Michael T. Mondak speaks: 40 til 40 day 27

Welcome to day 27 of the 40 til 40 series of blog entries about anything and everything relevant to the number 40 leading to my 40th birthday on July 10.  The last entry talked about my 40 favorite movies of all time.  This one focuses on the 40 greatest NFL draft steals of all time.  I have also included those who went undrafted.

40.  Grady Jarrett

39.  T.Y. Hilton

38.  Clyde Simmons

37.  Richard Dent

36.  Joe Schmidt

35.  Jahri Evans

34.  Rod Smith

33.  Kurt Warner

32.  Roosevelt Brown:  The greatest “sleeper” draft pick of all time, Roosevelt Brown had to wait until the 27th round in 1953 for the New York Giants to take him.

31.  Priest Holmes

30.  Steve Smith

29.  Rod Martin

28.  Aeneas Williams

27.  Zach Thomas

26.  Wes Welker

25.  London Fletcher

24.  L.C. Greenwood

23.  Matt Birk

22.  Andy Russell 

21.  Will Shields

20.  Andre Reed

19.  Kevin Greene

18.  Jared Allen

17.  James Harrison:  Who could ever forget the Immaculate Interception in Super Bowl XLIII that James Harrison, an undrafted free agent signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Kent State in 2002?

16.  Antonio Gates

15.  Rob Gronkowski

14.  Russell Wilson

13.  Terrell Davis

12.  Norm Van Brocklin

11.  Raymond Berry 

10.  Richard Sherman

9.  Tony Romo

8.  Antonio Brown

7.  Shannon Sharpe

6.  Deacon Jones 

5.  Roger Staubach:  This 10th round sleeper pick out of the Naval Academy wound up becoming Troy Aikman before Troy Aikman.

4.  Johnny Unitas

3.  Bart Starr

2.  Joe Montana

1.  Tom Brady:  This was a sixth round steal by the New England Patriots.

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