pro Bowler and one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL, with 112 career starts, 32.5 sacks and 420 tackles to date. — Hale
Patrick Mannelly, long snapper (1998, sixth round, 189th overall, Chicago)
This honor will almost certainly belong to Michael Carter II soon. The former Duke safety was a fifth-round pick by the Jets in 2021, and he has already started 13 games with two picks and two fumble recoveries. But Carter is still at the outset of his career, and it’s impossible to overlook the 16 years Mannelly spent in the NFL after being taken by the Bears in the sixth round in 1998. Hey, long snappers don’t get much attention until they mess up, but there’s no substitute for a good one, and Mannelly stayed in the league longer than any other Duke alum except Sonny Jorgensen. — Hale
Vince Williams, LB (2013, sixth round, 206th overall, Pittsburgh)
There aren’t many former Seminoles who truly fell below the radar when it came to NFL scouts, but Williams certainly wasn’t a hot name in the 2013 draft. He had been a leader and critical figure during the difficult transition from the Bobby Bowden era to the Jimbo Fisher era, and his work in the middle of the defense helped set the stage for 2013’s national title. Vince’s younger brother, Karlos, actually seemed to be the more prominent prospect. But Vince Williams landed in the perfect spot. Drafted by the Steelers, he started 11 games as a rookie and remains one of Pittsburgh’s defensive mainstays. — Hale
Dawan Landry, DB (2006, fifth round, 146th overall, Baltimore)
Georgia Tech actually has a lot of strong contenders for the honor of best late-round pick, from Dorsey Levens (fifth round in 1995) to Vance Walker (seventh round in 2006) to Darren Waller (sixth round in 2014) to Harrison Butker (seventh round in 2017). But Landry was the best of the bunch, spending nine years as a starter for the Ravens, Jaguars and Jets. He earned All-Pro honors as a rookie in 2006, when he picked off five passes, and finished his NFL career in 2014 with 13 career interceptions and three touchdowns. — Hale
William Gay, CB (2007, fifth round, 170th overall, Pittsburgh)
Gay was a pivotal player for the 2006 Orange Bowl champion Louisville Cardinals, but despite running a strong 4.48 40 in the combine, he fell to the fifth round of the 2007 draft, landing with the Steelers, who have a knack for finding late-round talent. Gay went on to play 10 seasons with Pittsburgh (plus one year with Arizona in between), finishing with 13 career interceptions and helping the Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII. — Hale
Chris Myers, OL (2005, sixth round, 200th overall, Denver)
No one goes to Miami to fly beneath the radar — at least, not in the early 2000s — so there aren’t many former Hurricanes who can claim the honor of being massively overlooked in the draft. Still, Myers didn’t draw much attention entering the 2005 draft after playing tackle as a senior. The Broncos drafted him and moved him to guard, but it wasn’t until he shifted to center and joined the Houston Texans that Myers found his niche. He started every game from 2007 through 2014, making two Pro Bowls, before retiring following his 10th NFL season. — Hale
J.R. Sweezy, OL (2012, seventh round, 225th pick, Seattle)
At NC State, Sweezy played on the defensive line and was considered a minor prospect. But Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable saw something in him and set up a private workout to test his footwork and strength to see if Sweezy might be able to make the change. It was a brilliant gamble. Seattle took Sweezy in the seventh round, but by the end of his rookie season, he was in the Seahawks’ starting lineup at guard. He was a full-time starter the next two seasons in Seattle, when the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl both years. He played four more seasons after that with Tampa Bay, Arizona and the Seahawks, starting 70 games before retiring in 2022. — Hale
Gerald Sensabaugh, DB (2005, fifth round, 157th overall, Jacksonville)
Sensabaugh’s college career began at East Tennessee State, where he was a three-year starter before transferring to North Carolina. As a senior with the Tar Heels, he racked up 78 tackles and three sacks. The Jaguars selected him in the fifth round, and he spent his first three seasons in Jacksonville as a part-time starter before blossoming in 2008 with 70 tackles and four interceptions. That landed him a free-agent deal with Dallas, where he spent the next four seasons as a regular contributor. He finished his career with 14 picks. — Hale
Damar Hamlin, S (2021, sixth round, 212th pick, Buffalo)
A four-year starter at Pitt, Hamlin was regularly among the ACC’s top defensive backs, but he largely flew beneath the radar among NFL scouts. The Bills selected him in the sixth round, and he largely served as a backup during his rookie season in 2021. By 2022, however, Hamlin had emerged as a burgeoning star, starting 13 games with six tackles for loss and 93 total tackles. Hamlin drew national attention when he collapsed on the field in December after a hit and nearly died. His inspirational story galvanized fans across the world, and he said Tuesday that he has been fully cleared to return to playing football. — Hale
Zaire Franklin, LB (2018, seventh round, 235th pick, Indianapolis)
Franklin never wowed the scouts in college. He was perhaps a step too slow, an inch too short. But based on what he did on the field, there was no doubt the guy could play. He topped 80 tackles in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and he finished his college career with 31.5 TFLs. Indianapolis saw him as a worthy project, and while his first three seasons in the NFL amounted to just four starts, the bet paid off big in 2021 when Franklin racked up 40 tackles in 11 starts. Last season, he was the full-time starter and finished fourth in the league with 167 total tackles. — Hale
Jason Snelling, RB (2007, seventh round, 244th pick, Atlanta)
OK, so Virginia doesn’t exactly have a rich history of draft-day steals, but Snelling did carve out a solid NFL career despite being among the last players selected in 2007. Despite the fullback position waning in value at the time, Snelling was an impactful runner at Virginia before being drafted by Atlanta, where he would spend his entire seven-year NFL career. Snelling was a versatile back whose best season came in 2009, when he ran for 613 yards and caught 30 passes for 259 yards, scoring five touchdowns. He finished his career with 1,420 rushing yards and 1,249 receiving yards. — Hale
Kam Chancellor, S (2010, fifth round, 133rd pick, Seattle)
At Virginia Tech, Chancellor flirted with playing both quarterback and corner before finding a home at rover, where he excelled in Bud Foster’s aggressive scheme. Still, it wasn’t enough to earn much love from draft experts. Chancellor fell to the fifth round, but he found the perfect fit in Seattle, which had also just drafted safety Earl Thomas. The duo would help establish the Legion of Boom, one of the best defenses in the NFL. Chancellor played 109 regular-season games and 14 more in the playoffs, picking off 15 passes, scoring twice and racking up more than 700 career tackles. — Hale
Desmond Clark, TE (1999, sixth round, 179th pick, Denver)
Clark was 6-3 and 230 pounds in college, but he was still primarily used at wideout, where, not surprisingly, he excelled in the red zone, catching eight TDs out of 59 grabs his senior year. Still, his size made him difficult to peg as a pro, and he slipped to the sixth round before Denver rolled the dice. In the NFL, he found a home at tight end, and — again, not surprisingly — he blossomed as a red zone target. He caught six touchdowns in 2001 — his final year in Denver — went to Miami for a year, then spent the final eight years of his 12-year career with the Bears. In all, he had 323 catches for 3,591 yards and 27 touchdowns. — Hale
Big 12
Andrew Billings, DT (2016, fourth round, 122nd overall, Cincinnati)
Billings shared the 2015 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award with end Emmanuel Ogbah and was named the league’s defensive lineman of the year. He was projected as a first-round pick after a strong combine performance but inexplicably fell to the fourth, where he was selected by the Bengals, with coach Marvin Lewis saying some teams were concerned about his height (6-1, at 311 pounds). He missed his rookie year with a knee injury and opted out of the 2020 season, but he has started 51 games over his other five NFL seasons. A valued run-stopper, Billings signed with the Chicago Bears in March. — Dave Wilson
Brett Keisel, DE (2002, seventh round, 242nd overall, Pittsburgh)
Keisel wasn’t even the most sought-after BYU defensive end in his draft — those honors went to Ryan Denney — but his size and stats were decent enough for the Steelers to take a flier on him. After a few years as a special teamer, he found his way into the lineup by 2006, and he was in the Pro Bowl by 2010. — Bill Connelly
Jason Kelce, C (2011, sixth round, 191st overall, Philadelphia)
A former walk-on running back, Kelce weighed in at just 280 pounds at the combine — far from NFL size — but he ran a 4.89 in the 40, and the Eagles took a chance on him. Five first-team All-Pro seasons and a Super Bowl later, it seems to have worked out pretty well for everyone involved. — Connelly
Elandon Roberts, LB (2016, sixth round, 214th overall, New England)
Case Keenum has had a long NFL career, but he was undrafted, so we can’t use him. Roberts, a 5-11, 234-pound inside linebacker, started his career at Morgan State, transferred to Houston and led the country in solo tackles in 2015 with 88 (of his 142 total tackles). He was a late draft find by the Patriots, starting five games his rookie season, then starting 28 more over the next three seasons in New England at multiple linebacker positions. He even filled in at fullback in 2019, catching a 38-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady against Miami. He then signed with the Dolphins and was a starter the past three seasons at linebacker. He signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers last month. — Wilson
Ahtyba Rubin, NT (2008, sixth round, 190th overall, Cleveland)
At 6-2, 315 pounds, Rubin played offensive line his sophomore year in junior college, then flipped to defensive line at Iowa State. He emerged as an NFL prospect, arrived in Cleveland as a sixth-round pick and broke through as a starter after Shaun Rogers got injured. He ended up starting 107 games in 11 years in the NFL, mostly with the Browns, until starting for two seasons in 2015 and ’16 with Seattle, finishing with 428 tackles and 15 sacks. — Wilson
Justin Hartwig, C (2002, sixth round, 187th overall, Tennessee)
Hartwig was the prototypical “standout on a bad offense” for much of his time at KU, earning all-conference votes for teams that never topped 70th in scoring offense. He was a starter for six of his eight NFL seasons, starting out with Tennessee and eventually winning a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh. — Connelly
Darren Sproles, RB (2005, fourth round, 130th overall, San Diego)
Sproles rushed for 4,769 yards and 44 touchdowns during three standout seasons in Manhattan. He was an absolute star. What was the holdup? Size, of course: He measured 5-foot-6, 187 pounds. Just too small for the pros, right? Wrong. He produced 8,392 yards from scrimmage with nine career return touchdowns over a 15-year career. — Connelly
Kelly Gregg, NT (1999, sixth round, 173rd overall, Cincinnati)
At 6-foot, 320-pounds, Gregg was a force at Oklahoma in his senior year with 117 tackles and 23 tackles for loss, still an OU record. But the NFL wasn’t impressed with his measurables. He was drafted by Cincinnati but waived, then spent time on the Bengals’ practice squad, signed with Philly and was waived, signed to Baltimore’s practice squad and played in NFL Europe. He became the Ravens’ starting nose tackle after Tony Siragusa left and ended up starting for eight years for Baltimore and one with Kansas City, retiring in 2011. Pro Football Focus named him to its All-Pro second team in 2009. — Wilson
Antonio Smith, DE (2004, fifth round, 135th overall, Arizona)
A junior college transfer who battled injuries throughout his college career, Smith didn’t enjoy massive college production and wasn’t at full speed during the draft workout process. His health mostly held up in the pros, though: He recorded 47.5 sacks over 13 seasons and made a Pro Bowl appearance in 2011 with the Texans. — Connelly
Marcus Cannon, OT (2011, fifth round, 138th overall, New England)
Cannon was a highly regarded tackle prospect who started three years at TCU and didn’t give up a sack his senior season at left tackle blocking for Andy Dalton. The 6-5, 358-pounder was shocked to test positive for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a physical before the 2011 combine. New England drafted him in the fifth round and placed him on the injured list while he went through chemotherapy. Cannon has started 73 games and appeared in 120 total, winning three Super Bowls with the great Patriots teams from 2011 to 2019 and being named second-team All-Pro in 2016. He did not play in 2020 during the pandemic, started four games for the Texans in 2021, then started two games at right tackle last year after returning to New England. — Wilson
Brian Robison, DE (2007, fourth round, 102nd overall, Minnesota)
Robison started 37 games at Texas, including on the Longhorns’ national title team in 2005, and was also a star in the shot put, winning a Big 12 title. At 6-3, 260, he ran a 4.74 at the combine and was drafted to back up Jared Allen. But he ended up starting five games his rookie year and made the NFL’s all-rookie team. Robison became a fan favorite in Minnesota, starting 103 games and playing in 170. He racked up 60 sacks, including 25.5 in his first three years as a full-time starter, over 11 years with the Vikings. — Wilson
Zach Thomas, LB (1996, fifth round, 154th overall, Miami)
Thomas, the Red Raiders’ best pro before Patrick Mahomes, was the steal of the 1996 draft. Despite a stellar career at Texas Tech, where he was a first-team All-American his senior year, NFL scouts weren’t in on Thomas, with the consensus being he was too small (5-11, 233 pounds), too slow and not athletic enough (he had a 4.85 40 and 28.5-inch vertical jump at the combine). But he quickly shot up the Dolphins depth chart and started as a rookie from Week 1. He had at least 100 tackles each of the first 11 years of his NFL career, finishing with 1,734, and was a five-time first-team All-Pro. — Wilson
Brandon Marshall, WR (2006, fourth round, 119th overall, Denver)
Marshall was a better athlete than receiver for much of his college career, but after accumulating 38 catches in three seasons, he erupted for 1,195 yards as a senior. Combined with his 6-4, 229-pound measurements and 4.53 speed, he landed a spot on the Broncos. From 2007 to ’15, he ripped off a run of eight 1,000-yard seasons in nine years. — Connelly
Marc Bulger, QB (2000, sixth round, 168th overall, New Orleans)
Bulger threw for 6,072 yards and 45 touchdowns during two standout years at West Virginia, but he battled injuries during his senior season, then measured in at only 6-1, 208 pounds at the combine. The Saints drafted him, but his first start came with the Rams, his third team, in 2002. He ended up throwing for 22,814 yards over eight NFL seasons. — Connelly
Big Ten
David Diehl, OL (2003, fifth round, 160th overall, New York Giants)
Diehl was a second-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior in 2002. A year before, he was part of an Illinois team that won the Big Ten. After the Giants took him in the fifth round, he quickly became a stalwart on an offensive line that helped Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin & Co. win a pair of Super Bowls. Diehl, a second-team All-Pro selection in 2008, started 156 of the 160 games he played in. — Blake Baumgartner
Chris Liwienski, OL (1998, seventh round, 207th overall, Detroit)
Liwienski was a durable offensive tackle for the Hoosiers throughout his career. He was taken by the Lions in the 1998 draft and eventually played for the Vikings, Cardinals, Dolphins and Jaguars in a 10-year career. — Tom VanHaaren
George Kittle, TE (2017, fifth round, 146th overall, San Francisco)
Kittle battled for extended playing time throughout his tenure in Iowa City, thanks to a deep tight end room. In his final two seasons as a Hawkeye (2015 and ’16), he tallied 42 catches for 604 yards and 10 touchdowns. The 49ers were fortunate enough to jump on him in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, and he has rewarded them handsomely. A four-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro selection in 2019, Kittle has 395 receptions for 5,254 yards and 31 touchdowns in his career. — Baumgartner
Stefon Diggs, WR (2015, fifth round, 146th overall, Minnesota)
In three seasons playing for the Terrapins, Diggs accumulated 2,277 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was a second-team All-Big Ten selection for the 2014 season after leading the team in receptions and receiving touchdowns. Since being drafted by the Vikings in 2015, Diggs has been an All-Pro twice, a three-time Pro Bowler and a big part of the Buffalo Bills offense. — VanHaaren
Kirk Cousins, QB (2012, fourth round, 102nd overall, Washington)
Cousins led the Spartans to a share of the Big Ten title in 2010 and an appearance in the inaugural Big Ten championship game in 2011, and left East Lansing as one of the better quarterbacks in program history (9,131 passing yards, 66 TDs). The second quarterback taken by Washington in 2012 behind Robert Griffin III in the first round, Cousins — a four-time Pro Bowler — established himself as a top-level NFL quarterback with both Washington (2012-17) and the Vikings (2018-present), with 37,140 passing yards and 252 touchdown passes in his career. — Baumgartner
Tom Brady, QB (2000, sixth round, 199th overall, New England)
The patron saint of late-round draft finds. After splitting playing time with Drew Henson, Brady eventually won out and started during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, leading the Wolverines to a Big Ten title in 1998. In those two seasons, he combined for 30 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. After a famously unimpressive combine, Brady certainly impressed with the Patriots and Buccaneers, retiring with seven Super Bowl rings and a rewritten NFL record book. — Baumgartner
Marion Barber, RB (2005, fourth round, 109th overall, Dallas)
Barber ranks No. 10 all time at Minnesota for single-season rushing yards, No. 2 for rushing touchdowns in a season, No. 5 in career rushing yards and No. 2 in career rushing touchdowns. He was taken in the fourth round by the Cowboys and earned the nickname Marion the Barbarian for his physical running style. He had more than 50 rushing touchdowns in his six-year career with the Cowboys and Bears. — VanHaaren
Rex Burkhead, RB (2013, sixth round, 190th overall, Cincinnati)
Burkhead was one of six freshmen to see playing time during the 2009 season at Nebraska. He had 346 yards and three touchdowns in his first season and followed that up with 951 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore. He was selected by Cincinnati in the 2013 draft and eventually played for the Patriots and Texans as well. He won a Super Bowl with the Patriots and finished his career with 1,908 yards and 17 touchdowns. — VanHaaren
Zach Strief, OL (2006, seventh round, 210th overall, New Orleans)
Strief was a right tackle at Northwestern and was a two-time All-Big Ten player for the Wildcats. He was selected by the Saints in the seventh round and went on to win a Super Bowl and be named a first-team All-Pro player in 2013 over 12 seasons in New Orleans. — VanHaaren
Corey Linsley, OL (2014, fifth round, 161st overall, Green Bay)
Linsley started as the Buckeyes’ center during his final two seasons (2012 and ’13) after making the move over from right guard. The Packers tabbed him with a fifth-round selection, and his time both in Green Bay and with the Chargers, whom he signed with as a free agent in 2021, has been fruitful. In his last year in Green Bay, Linsley was a first-team All-Pro before being named a second-team All-Pro during his first year in Los Angeles in 2021. — Baumgartner
Adrian Amos, S (2015, fifth round, 142nd overall, Chicago)
Amos was a three-year starter during his time in Happy Valley, finishing with a career-high three interceptions as a senior in 2014. He recorded at least 42 tackles in each of his final three seasons at Penn State. The Bears selected him in the fifth round in 2015, and he has carved out a nice career (636 total tackles, 6 sacks, 48 passes defended and 10 interceptions) through eight seasons with the Bears (2015-18) and Packers (2019-22). — Baumgartner
Rob Ninkovich, LB/DE (2006, fifth round, 135th overall, New Orleans)
Ninkovich won a national championship at Joliet Junior College before transferring to Purdue. He had 8 sacks, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles his senior season and was taken by the Saints in the 2006 draft. He would play for three teams in the NFL and won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. — VanHaaren
Isiah Pacheco, RB (2022, seventh round, 251st overall, Kansas City)
Pacheco started 12 games in his final season at Rutgers and accumulated 2,442 yards and 18 touchdowns in his four-year career. He was selected by the Chiefs in the seventh round and became an impact player on Kansas City’s Super Bowl-winning offense. Pacheco ran for 830 yards and five touchdowns during the regular season and had 197 yards and one touchdown during the playoffs. — VanHaaren
Owen Daniels, TE (2006, fourth round, 98th pick, Houston)
Daniels transitioned from quarterback to tight end after a pair of ACL tears — one as a senior in high school and one during his redshirt sophomore year at Wisconsin. He ended up becoming a productive player, hauling in 62 passes for 852 yards and eight touchdowns over his final three years in Madison. Drafted by Houston in 2006, he recorded 479 catches for 5,661 receiving yards and 36 touchdowns during a 10-year career that saw him play for the Texans, Ravens and Broncos, ending his career with a victory in Super Bowl 50. — Baumgartner
Pac-12
Lawrence Guy, DT (2011, seventh round, 233rd overall, Green Bay)
Guy has bounced around the league a bit since coming into it in 2011, but over the course of his career, he’s started 110 games, accounting for 255 solo tackles, 17 sacks and 38 tackles for loss. Since 2017, Guy has been a fixture of the Patriots’ defensive line and helped New England on its way to its Super Bowl win in 2018. Not bad for a seventh-round pick. — Paolo Uggetti
Nick Folk, K (2007, sixth round, 178th overall, Dallas)
Folk, who made 63% of his field goal attempts at Arizona, was a sixth-round gem for not just the team that drafted him (the Cowboys, for whom he was selected to the Pro Bowl in his rookie year) but also the Jets (he’s the team’s all-time leading scorer) and, most recently, the Patriots, for whom he had a streak of 64 straight field goals from inside 50 yards. In 2021, Folk was the NFL’s leading scorer as well. — Uggetti
Marvin Jones, WR (2012, fifth round, 166th overall, Cincinnati)
After a solid, if unspectacular, four-year career in Berkeley, Jones’ modest production (156 catches in four seasons) was the likely reason he wasn’t drafted earlier. Since entering the NFL, he has been one of the league’s most consistent receivers with more than 500 yards receiving in each of the past eight seasons. — Kyle Bonagura
David Bakhtiari, OT (2013, fourth round, 109th overall, Green Bay)
After a stout three-year career at struggling Colorado, Bakhtiari went on to find the perfect NFL home in Green Bay. The California native immediately became a staple of the Packers’ offensive line on his way to three Pro Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pro selections. Bakhtiari started every game at left tackle during his rookie season, becoming the first rookie to do so in Green Bay since 1978 and the only NFL rookie to start every game that season at left tackle. — Uggetti
Terrance Mitchell, CB (2014, seventh round, 254th overall, Dallas)
Before declaring for the draft, Mitchell received an unfavorable evaluation from the NFL, so he knew that being an early pick after starting 38 games at Oregon was unlikely. Still, he bet on himself, and nearly 10 years later, he’s still collecting an NFL paycheck. — Bonagura
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR (2001, seventh round, 204th overall, Cincinnati)
That Houshmandzadeh got drafted so late wasn’t a surprise considering he started just one season at Oregon State, where he was overshadowed by Chad Johnson. But he went on to have a standout 10-year career, which included a Pro Bowl appearance in 2007, when he tied for the league lead in receptions. — Bonagura
Richard Sherman, CB (2011, fifth round, 154th overall, Seattle)
Sherman’s pre-draft evaluations were all over the board, likely due to the fact he switched from receiver to corner midway through his college career. In the NFL, he blossomed into one of the best corners in league history, earning All-Pro honors five times in an 11-year career. — Bonagura
Matthew Slater, WR (2008, fifth round, 153rd overall, New England)
Not many NFL players can have a 15-year career, tally 10 Pro Bowl nods, two All-Pro selections and three Super Bowls. That’s exactly what Slater has done. After starting off at UCLA as a wide receiver, Slater switched to defensive back his second year at the school and proceeded to account for 34 total tackles and one sack. But after finding a niche and a role on Bill Belichick’s team, Slater thrived as a Swiss Army knife, excelling on special teams while contributing on both defense and offense at various points throughout his career. — Uggetti
Everson Griffen, DE (2010, fourth round, 100th overall, Minnesota)
The Trojans have had their fair share of both elite top draft picks and late-round finds, but Griffen might be the best of the bunch. After spending three years at USC and totaling 84 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 18 sacks as well as three forced fumbles, Griffen slipped to the fourth round, where the Vikings were happy to take him. Griffen has since outplayed his selection by a mile, amassing nearly 400 tackles, 86 sacks and 13 forced fumbles over the course of 12 seasons. — Uggetti
Mike Anderson, RB (2000, sixth round, 189th overall, Denver)
Anderson had a relatively short career in the NFL — seven seasons — but his introduction to the league was a memorable one. After being selected in the sixth round by Denver, Anderson rushed for 1,487 yards that year, averaging 5 yards per carry and adding 15 touchdowns. That was good enough to garner the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Anderson would cross the 1,000-yard threshold only once more in his career. — Uggetti
Dashon Goldson, S (2007, fourth round, 126th overall, San Francisco)
Goldson was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection in 2006 after a season hampered by a high ankle sprain. During a 10-year NFL career, he was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro in 2012. — Bonagura
Erik Coleman, S (2004, fifth round, 143rd overall, New York Jets)
Coleman was an integral part of WSU’s three straight 10-win seasons (2001 through 2003) before being drafted by the Jets. In New York, he quickly broke into the starting lineup and a nine-year career followed. — Bonagura
SEC
Eddie Jackson, S (2017, fourth round, 112th overall pick, Chicago)
A broken leg limited Jackson’s senior season to eight games and meant he couldn’t participate in pre-draft drills. But the former cornerback-turned-safety had serious ball skills with six interceptions as a junior, two of which he took back for touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl in 2018 and 2019 and was on track to return to the event last year before an injury ended his season. — Alex Scarborough
Peyton Hillis, RB (2008, seventh round, 227th overall pick, Denver)
Maybe he was a flash in the pan, a one-year wonder. But when you appear on the cover of EA Sports’ Madden video game, you’ve done something special. And when you’ve done it as a seventh-round pick who was once buried on the depth chart in college behind Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, you’ve done something downright incredible. — Scarborough
Stephen Davis, RB (1996, fourth round, 102nd overall pick, Washington)
Davis wasn’t an every-down back in college, he ran more upright than some scouts might like and he ran a solid but not spectacular 4.54-second 40-yard dash. Maybe that’s why he fell out of the first three rounds. He started his NFL career at Washington as a fullback before finally getting the starting nod at running back during his fourth season. He led the league with 1,405 yards that season, and finished his career with 8,052 yards and three selections to the Pro Bowl. — Scarborough
Alex Brown, DE (2002, fourth round, 104th overall, Chicago)
Being the most prolific pass-rusher in Florida history (Brown holds the school record for the most sacks in a season with 13 and the most in a career with 33), you’d think Brown would at worst go in the first three rounds of the draft. But as Brown himself would say, it all worked out in the end, as he played nine years for the Chicago Bears and had 45.5 sacks, forced 17 fumbles — recovering 12 — and even finished sixth in the AP Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2005. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Terrell Davis, RB (1995, sixth round, 196th overall, Denver)
Davis’ reputation for being injury-prone hurt his draft stock. After having 167 carries and 824 yards in his second year at Georgia (he transferred from Long Beach State), he had just 97 carries in his final year with 445 yards and six touchdowns. However, taking a chance on Davis paid off for the Broncos. He had three consecutive All-Pro seasons, including an NFL MVP season in 1998 when he rushed for 2,008 yards. Denver won a pair of Super Bowl titles along the way. — Lyles Jr.
Za’Darius Smith, OLB (2015, fourth round, 122nd overall, Baltimore)
It appears the big criticism of Smith heading into the draft was that he had no more room to grow. His draft profile on the NFL’s website said that his “body is likely maxed out” and that he scored low with production and athleticism. However, Smith was productive enough to make three Pro Bowls over the course of his NFL career, two with the Packers and one last season with the Vikings. — Lyles Jr.
Kyle Williams, DT (2006, fifth round, 134th overall pick, Buffalo)
Williams wasn’t among the first nine defensive tackles taken in the 2006 draft. He wasn’t even the first defensive tackle taken by the Buffalo Bills. Maybe it was because he was only 6-foot-1 that he slid in the draft, but he quickly rose on the depth chart in New York and became a starter as a rookie, racking up 53 tackles in 16 games. By the time he retired in 2018, he had been selected to six Pro Bowls and logged 610 career tackles and 48.5 sacks, all with the Bills. — Scarborough
Dak Prescott, QB (2016, fourth round, 135th overall pick, Dallas)
If not for a DUI arrest 46 days before the draft — he ultimately was found not guilty — Prescott might never have fallen into the lap of the Cowboys. Arguably the greatest player in Mississippi State history, he stepped in for an injured Tony Romo and was an immediate success, winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. A two-time Pro Bowler, he signed a four-year, $160 million contract in 2021. — Scarborough
Justin Gage, WR (2003, fifth round, 143rd overall, Chicago)
There was no questioning Gage’s speed and agility going into the draft. He left Missouri as the school’s all-time leading receiver after moving from quarterback to wide receiver, and was a part of Missouri’s 2002 Elite Eight run in basketball. While drafted by the Bears, Gage had his most productive seasons with Tennessee, where he led the Titans in catches and yards in 2007. — Lyles Jr.
DJ Jones, DT (2017, sixth round, 198th overall pick, San Francisco)
Jones was part of a deep rotation with the Rebels and never developed into a top-flight pass-rusher, so it’s no wonder he fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round. But each year he proved himself, especially in defending the run — to the point that when he hit free agency a year ago, he commanded a three-year, $30 million deal from the Broncos. — Scarborough
Captain Munnerlyn, CB (2009, seventh round, 216th overall, Carolina)
Because of durability concerns and coming out a year early, Munnerlyn didn’t go as high as he might have if he had stayed in school for another year. But it all worked out fine for the Panthers, as he set the franchise record for interception-return touchdowns with five. — Lyles Jr.
Malik Jackson, DT (2012, fifth round, 137th overall, Denver)
The 27th defensive lineman taken in the 2012 NFL draft, Malik Jackson started his college career at USC during the end of the Pete Carroll era before transferring to Tennessee during the early Derek Dooley years. While the Vols didn’t command much positive attention then, a 4.91-second 40-yard dash at the combine did for Jackson, and he ended up being drafted a round earlier than many projected. — Lyles Jr.
Shane Lechler, P (2000, fifth round, 142nd overall pick, Oakland)
It’s tempting to claim Dante Hall here. He made two Pro Bowls and played in the NFL for nine seasons. Lechler, on the other hand, made seven Pro Bowls, was a nine-time All-Pro and a member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2000s and the 2010s. So don’t give me the whole “but he’s a punter” criticism. He had an incredible career. — Scarborough
Hunter Hillenmeyer, LB (2003, sixth round, 166th overall, Green Bay)
In 2002, Hillenmeyer finished second in the nation with 168 tackles for the Commodores. But critics said he lacked the top-end speed to be a productive player at the next level. However, he was productive enough to play eight seasons with the Bears, accumulating 300 solo tackles, 6 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions in 101 games over 69 starts. — Lyles Jr.
Who will be the best running backs in college football in 2025?
We asked our college football reporters to vote for their top 10, distributing points based on their selections (10 points for a first-place vote, 9 points for second place and so on).
The results at the top include some familiar faces who made a mark in the College Football Playoff last season, but further down the list are some key transfers in new places and two freshmen who burst on to the scene, among others.
Here’s a look at our picks for the top 10 running backs in college football:
Points: 96 (8 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 163 carries, 1,125 yards, 17 TDs; 28 receptions, 237 yards, 2 TDs
Love emerged as Notre Dame’s top offensive playmaker during his sophomore season with 1,125 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry. The only two FBS running backs with 150-plus attempts to average more yards per carry last season were Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Louisville’s Isaac Brown.
Love, at 6 feet and 212 pounds, is as effective earning the tough yards, as evidenced by his tackle-breaking touchdown against Penn State in the College Football Playoff, as he is breaking big plays. He had eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer last season. The Irish want to get him the ball even more in 2025, as Love has lined up some as a wide receiver during spring practice. He caught 28 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. — Chris Low
Points: 82 (2 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 172 carries, 1,099 yards, 12 TDs; 41 receptions, 375 yards, 5 TDs
Singleton faced five-star expectations when he enrolled at Penn State in 2022 and has lived up to them throughout his time in State College. Now he’s coming back for his senior season to chase a national championship after helping the Nittany Lions break through to the CFP semifinals last season.
Singleton has put up a combined 4,673 all-purpose yards over the past three seasons, second most among all FBS backs behind Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, and 41 career touchdowns. He has shared carries every season, averaging just 12.2 rushes per game over his career, but has consistently been highly productive and a true home run threat as a rusher, receiver and kick returner. — Max Olson
Points: 68
2024 stats: 220 carries, 1,108 yards, 8 TDs; 18 receptions, 153 yards, 2 TDs
ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Allen ranked as the No. 6 draft-eligible running back in the 2025 NFL draft class earlier this year. But rather than jumping to the pros, Allen will resume his position at Penn State as part of one of the nation’s most talented backfields alongside fourth-year quarterback Drew Allar and rushing partner Nicholas Singleton.
The Nittany Lions’ physical complement to Singleton and his elusive rushing style, Allen carried 220 times — fourth most among Big Ten running backs — and finished with 1,108 rushing yards and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2024. The 5-foot-11, 229-pound rusher averaged 6.7 yards per attempt across four postseason games, and ball security stands among his most valuable traits — Allen has lost one fumble across 559 career carries. — Eli Lederman
Points: 51
2024 stats (with Tulane): 265 carries, 1,401 yards, 15 TDs; 19 receptions, 176 yards, 2 TDs
The Tulane transfer ran for 1,401 yards last fall, ninth most nationally and more than any other returning running back. Hughes established himself as an exceptionally productive talent in two seasons with the Green Wave, and he lands at Oregon with two years of eligibility as an ideal replacement for 1,267-yard rusher Jordan James.
Hughes broke out for 1,378 yards on 258 carries as a freshman in 2023 before effectively replicating that rushing season. A key uptick in 2024: Hughes’ rushing touchdown count climbed from seven to 15. His 949 yards after first contact in 2024, per TruMedia, also leads all returning rushers in 2025. As the Ducks break in new quarterback Dante Moore, Hughes’ production and dependability could be especially important. — Lederman
Points: 45
2024 stats: 165 carries, 1,173 yards, 11 TDs; 30 receptions, 152 yards, 1 TD
There’s a good argument that last season, as a true freshman, Brown was the most explosive back in the country. Brown led all power-conference backs in yards per rush (7.11), had the fifth-most explosive runs (12 yards or more) with 33 and forced 41 missed tackles. His 8.2 yards-per-carry average between the tackles was a full yard better than any other power-conference running back. Brown also was a threat out of the backfield and in the return game. He eclipsed 99 yards of all-purpose yardage in eight of his past 10 games. — David Hale
Points: 38
2024 stats (with Louisiana-Monroe): 237 carries, 1,351 yards, 13 TDs; 8 receptions, 72 yards, 0 TDs
Hardy established himself as one of the top true freshmen in college football last season at Louisiana-Monroe. He rushed for 1,351 yards, including eight 100-yard games, and scored 13 touchdowns. He was overlooked by recruiters coming out of high school but was one of the top running back targets in the transfer portal and landed at Missouri.
Hardy, 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, is at his best making defenders miss and churning out yards after contact. He was one of seven players nationally to have 1,000 yards or more after contact (1,012) last season. Hardy forced 91 missed tackles — only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo had more. With Kewan Lacy leaving for Ole Miss, Hardy will get all the carries he can handle in 2025. — Low
Points: 31
2024 stats: 184 carries, 966 yards, 5 TDs; 52 receptions, 579 yards, 4 TDs
Reid made the move up from FCS Western Carolina to follow his offensive coordinator, Kade Bell, to Pitt last year and quickly proved he’s one of the most dynamic offensive playmakers in college football. The 5-8, 175-pound playmaker put up 1,704 all-purpose yards — 966 rushing, 579 receiving and 159 on punt returns — and scored 10 total touchdowns in an All-America debut season.
Reid achieved all that despite missing two games because of injury, and he finished fifth among all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (154.9). The do-it-all back had three 200-yard performances over his first four games with the Panthers and will return for his senior season to produce plenty more in 2025. — Olson
Points: 19
2024 stats: 226 carries, 1,064 yards, 5 TDs; 44 receptions, 311 yards, 1 TD
Wisner stepped up in a big way for the Longhorns in 2024. Despite a depleted running back room and injuries to the offensive line across different portions of the season, Wisner had 1,064 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, adding 311 yards and another touchdown through the air. CJ Baxter should be back for the Longhorns after missing 2024 with a knee injury, but given what we saw from Wisner, he should still be well in the mix in the Texas backfield. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Points: 17
2024 stats: 169 carries, 944 yards, 9 TDs; 28 receptions, 166 yards, 3 TDs
Haynes, a wide receiver turned running back, has been one of the most consistent players in Georgia Tech’s offense over the past two seasons. Since 2023, Haynes has 2,003 yards on the ground and 16 touchdowns.
His versatility is something every team looks for in a back — he’s good at getting yards before defenders can get a hand on him (856 rushing yards before contact over the past two seasons, the most of any power-conference back in that span, per Pro Football Focus) and he’s good after they get a hand on him (his 1,145 yards after contact rank fourth, per PFF). In Haynes’ third year, the Yellow Jackets will be expecting much of the same. — Lyles
Points: 16
2024 stats: 175 carries, 1,028 yards, 12 TDs; 22 receptions, 217 yards, 1 TD
By mid October 2024, Washington had just 186 rushing yards and a touchdown to his credit (nearly all of which came against Air Force) and Baylor was a miserable 2-4 on the season. Then coach Dave Aranda tabbed Washington to serve as the Bears’ lead back, and everything changed.
Over the next six games, Washington racked up 127 carries for 818 yards and 11 touchdowns as Baylor won six straight. Washington was banged up early in Baylor’s bowl game against LSU and got just five carries — it’s no coincidence the Bears lost — but his growth throughout 2024 paired with that of quarterback Sawyer Robertson has Baylor thinking playoff in 2025. — Hale
Also receiving votes: Jonah Coleman, Washington, 15 points; Jaydn Ott, California, 14; Jahiem White, West Virginia, 14; Darius Taylor, Minnesota, 13; Caden Durham, LSU, 11; Jadan Baugh, Florida, 8; Nate Frazier, Georgia, 6; Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, 2; Le’Veon Moss, Texas A&M, 2; CJ Baxter, Texas, 1; Roman Hemby, Indiana 1
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Josh Weinfuss
AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.
With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.
As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.
“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”
Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.
Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.
“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.
It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.
“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”
During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.
Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.
“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.
“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”
THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.
Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.
All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.
“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”
When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.
“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”
Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.
“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.
Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.
Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.
“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”
In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.
“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”
It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.
Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.
The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.
Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.
Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.
Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.
Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.
Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.
“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’
“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”
DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.
“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.
“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”
His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.
From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”
Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.
For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.
It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.
“It was really eye-opening,” he said.
In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.
Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.
“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”
Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.
“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”
He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.
Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.
To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.
“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”
As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.
And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.
The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)
Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.
If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.
The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).
So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!
There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers
Wednesday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s scoreboard
Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5
Metro Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Pacific Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
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