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.
Drafted: Round 1 (No. 16 overall), 2003.
The Steelers traded up 11 spots to draft Polamalu in the top half of Round 1, so I wasn't immediately sure he reasonably could be called a true draft steal. But when considering how Polamalu's Hall of Fame résumé stands out compared to the relatively lackluster nature of both the 2003 draft class and the overall pool of safety candidates, I became convinced he still belonged here.
Polamalu's credentials really are an easy sell, including eight Pro Bowl honors, four first-team All-Pro nods and the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year award. He was a do-it-all game wrecker, able to break opponents up near the line of scrimmage or back in deep coverage, or by manning up against backs and tight ends. The fact that Polamalu did it entirely in Pittsburgh, helping the legendary franchise win two Super Bowls during his 12 seasons, was the icing on the cake.
Earl Thomas was another former first-rounder who outplayed his draft status, but his shorter career (10 NFL seasons, nine with his drafting team) made Polamalu a stronger value selection in the end.
Drafted: Round 2 (No. 37 overall), 2007.
I was essentially weighing Weddle against another early second-rounder, Budda Baker, who was taken one spot earlier 10 years later, in the 2017 NFL Draft. Although Baker has tallied more Pro Bowl invitations (seven to Weddle's six), Weddle's overall body of work with the team that drafted him was just a bit stronger on the whole than what Baker has done in eight seasons for the Cardinals.
Weddle quickly became one of the league's best center fielders, able to impact the game in coverage and as an open-field tackler, earning two first-team and three second-team All-Pro honors in a dominant five-season span (2010-14) in San Diego. He was a tough, smart and reliable player for nearly a decade with the Chargers, later adding three Pro Bowl invitations with the Ravens. Weddle also came out of retirement to help the Rams win Super Bowl LVI, in spite of being out of the game for nearly two full years before his return.
The 2007 draft class was a pretty legendary group, featuring four Hall of Famers (Calvin Johnson, Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas and Patrick Willis) and a handful more who deserve consideration. But it also featured its share of major busts, with Weddle clearly outplaying plenty of players selected before him that year.
Drafted: Round 3 (No. 64 overall), 2001.
As with the decision to include Weddle above, this selection essentially boiled down to Wilson vs. another Cardinals third-rounder who vastly outplayed his draft slot: Tyrann Mathieu. The tiebreaker for Wilson was the value he provided to Arizona, which ran just a little deeper than that of Mathieu, who earned just one of his three first-team All-Pro nods to date during his five seasons with that team.
Wilson's blend of physicality, longevity and durability made him a force vs. the run and the pass, allowing him to earn five Pro Bowl bids, one first-team All-Pro nod and two second-team All-Pro honors. He's one of only five defensive players in history with 25 or more sacks, 25 or more interceptions and 15 or more forced fumbles. Of the other four on that list, three (Ronde Barber, Brian Dawkins and Ray Lewis) are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the fourth (Rodney Harrison) should have been in by now.
The Cardinals have a strong history of drafting safeties, and Wilson ranks among their best value picks ever, ultimately emerging as one of the best all-around players in an impressive 2001 draft class that featured three Hall of Famers (and at least three more who could end up in Canton one day).
Drafted: Round 5 (No. 133 overall), 2010.
Chancellor's career lasted just eight years, and he dealt with various injuries in Seattle, but his impact on the "Legion of Boom" secondary was unquestioned. The former fifth-round pick is clearly one of the best values at safety in the past quarter century.
Built like a linebacker, Chancellor was an intimidator on the back end of Seattle's great defenses in the 2010s -- allowing Earl Thomas to roam more freely as a free safety -- and he made his mark as a leader for a Super Bowl-winning team. Chancellor was named to four Pro Bowls and earned two second-team All-Pro honors. He made the NFL's "Top 100 Players" list five straight years from 2014 to 2018 and never ranked lower than 75th.
His peak didn't last as long as those of some of the other names on this list, but Chancellor's draft pedigree and undeniable impact helped push him into the final slot.
