The Best #1 NFL Draft Picks Of All Time

Ranker NFL
Updated January 15, 2025 87 items
Ranked By
36.6K votes
2.3K voters
12 reranks
Voting Rules
Vote for players who had the most success with the franchise that drafted them. Only in Super Bowl era (since 1967).
Latest additions: Caleb Williams
Most divisive: O. J. Simpson
Over 2.3K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of All-Time Best No. 1 Draft Picks
Info IconHOW RANKINGS WORK

Who is the best #1 NFL draft pick of all time? Every No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft is a potentially franchise-changing player. Sometimes that player leads his team to multiple Super Bowls like Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman, two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. Other times, he leads another franchise to multiple Super Bowls like John Elway and Eli Manning, neither of whom played a snap for the team that drafted them.

Fourteen NFL Hall of Famers have been the top overall pick in the NFL draft and five league MVPs, most recently Cam Newton. Plenty of great NFL players have been #1 picks such as Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Earl Campbell. In 2021, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence was selected first overall.

But who has been the best No. 1 overall draft pick for his franchise. Stats below reflect only a player's time with the team that drafted him, unless otherwise noted, and that's how these players should be ranked. How much did they help the team that spent a No. 1 pick on them?

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