During NFL draft season, you might hear the term “generational” thrown around. Generational should really mean in the past 20-30 years, so there probably isn’t a generational prospect every year. With that in mind, I wanted to dive into the legit top generational prospects at each position since around 2000. This was not done with hindsight of how their NFL careers turned out, but each player—with Kyle Pitts still to be determined but looking promising—interestingly happened to come through despite the massive hype that was on their shoulders entering the league.
QB: Andrew Luck, Stanford (2012)
This was perhaps the toughest one to pick, as Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence (who went 38-2 with a national championship in his college career) was right there as a phenom that was the expected No. 1 pick coming out of high school, but the Andrew Luck hype back in 2012 was on another level. Coming out of Stanford, Luck was seen as the total package, with just about everything you want from a quarterback: intelligence, leadership, tremendous arm strength and accuracy, technical soundness, size, speed, strength, overall athleticism, superb production, experience in a pro-style offense, and pedigree and background as the son of former NFL quarterback and sports executive Oliver Luck. The former Colts gunslinger matched expectations entering the league before he ultimately decided to retire at 29 years old in August 2019—one of the most stunning developments in NFL history for one of the greatest prospects ever in any sport.
RB: Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma (2007)
Former No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley deserves mention here as an all-around running back with great receiving skills, but Adrian Peterson simply looked like he was a different type of dude at Oklahoma. Peterson broke his collarbone in his final college season, but he was a force the instant he stepped on campus in Norman—he racked up 1,925 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns as a true freshman in 2004 and continued to dominate when he was on the field his final two years. Overall, the combination of speed, power, and violence made “All Day” a sensational workhorse runner with special big-play ability. It was surprising that AD only went seventh overall in 2007, but he was a pick that paid off for the Vikings, including with one of eight 2,000-yard rushing seasons in NFL history (his 2012 MVP campaign).
WR: Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech (2007)
Nicknamed “Megatron”, Calvin Johnson was truly a prospect and player that looked and moved like he was made in a lab. Standing at six-foot-five and 239 pounds, Johnson still ran a blazing 4.35 40-yard dash with a 42.5-inch vertical, and an 11’7” broad jump—and he put those abilities to use on the field while at Georgia Tech, including a 76/1,202/15 junior season before declaring for the draft. Megatron was simply built different, but he was also a very smart player that knew how to get open and make plays as he displayed throughout his NFL career en route to setting the NFL single-season record for receiving yards (1,964 in 2012) and becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
TE: Kyle Pitts, Florida (2021)
Legendary head coach Bill Belichick hit the nail on the head in describing Kyle Pitts during his rookie season in 2021:
“This guy, I thought last year in the draft, just watching him, he’s phenomenal. He’s big. He’s fast. He’s got great hands and adjusts to the ball. Makes tough catches. Savvy route-runner, can get open. Very hard to match up against. I was reading through some of the Atlanta comments and you hear them comparing him to a cross between Tony Gonzalez and Julio Jones, and I’d say that’s about right. That’s what it looks like…
“He can play every position. He plays end of the line of scrimmage, he can play in the slot, he can play outside. He’s got a great skillset. He’s competitive, He’ll block. He’s good after the catch. He’s a matchup nightmare.”
Again, Pitts was just in his rookie year at that time, so that basically read like a scouting report. While the Florida product dealt with injuries and inconsistent production/usage when he was on the field last season, he joined Mike Ditka as the only other tight end in league history to reach 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2021.
OL: Joe Thomas, Wisconsin (2007)
Joe Thomas was an All-American and won the Outland Trophy in his final college season in 2006, so the production was there at a very high level when he left Wisconsin. He stayed all four years in school and was a three-year starter at left tackle, and he even came back from a torn ACL—suffered while volunteering to contribute on defense—in the final game of his junior season to still enjoy a senior year that saw his draft stock rise. Thomas had desired size at over six-foot-six, and while the athletic testing wasn’t at an A+ level, he was a very balanced left tackle that did everything elite. The Browns great also became a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and it’s crazy that all of Thomas, Peterson, and Megatron were in the same 2007 draft class.
EDGE: Julius Peppers, North Carolina (2002)
Julius Peppers was such a tremendous athlete at North Carolina that he also played a couple of seasons of basketball for the Tar Heels—but he was obviously at his best dominating off the edge on the gridiron. The athletic ability—Peppers moved unlike almost anyone at his size, and his size was giant-like at over six-foot-six and 280+ pounds with 34-inch arms—was the key reason for the UNC star being a generational type of prospect. But the ability was matched by excellent production with the Tar Heels. Peppers was a unanimous All-American in 2001, and he recorded 30.5 sacks along with 53 tackles for loss, five interceptions, 13 pass deflections, and 167 total tackles in his career. Peppers came through as the No. 2 overall pick for the Panthers in 2002, and he was named a member of both the 2000s and 2010s NFL All-Decade teams.
DL: Nndamukong Suh, Nebraska (2010)
The debate between Nebraska’s Nndamukong Suh and Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy was an intriguing one back in 2010, but Suh ultimately got the nod with the Lions at No. 2 overall (after the Rams took quarterback Sam Bradford with the first pick) and can arguably be regarded as the top defensive lineman prospect from the past 20+ years. The AP College Football Player of the Year has been awarded since 1998, and Suh is the only defensive player to win it in 25 seasons—that tells you how dominant he was in the trenches. Suh recorded 20.5 tackles for loss and 12.0 sacks in his final college season alone, he tested very well athletically, and he could fit in any defensive scheme.
LB: Luke Kuechly, Boston College (2012)
Patrick Willis was a fantastic prospect out of Ole Miss a handful of years earlier, and Roquan Smith and Devin White were two later outstanding off-ball linebacker prospects, but a super slight edge goes to Luke Kuechly (drafted ninth overall by the Panthers in 2012) as the top generational linebacker to enter the NFL in recent years. Former NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock put Kuechly’s outlook well:
“I call him Clark Kent, and he can turn into Superman on Saturdays and Sundays. He’s one of the cleanest players in this draft. His instincts and his pass-coverage ability might be the best of any linebacker I’ve seen come out of the draft.”
Kuechly was a true three-down linebacker that continued to shine in coverage at the next level, and his Combine testing (4.58 40, 38-inch vertical, 10’3” broad, 27 bench reps) helped make him a can’t-miss defender.
CB: Patrick Peterson, LSU (2011)
The 2011 NFL Draft was epic, and Patrick Peterson had a case as the top overall prospect from that draft class, ultimately going fifth overall to the Cardinals. From the moment Peterson stepped on campus at LSU as a highly touted high school player, huge things were expected. P2 came through as an extremely productive three-year starter for the Tigers, contributing as a dangerous kick and punt returner to complement his defensive prowess. Like most generational prospects, the athletic testing matched the on-field resume, as Peterson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds and jumped 38 inches in the vertical.
S: Sean Taylor, Miami (2004)
Another two-sport star on the defensive side of the ball, Sean Taylor also competed in track and field at Miami. But of course, the mastery took place on the football field. The playmaking safety was a contributor in all three of his seasons with the Hurricanes, starring as a sophomore (85 tackles, four tackles for loss, 15 passes defended, four interceptions, one forced fumble) and junior (77 tackles, a record-tying ten interceptions including two takeaways in a matchup with Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh) before becoming a rare top-five pick at the safety position. Tennessee safety Eric Berry also went fifth overall and deserves an honorable mention here. Taylor’s life sadly ended at just 24 years old after he was senselessly murdered during a home robbery, and he appeared on a path to becoming a Hall of Fame type of player in the NFL like other generational prospects.