Auburn’s NFL Draft: 3 Pro Bowlers from the sixth round.
When the NFL holds its 90th draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the sixth round on April 26 will feature the 177th through 216th selections. Three players chosen from Auburn in that slot range became Pro Bowlers in the NFL, and the most unlikely won the Heisman Trophy.
Bo Jackson, Auburn’s 1985 Heisman Trophy winner, was chosen in the seventh round of the 1987 NFL Draft. As Pick No. 183, he would be a sixth-round selection in 2025.
Jackson also was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers chose Jackson at No. 1 in the 1986 NFL Draft. But Jackson stiff-armed the Bucs to sign a baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals.
Exactly one year after Tampa Bay had picked Jackson at No. 1, the Los Angeles Raiders chose him at No. 183.
Jackson signed with the Raiders, but only to play after the Royals’ season had ended because he already had reached the Major Leagues by that time.
Jackson played in 38 regular-season games for the Raiders over the next four seasons before an injury sustained in a playoff game ended his football career. In three of those seasons, Jackson registered the NFL’s longest run from scrimmage, and he earned a Pro Bowl invitation for his play in 10 games in 1990.
Tom Banks became a four-time Pro Bowl center for the St. Louis Cardinals as the 189th pick in 1970, and Fred Beasley was a Pro Bowl fullback for the San Francisco 49ers after entering the NFL as the 180th pick in 1998.
The players are among 42 who have been drafted from Auburn from 177th through 216th.
Twenty-four Auburn players have been sixth-round picks in an NFL Draft, but those selections ranged from No. 46 to No. 219. Over the decades, the picks comprising the sixth round have changed as the number of teams in the NFL has increased and the league has added compensatory choices as part of its free-agency plan.
The Auburn players who have been picked with the 177th through 216th selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 177 pick: Craig Ogletree, linebacker, Cincinnati Bengals, 1990.
Ogletree’s NFL career was limited to 11 games in his rookie season. In 2020, Ogletree officiated at the funeral of former Auburn coach Pat Dye.
No. 180 picks: George Atkins, guard, Detroit Lions, 1955; Ted Foret, tackle, Baltimore Colts, 1959; Fred Beasley, fullback, San Francisco 49ers, 1998.
Atkins played in every game and started half of them for Detroit as a rookie. But that was his only NFL season. In 1956, he returned to Auburn to join the coaching staff of Ralph “Shug” Jordan.
Foret played for the Montreal Alouettes and the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in 1960.
From Lee-Montgomery, Beasley ran for 610 yards and eight touchdowns during his eight seasons with San Francisco. It was the running done by others that earned Beasley his status as one of the NFL’s best fullbacks. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2003, when Kevan Barlow and Garrison Hearst combined to rush for 1,792 yards for the 49ers. Beasley also had 133 receptions for 1,017 yards and five touchdowns.
No. 181 pick: Quinton Reese, defensive end, Detroit Lions, 2000.
Reese registered three sacks for the XFL’s Birmingham Thunderbolts in 2001, but he didn’t play in the NFL.
No. 182 picks: Ken Paduch, tackle, Philadelphia Eagles, 1959; Kevin McLeod, fullback, Jacksonville Jaguars, 1998; Jeno James, guard, Carolina Panthers, 2000.
McLeod played in seven games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1998 and one game for the Cleveland Browns in 2003. In between, he played for the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe. McLeod had two NFL receptions, and the first one was good for a touchdown – a 3-yard pass from Shaun King in the Bucs’ 23-16 victory over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 12, 1999.
In his fourth season, James became a full-time NFL starter as a left guard and stayed in that role until knee surgery caused him to miss the final seven games of the 2006 season. The Miami Dolphins released James after that campaign, and he never played again. James appeared in 94 NFL regular-season games, with 67 starts. In 2003, James started all four of Carolina’s postseason contests as the Panthers reached Super Bowl XXXVIII.
No. 183 pick: Bo Jackson, running back, Los Angeles Raiders, 1987.
The Los Angeles Raiders picked Jackson in 1987 after he was the No. 1 choice in the 1986 draft. Jackson had not signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, choosing to play baseball instead. Jackson did play four partial seasons with the Raiders while also playing in the Major Leagues before an injury ended his football career. Jackson ran for 2,782 yards and 16 touchdowns on 515 carries in 38 games for Los Angeles. He earned Pro Bowl recognition in 1990 and had the NFL’s longest run in three of his four seasons.