In celebration of the 75th NFL Draft, which kicked off in primetime for the first time on Thursday, April 22, fans chose the 75 most valuable draft picks of all time presented by Verizon. Nearly 45 million votes were cast from March 12 through April 18 on NFL.com.
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The NFL announced Friday the order of the top 10 most valuable draft picks of all time with some of the top 10 in attendance at Radio City Music Hall, the home of the 2010 NFL Draft. Joe Montana, the 82nd pick of the 1979 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, was voted the most valuable draft pick of all time. Jerry Rice, the 16th pick of the 1985 NFL Draft out of Mississippi Valley State, is second, and Walter Payton, the fourth pick of the 1975 NFL Draft from Jackson State, is third on the list.
NFL Draft MVPs Nos. 11-75 were announced on NFL.com and NFL Network earlier this week.
NFL.com editors narrowed down the first 74 Drafts to a list of the top 320 players, consisting of 10 players from each team. Fans began the process of determining the most valuable draft pick by choosing between pairs of players randomly generated from the list of 320 greats.