Auburn’s NFL Draft: The significance of the most recent second-round pick
In the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Derick Hall was selected by the Seattle Seahawks. As a rookie, Auburn’s outside linebacker had a larger role on special teams than on defense. However, Hall entered the starting lineup for the Seahawks in his second season and had eight sacks.
The most recent Auburn player selected in the NFL Draft’s second round is Hall.
Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis, Tennessee Titans cornerback Rogers McCreary, and Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Braden Smith were the other three Auburn graduates that joined the NFL in the second round and participated in the 2024 season.
Since the first NFL Draft in 1936, teams have chosen 38 players from Auburn with the 33rd through 64th selections – the picks that will form this year’s second round when the league holds the draft from April 24-26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Auburn players who have been picked with the 33rd through 64th selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 33 picks: Bobby Hoppe, back, San Francisco 49ers, 1958; Karlos Dansby, linebacker, Arizona Cardinals, 2004.
A halfback and defensive back for Auburn’s 1957 AP national-championship team, Hoppe never played in an NFL regular-season game. Traded after one season in San Francisco to the Washington Redskins, an injury ended his football career. Thirty years later, Hoppe was charged with murder in a shooting that occurred the night before he reported to Auburn for the 1957 season. His trial ended in a hung jury.
Dansby was the eighth player to reach 20 interceptions and 40 sacks in NFL history. The former Woodlawn High School standout finished his career in 2017 with 1,422 tackles, nine short of Takeo Spikes’ NFL record for Auburn alumni.
No. 34 pick: George Rose, cornerback, Minnesota Vikings, 1964.
Twelve games into his NFL career, Rose had six interceptions, returning No. 6 for a touchdown. In the remaining 35 games in his career, he intercepted three passes. Rose played his final season with New Orleans in 1967 after the Saints selected him from Minnesota in the expansion draft.
No. 35 pick: Roger McCreary, cornerback, Tennessee Titans, 2022.
The former Williamson High School standout was on the field for all but three of Tennessee’s defensive snaps as a rookie. He settled in as the Titans’ slot corner during his third season.
No. 36 pick: Gerald Williams, nose tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1986.
Williams earned 25.5 sacks while participating in 161 regular-season games over 12 seasons. In addition, he participated in six postseason games and had three sacks in one game. On January 8, 1994, Williams sacked Joe Montana three times in Pittsburgh’s 27–24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
No. 37 pick: Bobby Freeman, defensive back, Cleveland Browns, 1955; Braden Smith, guard, Baltimore Colts, 2018; Derick Hall, outside linebacker, Seattle Seahawks, 2023.
In 1955, Freeman signed a contract to play quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Western Interprovincial Football Union in Canada. He signed another contract with Cleveland after being picked in the NFL Draft. The resulting legal battle kept him off the field until 1957. Freeman played as a defensive back for four teams in six NFL seasons, including Philadelphia in 1960, when the Eagles won the league championship.
An All-American guard for Auburn, Smith took over at right offensive tackle for Indianapolis in the fifth game of his rookie season and has been there since.
Hall recorded eight sacks in his second season, when he became a starter at outside linebacker for Seattle.
No. 40 picks: Fred Hyatt, wide receiver, St. Louis Cardinals, 1968; Pat Sullivan, quarterback, Atlanta Falcons, 1972; Walter Reeves, tight end, Phoenix Cardinals, 1989.
Hyatt, Sullivan and Reeves were all Alabama prep standouts – Hyatt at Sylacauga, Sullivan at John Carroll Catholic in Birmingham and Reeves at Eufaula.
Hyatt played in 45 games in six seasons and caught six passes for 90 yards during his career. He also had one kickoff return in the NFL, which he ran back for 41 yards.
Auburn’s other two Heisman Trophy winners — Bo Jackson and Cam Newton– were No. 1 picks. Sullivan went to the Falcons in the second round. He threw 220 passes in 30 games, with four starts, in four seasons with Atlanta before heading into coaching.
Reeves was the first tight end selected in the 1989 draft. He played in 98 games, with 73 starts, over eight seasons and caught 55 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns.
No. 43 pick: Eddie Blake, defensive tackle, Miami Dolphins, 1992; Kerryon Johnson, running back, Detroit Lions, 2018.
Mainly a guard at Auburn, Blake was drafted as a defensive lineman. But he dropped a weight on his foot, then tore an MCL while recovering to miss his entire rookie season. Back at guard, another knee injury set him back in 1993, and he never played in the NFL, although he did play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1996.
Johnson became Detroit’s No. 1 ball-carrier after running for 101 yards in the third game of his rookie season. But both the former Madison Academy standout’s first two NFL campaigns were interrupted by knee injuries, causing him to miss 14 games, and he never regained his depth-chart status. He finished his career with 1,225 yards and eight touchdowns on 283 carries and 61 receptions for 527 yards and three touchdowns in 35 games.
No. 46 picks: Jim Reynolds, fullback, New York Giants, 1943; Tim Carter, wide receiver, New York Giants, 2002.
Reynolds’ pro career consisted of seven games with the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Football Conference in 1946 after returning from World War II.
Carter caught 81 passes for 1,090 yards and four touchdowns in 71 games for three teams over seven seasons.
No. 47 picks: Joe Eddins, guard, Detroit Lions, 1946; Jimmy Sidle, running back, Dallas Cowboys, 1965; Frank Sanders, wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals, 1995; Marlon Davidson, defensive tackle, Atlanta Falcons, 2020.
A 1938 All-State selection for West End in Birmingham, Eddins’ college career was interrupted by World War II. Eddins did not play in the NFL.
Sidle was a 1,000-yard rusher at quarterback for Auburn, but a shoulder injury moved him to halfback as a senior, and Dallas put him at fullback. A re-occurrence of the shoulder injury kept him off the field as a rookie for the Cowboys, and Sidle’s NFL career consisted of six games in the first season of the Atlanta Falcons, when he caught a 16-yard pass, had a 12-yard run and returned six kickoffs for 117 yards.
In his nine-year NFL career — with all but one season with Arizona — Sanders caught more passes (507) for more yards (6,749) than any other Auburn alumnus. His 1,145 receiving yards in 1998 are the most in one NFL season for a former Auburn player.
