This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/Cybotnic-Rebooted on 2025-07-21 03:30:10+00:00.
Hello! Every single year, we watch the college football season, and see players that seem to break the game at that level. Whether it be hulking behemoth OLineman, technical and pass rushing DLineman, lockdown coverage defensive backs, speedy and strong Running Backs and Wide Receivers, or even potentially franchise altering Quarterbacks, every year we see certain players elevate their teams around them, get awards and attention at a national level, and eventually become a top tier draft pick.
So… what if we took that away? What if we made it to where anyone who gets voted onto a recognized all-american football team, from first to second and sometimes even third team in the case of the AP, or gets votes to be the heisman winner is suddenly erased, and now you have to make a pick of the remaining players. Who would be the top pick every year? Who would the franchise have to lean on to save them.
The only rule I set in this is that the team with the top pick changes doesn’t change from irl. That would make this way too complicated and confusing. Otherwise, I will be looking at old mock drafts and forum conversations to view the apparent value of the players in the public, along with draft position once it became real, to see who would likely go first overall in this scenario. With all that being said, let’s get this started!
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2000 NFL Draft, The Cleveland Browns Select… Plaxico Burress, WR, Michigan State!
With all the top defensive players being plucked out here (Courtney Brown, LaVar Arrington, Corey Simon, and Brian Urlacher), the Browns turn to the offensive side of the ball here. Luckily for the Browns, two top 10 players still survive this purge, in Tennessee Running Back Jamal Lewis and Michigan State Wide Receiver Plaxico Burress. While Lewis went ahead of Burress in the real draft, he was viewed as a pretty big reach by the Ravens, while Burress’s value was seen as good at his spot, leading me to believe the Browns would have also chosen to pair Couch with him.
Getting comparisons to Randy Moss, this big play threat would have been seen as a key component in getting out Couch’s true potential at the time.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2001 NFL Draft, The San Diego Chargers Select… Gerard Warren, DT, Florida
Once again, the team with the first overall pick lucks out, as the Chargers (who don’t trade it to the Falcons in this timeline) get an IRL near unanimous top 5 prospect. A freak of a human being, he hadn’t quite put it all together at Florida, but the potential was seen as through the roof. There was a thought that he could be a potential captain of a defense by stopping the run and taking on double teams.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2002 NFL Draft, The Houston Texans Select… Donte Stallworth, WR, Tennessee
The 2002 NFL Draft had a ton of perceived talent at the top, but all of them were players who had put it all together in college, so we have to go a bit further down the board to find our guy. Still, Stallworth had looked like he was putting it together in his final year at Tennessee, and that combine with his record shattering 40-yard time leads to him going first overall here to the Texans.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2003 NFL Draft, The Cincinnati Bengals Select… Dewayne Robertson, DT, Kentucky
This is the first year you could argue that a QB deserves to go 1st overall, as Cal’s Kyle Boller would be in contention here. Still, in this scenerio, I imagine Marvin Lewis would stick with John Kitna and instead take the freak that is Dewayne Robertson. It’s a very similar story with him as Warren earlier: An athletic marvel who hadn’t put it all together in college with huge upside as a run stuffer and pocket collapsar.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2004 NFL Draft, The San Diego Chargers Select… Dunta Robinson, CB, South Carolina
Another stong at the top draft class where all the best players were All-American (or heisman vote getters for Rivers and Roethlisberger), the Number 1 pick in this class was pretty easy, as the only high pick to not get those honor was South Carolina’s Robinson. For the time he was a solid athlete who had put out a ton of great coverage tape in college. With Brees and Gates at the helm of the offense (no LT in this timeline) and now Warren playing the Interior and Robinson potentially locking down their WR1, we may see a dynasty form in San Diego… hahaha.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2005 NFL Draft, The San Francisco 49ers Select… Ronnie Brown, RB, Auburn
This is easily the best prospect to go 1st overall since Couch in this timeline. While he never got the production to be an all American due to being in a split backfield, Brown had all the talent and polish to be one. He was deadly efficient with the carries he did have, and was also a threat receiving. If he played at any other team than Auburn or Texas, we are having to go way further down the board here. For this timeline, probably a generational talent.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2006 NFL Draft, The Houston Texans Select… Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt
The first QB taken first since Couch! And very worth it too, with the best arm talent we had seen since Leaf, and a gaping hole at QB on the Texans roster. He is also the first, arguably second, QB so far to be worth the pick. He’s a bit of a project at this point, not really showing much at Vanderbilt, but he did carry an awful roster to more wins than they are used to. That’s the skills that the Texans desperately need at this moment.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2007 NFL Draft, The Oakland Raiders Select… JaMarcuss Russell, QB, LSU
Pretty cut and dry too. All of the other top prospects are removed by this, leaWding to him being the easy #1 prospect. With arm talent for days and even being mobile for his size, and what he was able to do at the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame, there is no telling how far this young player can go!y
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2008 NFL Draft, The Miami Dolphins Select… Leodis McKelvin, CB, Troy
This is so far easily the weakest player as a prospect we’ve seen. The 2008 Draft, outside of the top 7 players, was seen as really weak, leaving us with basically 4 options at #1. It’s honestly pretty similar to our lifes 2006 draft, just with worse prospects overall: Louisville QB Brian Brohm, Delaware QB Joe Flacco, Illinois RB Rashard Mendenhall, and Troy CB Leodis McKelvin. In the end, I think the Dolphins choose none of the 2 QBs because they aren’t particularly fond of either of them, and between Mendenhall and McKelvin, they choose the defensive player to try to stop Brady. Surely, this will work for Miami.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2009 NFL Draft, The Detroit Lions Select… Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia
The Lions are lucky 2008 was probably the most stacked the QB position has ever been in college. It means that, despite a really respectable career at Georgia, he still fails to get into the heisman or all american conversation. Same pick as irl, NEXT
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2010 NFL Draft, The St. Louis Rams Select… Jason Pierre-Paul, EDGE, South Florida
The Rams and Dolphins fans are looking at the Lions in envy in this timeline. The 2010 draft was great at the top… but all of them got at least one official all american nod. The only player taken before Pierre-Paul who didn’t was Tyson Alualu, one of the biggest reaches in draft history. Still, Pierre-Paul is seen as one of the weakest 1st overall picks in this timeline, probably slightly ahead of McKelvin, but it’s pretty close. He will end up making a really great career for himself, though, so the Rams are actually happier than some other teams in the long run so far.
With the First Overall Pick Of The 2011 NFL Draft, The Carolina Panthers Select… Blaine Gabbert, QB, Missouri
With no QB on roster, (not even Clausen, as he doesn’t exist in this timeline), and every other player at the top of th…
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