Last Year Each NFL Team Drafted White Defensive Prospect Round One

[Truthteller]

Philadelphia Eagles: Boston College DE Mike Mamula, (#7) 1995 ... Oklahoma LB Steve Zabel, (#6) 1970 .... Only 2 White Defensive 1st rd picks in 57 drafts since AFL/NFL merged in 1970

New York Giants: Colorado DT Troy Archer, (#13) 1976 ... Drafted age 21 ... Rising star; Killed (truck accident) 1979 ... 22 consecutive (1st round) black defensive players since 1977. In the midst of a long drought -- 51 draft classes

Dallas Cowboys: Boise State LB Leighton Vander Esch (19th) 2018 ... Rookie season: 140 Tackles, 2 INTs, 7 PD (Pro Bowl, All-Pro)

Washington Redskins: Purdue DE Ryan Kerrigan, (16th) 2011 ... Only White Defensive athlete drafted Rd.1 by Redskins since the 1960's! -- Illinois DL Joe Rutgens, (#3) 1961 .... Kerrigan (age 38) and Rutgens (age 87) are only 2 "listed" Defensive Whites Redskins have drafted round 1 since 1936?


Minnesota Vikings: Notre Dame FS Harrison Smith, (29th) 2012

Chicago Bears: Oregon DB Dillon Thieneman, (#25) 2026 ... Broke 15 Draft Class Drought; previous White "D" Bears selected round one was Boise State LB Shea McClellin (#19) 2012

Green Bay Packers: Iowa DE Lukas Van Ness, (#13) 2023 ... Also, broke drought of 15 draft classes; Southern California LB William "Clay" Matthews III, (#26) 2009

Detroit Lions: Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson, (#2) 2022 ... followed by Iowa LB Jack Campbell, (#18) 2023 ... Aidan broke 48 year drought: Penn State LB Ed O'Neill, (#8) 1974


Carolina Panthers: Boston College LB Luke Kuechly, (#9) 2012

Atlanta Falcons: Virginia DE Patrick Kerney, (#30) 1999 ... Preceded by Georgia Tech LB Keith Brooking, (#12) 1998

New Orleans: Clemson DT Bryan Bresee, (#29) 2023 ... Bresee broke 36 year drought: Brigham Young DE Shawn Knight, (#11) 1987

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Franchise debuted in 1976; have never used a 1st round pick on a White defender


Seattle Seahawks: Notre Dame DT Steve Niehaus, (#2) 1976 ... NFC Defensive ROY (1976); Hall of Fame talent (Likely College and Possibly Pro Football), but totally devastated by injuries .... Seattle debuted in 1976; Seahawks in midst of drought of 51 draft classes*****

St. Louis Cardinals: Washington State DB Ken Greene, (#19) 1978 .. Cards have never drafted a White defender in round 1, since move to Phoenix (1987) ... In the midst of a long drought -- 49 draft classes

Rams Franchise: Nebraska DT Adam Carriker, (#13) 2007... Followed next draft by Virginia DE Chris Long, (#2)

San Francisco 49ers: Ohio State DE Nick Bosa, (#2) 2019 ... Bosa broke 30 year drought: Tennessee LB Keith DeLong, (#30) 1989



Buffalo Bills: Penn State LB Shane Conlan, (#8) 1987

New York Jets: Virginia DE Jeff Lageman, (#14) 1989

Miami Dolphins: Ohio State LB Eric Kumerow (#16) 1988 .. Son Jake Kumerow; Nephew's Joey Bosa and Nick Bosa

New England Patriots: Ohio State LB Andy Katzenmoyer, (#28) 1999 .. Excellent rookie year; forced to retire after severe, early 2000 neck injury ... Only three White "D"s #1's since 1971: South Carolina DB Rick Sanford, (#19) 1979 .... Ohio State DB Tim Fox, (#21) 1976


Cincinnati Bengals: Georgia LB David Pollack (#17) 2005 Forced to retire early due to severe neck injury

Baltimore Ravens: Since arriving in Baltimore (spring of 1996), have never used a 1st round pick on a White defender ... Cleveland 1.0's records were cleansed (saved for Cleveland 2.0) when they arrived in Baltimore, so I only went back to 1996.

Cleveland Franchise 2.0: Michigan DT Mason Graham (#5) 2025

Pittsburgh Steelers: Wisconsin LB Trent Jordan Watt, (#30) 2017 ... Pittburgh's Only White "D" selected round 1 since 1970 (1 of 22 1st rd. "D's" over 57 drafts)


Houston Texans: Wisconsin DE Justin James Watt, (#11) 2011

Jacksonville Jaguars: Florida DT Taven Bryan,(#29) 2018 ... Only White, of 18 Jags defensive #1 picks since 1995 Expansion year.

Tennesee Titans: Since arriving in Memphis (1997), have never used a 1st round pick on White defender .. Last Houston Oilers White #1 was Texas A&M DT Ray Childress, (#3) 1985 ... Childress was 6-time Pro Bowler

Indianapolis Colts: Florida State DE Bjoern Werner (#24) 2013 ... Preceded by Brigham Young LB Rob Morris, (#28) 2000


Denver Broncos: Syracuse DT Ted Gregory, (#26) 1988 ... Injured since college, deemed greatest Broncos draft bust; reason (injury/size issues) the NFL started the Indy Combine? ... Preceded by Ohio State LB Randy Gradishar, (#14) 1974 (Hall of Fame) ... Gregory and Gradishar only 2 White "D"s drafted and signed since Broncos debuted (AFL) in 1960. 22 Black "D"s drafted and signed round 1 in that span.

Oakland Raiders: Colorado DE Tyler Brayton, (#32) 2003

San Diego Chargers: Ohio State DE Joseph Bosa, (#3) 2016

Kansas City Chiefs: Purdue DE George Karlaftis, (#30) 2022 ... Broke 38 year drought: Pittsburgh NT Bill Maas, (#5) 1984 ... Colorado State DE Mike Bell (#2) 1979



***** Seattle Seahawks actually used a 1987 Supplemental Draft first round pick on Oklahoma LB Brian Bosworth, so "Boz" could be counted as a 1988 first round pick.

 

[jphoss]

Great post! Shows the ingrained bigotry our guys are up against

 

[Don Wassall]

A lot of good research for sure.

 

[Freethinker]

Crazy the length of drought for these anti-White franchises. Many like my former DWF team, the Giants, haven’t even selected a White athlete in my lifetime. And with the bust rate of black defensive picks, it’s nearly impossible to defend the wildly disproportionate black favoritism.

 

[SneakyQuick]

Also it’s interesting to note how few of those picks (the white ones ) were anything less than stars.

It’s been said many times here the whites chosen are nearly always elite.

 

[Truthteller]

Thanks jphoss, Don, Freethinker and SneakyQuick. SQ, I'll try to respond to your post in the near future, as I left off some Hall of Fame caliber Whites that were drafted round one in this century alone. Yes, the occasional "White bust" (i.e. Jason Peter) in round one is significantly outnumbered by White's that turn out to be stars or longtime, productive starters.

It took me a while to compile this list, as I had to do quite a bit of double and triple checking for facts. Still, hope I was close to being 100% accurate?

Reason I did this list, as jphoss and Freethinker sagely put it, is to show the crazy length's of these draft droughts and ingrained bigotry towards Whites at certain positions -- including all 11 defensive spots. In no way, shape or form should NFL teams be proud of the this track record, as they always seem to be apologizing for not being "black enough"

Learned a lot doing this and I'll try to post it over several days (several different posts). But I'll post some quick observations for now.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Bucs debuted, as noted above, in 1976. They have never drafted a White defender in round 1. And have only drafted 2 White "D"s round 2 in that span of 51 drafts! Both during the Gruden era: LB Barrett Ruud and DB Sabatino Piscitelli. Ruud, by far, is the highest drafted White "D" in Bucs history -- 36th overall in 2005. Sabby was the final pick in round 2 (64th) 2007.

While the Bucs have never picked a White defender in round 1, they have selected 3 black quarterbacks in round one***

Doug Williams (1978), who was the first black quarterback selected round 1 in NFL history. As well as Josh Freeman (2009) and Jameis Winston (#1 overall 2015). I still have to research this, but (off the top of my head) I believe the Bucs, Washington and Houston/Tennessee are the only teams to have drafted 3 black QB's in round 1. Expect more teams to join that list in the near future -- Atlanta will be next?

***Back in 1983, the Bucs traded their #1 pick in 1984 draft for Bengals bust Jack Thompson, who was drafted third overall in 1979 out of Washington State. Ultimately, Jack "The Throwin Samoan" played so well for the Bucs in '83 (2-14), that he cost them the #1 overall pick in 1984. Bucs were probably the first NFL team to go "all in" in non-White quarterbacks, soon to be followed by Philly, Houston Oilers and Vikings.

________________________________

AFC East: Andy Katzenmoyer was the last White defender drafted round 1 by an AFC East team. Think about it, no team in the division has drafted one in this century! That's 4 teams, a span of 27 draft classes! 108 drafts classes by all 4 teams and ZERO White "D"s!

Also, the Jets, Dolphins and Bills*** had heavily drafted White defensive stars from the 1970 merger to the latter part of the 1980's. But what changed, leading to this almost 40 year drought by all 3 teams?

*** Bills actually used two #1 overall picks on White "D's in the 1970's: DE Walt Patulski (1972) and LB Tom Cousineau (1979). Speaking of Barrett Ruud, I think it's safe to assume he's the son of a White man? So I won't bother doing a photo/google check for Tom Ruud, selected 19th overall by Bills in 1975.

_________________________________

I never saw Steve Niehaus play and knew nothing about him, other than (assuming) as the #2 overall he must've been good. When I went to google him I noticed he could've been a once in generation type talent. We might be talking an all-time legend (Bob Lilly, J.J. Watt), had it not been for injuries? Quite a shame it didn't pan out for him. Started for Notre Dame at age 17, when very few freshman played anywhere. Might have appeared on the cover of SI at 17, but cover was changed after he suffered season ending injury.

There was never a more dominant tackle at Notre Dame than Steve Niehaus (1972-75), the No. 2 pick in the 1976 NFL Draft. He was a starter in the first game of his freshman year as a 17-year-old (recording more than a dozen tackles and a blocked kick in that debut), yet was quick enough to star at end, out of need, as a junior in 1974. However, knee injuries limited Niehaus to only the first four games in both 1972 and 1973.

The First Man-Child

Of the 32 freshmen signed in the 1972 recruiting class, only one earned a monogram that year: 6-4, 265-pound defensive tackle Steve Niehaus from Gerry Faust’s powerhouse Cincinnati Moeller program.

Two days before his 18th birthday, Niehaus recorded a game-high 13 stops in a 37-0 shutout at Northwestern. He had a team-high 47 tackles during a 4-0 start in which the Irish yielded only 30 points.***

Sports Illustrated came to the Notre Dame campus after that 4-0 start to do a photo shoot and feature on Niehaus and potentially put him on its cover for a story it was doing on the new freshman eligibility rule.

Shortly after their meeting, Niehaus injured his knee during practice and was ruled out for the year, keeping the “SI jinx” alive and well.

That week, the Irish also were upset at home by Missouri, 30-26.

Placed on the SI cover instead of Niehaus were North Carolina State freshman twins Dave and Dan Buckey, passing combination for the Wolfpack.

***The "top" DT (Peter Woods) in the most recent NFL Draft had a total 99 tackles and 5 sacks his entire college career (35 games). Niehaus had 47 tackles in his first 4 games, at the age of 17!!!!!

What Happened To Steve Niehaus? (Complete Story)

Steve Niehaus was the first ever NFL draft selection in Seahawks history. What ever happened to him?

www.profootballhistory.com

 

[Bucky]

Awesome thread!