BYU’s best player selected in each round of the NFL draft

The NFL Draft is right around the corner and the excitement for this year’s rookies is palpable. Several BYU players are hoping to be drafted this year including Kingsley Suamataia, Kedon Slovis, and Isaac Rex among others. These players look to join BYU’s illustrious history of having players drafted into the NFL.

BYU’s first draft pick happened back in 1938 when John Stringham was selected by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Since then, BYU has had an additional 151 players drafted into the NFL. The decade where BYU saw the most players drafted was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the 1980s, an era many consider to be BYU football’s glory days.

26 players were drafted in the 1970s, 19 players were drafted in both the 1990s and 2000s, and 8 players were drafted from 2010-2019. The most common round that BYU players were drafted in was the 7th round with 20 players selected in that round. 19 players were selected in the 3rd round and 15 players were selected in the 4th round. The least common round BYU players were selected in was the second round.

The Cougars have had a resurgence of draft picks in recent history. In the last 3 seasons BYU has had 9 players drafted into the NFL more than the entire previous decade. Several of these recent draftees have turned into legitimate NFL stars including Puka Nacua and Fred Warner. Aside from these superstars, the Cougars have also turned out several reliable starters including Tyler Allgeier, Jamaal Williams, Kyle Van Noy, and Khyiris Tonga to name a few. With these recent successes, it has become more common for NFL draft scouts to include Provo on their list of places to visit to check out potential draftees. As we prepare for this year’s NFL draft let’s take a look at BYU’s best draft picks per round.