Ranking the Teams on Day 3 of the NFL Draft the Last 10 Years

Day 3 of the NFL Draft is often treated like a lottery. You want to get players who will be useful pieces, even stars, but ultimately you’re happy if you get a couple guys who are relevant to the roster for a few years. That’s the narrative.

But how true is it?

On the heels of me ranking the various teams by their performance on Day 1 (1-16 and 17-32) and Day 2 of the NFL Draft in the last decade, today I’m ranking them by Day 3 results. Day 3 is of course four rounds (Rounds 4-7) and way more picks than the first couple of days. For example, from 2015 to 2024, the Vikings made 18 picks on Day 2 of the draft and 69 on Day 3. There are way more picks who never become anything at all (who here remembers 2015 Raiders seventh-round receiver Andre Debose?), but the flip side is that when you do have a hit, it can reshape a lot of things, because it’s like a bonus.

So which teams are the best at finding their diamonds in the rough? And which might as well have taken the day off after Rounds 1-3? Let’s look at it.

Ranking the Teams on Day 3 of the NFL Draft, 2015-2024

32. Pittsburgh Steelers

Total picks: 42
Games: 1,292
Pro Bowls: 0

The Steelers were above average on Day 1 and one of the best teams on Day 2, and it’s like they called it a weekend early after that, because they haven’t landed much of anything on Day 3 in the last 10 years. Their best Day 3 pick in that span is … TE Jesse James? RB/TE Jaylen Samuels? Pressley Harvin III, who is literally a punter? I can’t find much to be excited about from the Steelers’ Day 3 results.

31. Tennessee Titans

Total picks: 41
Games: 1,139
Pro Bowls: 0

Chig Okonkwo is probably better than anyone the Steelers have gotten on Day 3 the last 10 years, but when your crown jewel is a tight end averaging 2 touchdowns and under 500 yards a year, you aren’t saying a lot. Amani Hooker, who was a backup his first two seasons and has been a full-time starter the last four, is the other relative prize.

30. New York Jets

Total picks: 44
Games: 1,334
Pro Bowls: 0

There are two teams who haven’t drafted a single Pro Bowler on Day 2 in the last decade. There are 10 that haven’t done so on Day 3. There is only one who hasn’t gotten one on either day, and it’s the New York Jets. In fact, the last Day 2/3 Jets draft pick to make a Pro Bowl at all was 2013 pick Geno Smith, who didn’t make it until 2022 with Seattle, and the last one to make it as a Jet was 2006 pick Leon Washington. It’s been an awful run. Maybe getting two-thirds of their current backfield committee (Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis) last year will help that in the future, but if you’re staking your hopes on two backup running backs, it’s bleak.

29. Arizona Cardinals

Total picks: 46
Games: 1,171
Pro Bowls: 0

The Cardinals nabbed Rodney Gunter in the fourth round of 2015, and he was a primary starter for them for three of his five NFL seasons before a heart condition forced his retirement. They took Chase Edmonds in the fourth round of 2018, and he had back-to-back seasons of 850-plus scrimmage yards for the Cardinals in 2020-2021 before entering his journeyman era. The only player the Cardinals have gotten in the last four years who even has one year as his team’s primary starter is 2021 fourth-round CB Marco Wilson, who the team released before the 2023 season even ended. Not a lot of winners here!

28. Houston Texans

Total picks: 40
Games: 1,216
Pro Bowls: 0

There was a time in, say, November 2022 when it looked like the Texans had struck gold on Day 3 of the draft. At that time, fourth-round rookie Dameon Pierce was sitting as the PPR RB15 and staring down a 1,000-yard rookie season. But then he got hurt, and he’s totaled 709 rushing yards in 25 games the last two years, getting unseated by Devin Singletary and then Joe Mixon. But Pierce and 2016 fifth-rounder D.J. Reader are the only big prizes here.

27. Los Angeles Chargers

Total picks: 43
Games: 1,723
Pro Bowls: 0

The Chargers got Joshua Kelley in the fourth round of 2020, and he has the virtue of the best last name in football. But for actual football, he hasn’t done a whole bunch, and neither has any other Day 3 Charger. 2017 fifth-rounder Desmond King looked like a star for about a minute, a first-team All-Pro as a corner and second-team as a returner in 2018. But he almost instantly turned back into a pumpkin after that, and the only other exciting Day 3 pick for the Chargers in our sample is Rayshawn Jenkins, who went a round before King in 2017.

26. Washington Commanders

Total picks: 54
Games: 1,833
Pro Bowls: 0

The Commanders got a guy who finished as a fringe fantasy QB1 as a Day 3 pick. That’s good! Of course, it was Sam Howell, who also led the league in interceptions and immediately became a definite backup after showing he was decent for fantasy but not actually a good quarterback. The actual prize of the Commanders’ last decade is 2015 fourth-rounder Jamison Crowder, who has three seasons of 800 scrimmage yards and has scored 31 career touchdowns. Austin Reiter (seventh round, 2015), Samaje Perine (fourth round, 2017), Chase Roullier (sixth round, 2017) and Kam Curl (seventh round, 2020) are the only other names that really warrant mention.

25. Denver Broncos

Total picks: 48
Games: 1,648
Pro Bowls: 0

Trevor Siemian was the Broncos’ seventh-round pick in 2015 and went on to be their primary starter in 2016-2017, going 13-11. But is anyone saying Siemian was a particularly good NFL player? If you don’t count Siemian as a win, then we’re talking Connor McGovern and Josey Jewell, a punter in Riley Dixon, and then last year’s haul of Audric Estime and Devaughn Vele as the success stories. The Broncos appear to believe in at least Vele, so maybe he’ll prove to be the prize.

24. New Orleans Saints

Total picks: 31
Games: 912
Pro Bowls: 0

The Saints are famous for trading picks in win-now moves, which means they’ve had roughly as many Day 1 and Day 2 picks as other teams, but they’ve let their Day 3 picks go repeatedly. As a result, they’ve made only 31 Day 3 picks in the last 10 years, seven fewer than any other team, and those Day 3 selections have played only 912 games, 227 fewer than any other team’s haul. You can argue that Day 3 picks are so fungible that this is a good strategy, but it does mean fewer bites at the apple. They did land David Onyemata and C.J. Gardner-Johnson in their bites, but their quarterback attempts — Tommy Stevens, Ian Book, Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler — have been big whiffs.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars

Total picks: 51
Games: 1,313
Pro Bowls: 2

The Jaguars have gotten two Pro Bowls out of their Day 3 picks, better than many teams. But this is excellent evidence why all Pro Bowls aren’t made the same. Because the Jags’ entrants in that category are 2018 seventh-rounder Logan Cooke (a punter who didn’t make it until 2024) and 2019 sixth-rounder Gardner Minshew II (who somewhat inexplicably made it for the Colts in 2023). Beyond those two, the standout picks here are guys like Dede Westbrook (fourth round, 2017) — not exactly glowing results.

22. Cleveland Browns

Total picks: 53
Games: 1,569
Pro Bowls: 1

Joe Schobert didn’t have a long career as a fourth-round linebacker in 2016, but he had a nice four-year run in Cleveland (including a 2017 Pro Bowl) before bouncing around for a few years and ultimately leaving the league. That’s a nice pull on a fourth-round pick. After that, we’re talking about guys like Genard Avery, Mack Wilson Sr., Harrison Bryant and Jerome Ford — they’ve been starters, often for multiple seasons, but no one is writing stories about that. Also, the Browns have tried hard at kicker, drafting Zane Gonzalez (seventh round, 2017), Austin Seibert (fifth, 2019) and Cade York (fourth, 2024) in a six-year span and getting one full season each out of them before moving on.

21. Carolina Panthers

Total picks: 38
Games: 1,306
Pro Bowls: 0

The Panthers found Harrison Butker, who has been a quality kicker for the better part of a decade, in the seventh round of 2017. And for their faith in him, they got exactly zero games, because they put him on their practice squad in 2017 in favor of Graham Gano and saw the Chiefs sign him away. So how much credit to give them for that pick is fair to debate. Beyond that, they found Chuba Hubbard in the fourth round of 2021, and he’s saved their bacon as the “OK, I guess we’ll use him” guy replacing Christian McCaffrey, Miles Sanders and/or Jonathon Brooks for years now, finally getting a good-money extension last year.

20. New York Giants

Total picks: 40
Games: 1,294
Pro Bowls: 1

The Giants drafted Darius Slayton in the fifth round of 2019 and almost immediately, it seemed, wanted to get rid of him. He was a trade/cut candidate off and on for years. Now, it’s 2025, he’s got 700-plus yards four times (and another of 573), and the Giants just gave him a three-year, $36 million deal. He’s a definite hit in the fifth round even if they didn’t ever really love him. Last year’s fifth-rounder, Tyrone Tracy Jr., looks like a home run right now as well, though it’s worth noting there’s a long history of teams getting productive rookie years out of a Day 3 pick and then immediately looking for an upgrade anyway. Add in 2019 fourth-round S Julian Love, who made the Pro Bowl in 2023 as a Seahawk, and there are some quasi-hits in New York.

19. Cincinnati Bengals

Total picks: 56
Games: 1,896
Pro Bowls: 1

C.J. Uzomah was a nice fifth-round tight end. Not a difference maker, but he was a primary starter in four different seasons (three in Cincinnati) and scored 16 touchdowns, and that’s fine. They found Jake Elliott in the fifth round of 2017, but, like Harrison Butker, he never played for the team who drafted him, with the Bengals opting for Randy Bullock and the Eagles plucking him off the Cincinnati practice squad. (That’s the only Day 3 Pro Bowl the Bengals have drafted.) Carl Lawson, Cordell Volson and Andrei Iosivas have all been fine. But the biggest success might end up being 2023 fifth-rounder Chase Brown, a big-time breakout in 2024 with 1,350 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s set up to be the no-questions starter in 2025 (pending the draft) with big upside in what should be a good offense.

18. Indianapolis Colts

Total picks: 57
Games: 1,948
Pro Bowls: 1

There were 256 picks in the 2018 NFL Draft, and the Colts got Zaire Franklin 235^th. He wasn’t actually the latest Pro Bowler selected that year, thanks to the Jags getting P Logan Cooke at 247, but a second-team All Pro (2024) that late in the draft feels impossible and is a sure hit. They also had nice picks in Grover Stewart, Anthony Walker, Isaiah Rodgers and Will Fries, plus a pair of good-for-a-short-time fourth-round backs in Marlon Mack (2017) and Nyheim Hines (2018). Franklin’s the only real home run, but there are a bunch of solid hits there.

17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Total picks: 38
Games: 1,455
Pro Bowls: 2

The Buccaneers have bookended their last decade of Day 3 picks nicely, with home runs in Kwon Alexander (fourth round, 2015) and Bucky Irving (fourth round, 2024) on either end. In between, it’s been more questionable. Jordan Whitehead (fourth, 2018) was a seven-year starter, Matt Gay (fifth, 2019) was and is a quality kicker, Cade Otton (fourth, 2022) has become an above-average tight end. But the team has really struggled with “we like them, but…” receivers, drafting guys who have been in fantasy waiver wire columns a billion times but never actually been very productive like Justin Watson, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Jaelon Darden and Trey Palmer in the last 10 years. With that many bites at the apple, it’s surprising they’ve never found a winner.

16. Miami Dolphins

Total picks: 39
Games: 1,306
Pro Bowls: 3

Three Pro Bowls: Jay Ajayi (fifth round, 2015), who was excellent in 2016 and sup-replacement level otherwise; Jakeem Grant (sixth round, 2016), who made it as a returner in 2021; and Andrew Van Ginkel (fifth round, 2019), who finished seventh in DPOY voting last year, his first after leaving Miami. They also had a first-team All Pro in 2018 seventh-round kicker Jason Sanders. The Dolphins also found solid multi-year starters in Bobby McCain, Davon Godchaux and Durham Smythe, and there are somewhat high hopes for 2024 fourth-rounder Jaylen Wright.

15. Seattle Seahawks

Total picks: 54
Games: 1,937
Pro Bowls: 2

The Seahawks have been good at finding running backs in recent years, getting Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet on Day 2 and Alex Collins and Chris Carson on Day 3 (it was especially nice getting Carson all the way in the seventh round of 2017). Add in some moderate hits like Mark Glowinski (fourth round, 2015) and Quinton Jefferson (fifth, 2016), and bigger ones like Riq Woolen (fifth round, 2022, Pro Bowler as a rookie) and — yes, a punter, but a first-team All Pro — Michael Dickson (fifth round, 2018), and the Seahawks have had some nice moments, even if there aren’t many out-and-out home runs.

14. Las Vegas Raiders

Total picks: 47
Games: 1,356
Pro Bowls: 5

Maxx Crosby, y’all. Getting him in the fourth round in 2019 is an absolutely wild pull for one of the best defensive players in football, and the Raiders went on and got Foster Moreau and Hunter Renfrow on Day 3 in the same draft. They also got Jon Feliciano (fourth round, 2015) and Zamir White (fourth, 2022). So this isn’t a wealth of successes, but Crosby is enough to buoy the whole group.

13. Minnesota Vikings

Total picks: 69
Games: 2,539
Pro Bowls: 4

Stefon Diggs fell to the Vikings in the fifth round in 2015 and has gone on to make four Pro Bowls and one first-team All Pro and amass 70 touchdowns and over 10,000 yards in the league. Knocked that one out of the park. How much does one great pick count? Because outside of Diggs, the Vikings’ biggest hits have been Jayron Kearse (seventh round, 2016), Tyler Conklin (fifth, 2018), K.J. Osborn (fifth, 2020) and Cam Bynum (fourth, 2021), plus a kicker in Daniel Carlson (fifth, 2018), who played only two games with the Vikings before finding a long-term home with the Raiders. It’s a middling group overall, but with one absolute shining star in Diggs.

12. Philadelphia Eagles

Total picks: 44
Games: 1,712
Pro Bowls: 1

The Eagles got Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Jalen Mills on Day 3 in 2016, then Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat and (the prize of prizes) Jordan Mailata in 2018. It’s dropped off since then, with only Kenneth Gainwell (fifth round, 2021) much of a hit since then. So it hasn’t been a whole decade of success, but that 2016/2018 haul counts for a whole bunch.

11. Green Bay Packers

Total picks: 62
Games: 2,099
Pro Bowls: 1

As I mentioned in the Day 2 piece, the Packers have completely rebuilt their wealth of pass catchers the last few years. They got Christian Watson, Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed and Tucker Kraft on Day 2 in 2022 and 2023 and added Romeo Doubs (fourth round, 2022) and Dontayvion Wicks (fifth, 2023) on Day 3. We can’t call Doubs and Wicks home runs, but they’ve both had their moments, especially Doubs. The Packers clearly work in chunks, because they also got an entire backfield on Day 3 in 2017, getting Jamaal Williams in the fourth round and Aaron Jones Sr. in the fifth. No one else says “OK, fixing *this* position group now” like the Packers, and it’s fascinating. They’ve also had other moderate hits like Blake Martinez (fourth round, 2016), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (fifth, 2018), Jon Runyan Jr. (sixth, 2020) and Zach Tom (fourth, 2022).

10. Buffalo Bills

Total picks: 66
Games: 1,488
Pro Bowls: 4

The Bills have some nice hits, particularly early in the decade. They landed Matt Milano and Wyatt Teller in the fifth round in 2017-2018, and they have accounted for four Pro Bowls and a first-team All Pro. They also nailed their pick of Khalil Shakir in the fifth round of 2022, and 2024 fourth-rounder Ray Davis at least looked good in limited use as a rookie. Meanwhile, your mileage may vary on how successful the Damar Hamlin pick in the sixth round of 2021 was, but it was at least very notable. Some nice hits, and nicely spread out.

9. Atlanta Falcons

Total picks: 39
Games: 1,702
Pro Bowls: 2

It’s true that the Falcons only have found two Pro Bowls on Day 3 in the last decade, and both came from 2025 fifth-rounder Grady Jarrett. That’s fewer than a lot of the teams below them. But they’ve had plenty of hits, even if that hasn’t led to the Pro Bowl. De’Vondre Campbell Sr. has started for nine years and made a first-team All Pro. Damontae Kazee started for four years, Foyesade Oluokun five. Russell Gage Jr. had a few moments as a very relevant receiver, Drew Dalman was the prize center in this year’s free agency class, and Tyler Allgeier had a 1,000-yard season as a rookie and topped 600 even as the RB2 the next two years. Only two Pro Bowls, but plenty of successes nonetheless.

8. Chicago Bears

Total picks: 46
Games: 1,785
Pro Bowls: 4

The Bears love drafting running backs on Day 3, to a variety of returns. They took Jeremy Langford in the fourth round of 2015, Jordan Howard in the fifth round of 2016, Tarik Cohen in the fourth round of 2017, Kerrith Whyte Jr. in the seventh round of 2019, Khalil Herbert in the sixth round of 2021, Trestan Ebner in the sixth round of 2022 and Roschon Johnson in the fourth round of 2023. Ebner and Whyte were unquestioned failed picks, but each of the others at least had a moment or two, with Howard and Cohen each making a Pro Bowl (Cohen as a returner). On top of all the backfield attempts, the Bears grabbed Adrian Amos (fifth round, 2015), Eddie Jackson (fourth, 2017), Bilal Nichols (fifth, 2018), Darnell Mooney (fifth, 2020) and Braxton Jones (fifth, 2022) on Day 3, a very solid haul overall.

7. New England Patriots

Total picks: 57
Games: 2,226
Pro Bowls: 1

For all their Days 1 and 2 draft struggles in the last 10 years, the Patriots have actually come out OK on Day 3, even if they only got one Pro Bowl. But starting with Trey Flowers and Shaq Mason in the fourth round of 2015, and then Elandon Roberts and Ted Karras in the sixth round of 2016, is a very solid foursome of Day 3 picks. They followed it up with Deatrich Wise Jr. (fourth round, 2017), Ja’Whaun Bentley (fifth, 2018), Jake Bailey (fifth, 2019), Mike Onwenu (sixth, 2020) and Rhamondre Stevenson (fourth, 2021), meaning they at least landed one solid piece in each year, way better than a lot of teams can say. It has fallen off a bit the last couple years, though they spent a sixth-round pick on Joe Milton III last year and turned one game of him into a fifth-round pick this year, so that’s nice.

6. Baltimore Ravens

Total picks: 55
Games: 2,259
Pro Bowls: 8

The Ravens only got 18 games, 12 receptions and 103 yards out of their 2015 sixth-rounder, but I’ll still give them a fair amount of credit for finding Darren Waller in the draft there. They also got Za’Darius Smith in the fourth round of that year, so that was a very nice pair (plus Nick Boyle in the fifth, who was never great but was a four-year starter). The next year, they got Matthew Judon in the fifth. Chuck Clark (sixth round, 2017), DeShon Elliott (sixth, 2018), Justice Hill (fourth, 2019) and Isaiah Likely (fourth, 2022) were all hits to some extent, especially if the Ravens end up moving on from Mark Andrews this offseason and committing to Likely as their comfortable TE1.

5. Los Angeles Rams

Total picks: 65
Games: 2,317
Pro Bowls: 3

If I had done this ranking three years ago, the Rams might have been near the bottom. The winners to that point were Tyler Higbee (fourth round, 2016), Samson Ebukam (fourth, 2017) and Jordan Fuller (sixth, 2020). But the Rams started to figure things out in 2022. They got Cobie Durant and Kyren Williams in the fourth and fifth round that year, then followed that out with the home run or home runs in Puka Nacua in 2023. Williams and Nacua are Nos. 8 and 11, respectively, in PPR points per game over the last two years, and seven of the top 11 were first-round picks (the exceptions: Williams, Nacua, third-rounder Alvin Kamara and one star we’ll get to in about a paragraph).

4. Detroit Lions

Total picks: 44
Games: 1,782
Pro Bowls: 10

Two teams have gotten 10 Pro Bowl nods out of their Day 3 picks in the last decade. The Lions are the first, and they have spread them around nicely — Quandre Diggs (sixth round, 2015) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (fourth, 2021) have made three, Miles Killebrew (fourth, 2016) has made two and Jalen Reeves-Maybin (fourth, 2017) and Jamal Agnew (fifth, 2017) have each made one. That’s not one home run pick; that’s repeated success. But then St. Brown also qualifies as a single home run pick. He didn’t get going right away as a rookie, but over the last three years, St. Brown’s 914.7 PPR points is third among receivers, behind only CeeDee Lamb and Tyreek Hill. Beyond their Pro Bowlers, the Lions also found Da’Shawn Hand (fourth round, 2018), Amani Oruwariye (fifth, 2019) and Ty Johnson (sixth, 2019) on Day 3.

3. Kansas City Chiefs

Total picks: 52
Games: 1,711
Pro Bowls: 10

The Chiefs are the other team with double-digit Pro Bowlers. Unlike the Lions, they’re more concentrated, with Tyreek Hill (fifth round, 2016) making it eight times and making five first-team All Pros to boot. They also got Pro Bowlers in 2015 fifth-rounder D.J. Alexander and 2021 sixth-rounder Trey Smith. Other successes for Kansas City include Demarcus Robinson (fourth round, 2016), Nick Allegretti (seventh, 2019), L’Jarius Sneed (fourth, 2020) and Isiah Pacheco (seventh 2022), with Sneed and Pacheco particularly successful in that run.

2. Dallas Cowboys

Total picks: 54
Games: 1,985
Pro Bowls: 8

Teams obviously should get big extra credit for finding a starting quarterback as late as Day 3 of the draft, and there are two currently starting Day 3 quarterbacks that they drafted. The Cowboys grabbed Dak Prescott in the fourth round of 2016, and he’s been at least an above-average quarterback, often above that, ever since. That’s a big home run, even if they reportedly actually wanted Paxton Lynch that year. Prescott isn’t the lone success story for the Cowboys in the last decade, either — they also got Anthony Brown (sixth round, 2016), Xavier Woods (sixth, 2017), Noah Brown (seventh, 2017), Dalton Schultz (fourth, 2018), Tony Pollard (fourth, 2019), Tyler Biadasz (fourth, 2020), Jake Ferguson (fourth, 2022) and DaRon Bland, fifth, 2022). They are really good at drafting on Day 3. Now imagine if they would ever spend in free agency.

1. San Francisco 49ers

Total picks: 55
Games: 2,314
Pro Bowls: 9

The other team to find its starting quarterback on Day 3 is probably the most famous to do so since the Patriots and Tom Brady, with the 49ers getting Brock Purdy as Mr. Irrelevant in 2022. You can’t really do better than that. They might not ever have used Purdy if Trey Lance had worked out, but hey, whatever works. And like the Cowboys, the 49ers found a bunch of success otherwise. They got Trent Brown (seventh round, 2015), D.J. Jones (sixth, 2017), D.J. Reed (fifth, 2018), Dre Greenlaw (fourth, 2019), Jauan Jennings (seventh, 2020) and Deommodore Lenoir (fifth, 2021). And that’s without me even mentioning one of the biggest non-quarterback prizes anywhere on this list, because the 49ers also got George Kittle in the fifth round of 2017. So they got a quarterback who might sign the biggest contract ever and one of the best tight ends of all time on Day 3 in the last 10 years. That ain’t bad.