Hindsight is a funny thing in the NFL. Back in late April 2017, the Philadelphia museum steps were crawling with fans, and the draft experts were mostly obsessing over whether Mitchell Trubisky was worth a massive trade-up or if Myles Garrett was a "lazy" pass rusher.
Spoiler: he wasn't.
But when we look back at the tj watt draft class, it’s not just about one guy. It’s about a year that basically restocked the entire league’s pantry with Hall of Fame talent. We’re talking about a group that produced the best quarterback of this generation, arguably the two best edge rushers, and a list of running backs that feels like a Pro Bowl roster from 2019. Honestly, if you were a GM in 2017 and you didn’t walk away with at least one cornerstone player, you were probably doing it wrong.
The Fall to Thirty: How Everyone Missed on T.J. Watt
It’s easy to forget now, but T.J. Watt wasn’t some "can't-miss" lock. He went 30th overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Twenty-nine teams watched him sit there. The Green Bay Packers, his hometown team essentially, traded out of the pick right before the Steelers took him. They took Kevin King instead. Steelers fans still send thank-you cards to the Packers front office for that one.
The knock on T.J. was that he was "raw." He’d only played defense for a hot minute at Wisconsin after starting out as a tight end. Plus, let’s be real, people thought he was just "J.J.'s little brother." They figured he had the name, but maybe not the 100th-percentile freakishness.
Fast forward to 2026, and he's sitting on 115 career sacks and a Defensive Player of the Year trophy. He tied the single-season sack record (22.5) in 2021. He’s the engine of the Steelers. The crazy part of the tj watt draft class is that while T.J. was the 30th pick, the guy who went 1st overall—Myles Garrett—is the only person who can realistically look Watt in the eye when talking about the best defender in the league.
The Quarterback Gravity Well
You can't talk about 2017 without the QBs. It was a weird year.
- Mitchell Trubisky went #2. The Bears traded a king's ransom to move up one spot for him.
- Patrick Mahomes went #10. The Chiefs jumped up to grab the "project" from Texas Tech.
- Deshaun Watson went #12. The Texans moved up to get the national champion from Clemson.
Think about that. Patrick Mahomes—the guy with three rings and two MVPs—was the second quarterback taken. The gap between what Mahomes became and what Trubisky became is essentially the size of the Grand Canyon. Mahomes didn't even start his first year, sitting behind Alex Smith, while the rest of the tj watt draft class was out there trying to find their footing. It worked out okay for him.
The Greatest Running Back Class Ever?
Seriously, look at the names. If you needed a starter in the backfield, 2017 was the year of your dreams.
In the first round, you had Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey is still out here breaking ankles and winning Offensive Player of the Year awards. But the depth was the real story. Dalvin Cook went in the second. Joe Mixon went in the second. Alvin Kamara—the guy who basically invented the modern "space" back—was a third-round steal for the Saints.
Then you have guys like Kareem Hunt, James Conner, and Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones was a fifth-round pick! That’s basically finding a bar of gold in a dumpster.
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The Saints’ Legendary Haul
If there’s one team that defined the tj watt draft class, it’s the New Orleans Saints. Their 2017 draft is widely considered one of the best single-team drafts in NFL history.
They didn't just get lucky; they threw a perfect game. They grabbed Marshon Lattimore at 11, Ryan Ramczyk at 32, Marcus Williams at 42, and Alvin Kamara at 67. They even found Trey Hendrickson in the third round. Hendrickson ended up being an elite pass rusher, though he did most of his damage after leaving for Cincinnati. That one draft class extended the Drew Brees window by five years and kept that team in the Super Bowl hunt way longer than they had any right to be.
Why 2017 Still Matters in 2026
Most draft classes have a "shelf life" of about four to five years. By year seven or eight, half the guys are retired or playing for the minimum on their fourth team.
The tj watt draft class is different. These guys are the veterans now, but they’re still the ones at the top of the mountain. George Kittle (5th round!) is still the gold standard for tight ends. Cooper Kupp (3rd round) has a Triple Crown and a Super Bowl MVP. T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett are still the two names every offensive coordinator loses sleep over.
It was a draft that prioritized "freaks."
The scouts stopped looking for polished technicians and started looking for guys like Haason Reddick and Budda Baker—undersized, high-motor players who could fly. It changed the way teams valued the "Edge" position. Instead of looking for 280-pound behemoths, they started looking for the T.J. Watts of the world: 250 pounds, lightning-fast hands, and a motor that doesn't have an "off" switch.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're looking back at the tj watt draft class to understand how to evaluate future drafts, keep these three things in mind:
- Pedigree and Work Ethic Over Stats: Watt had one good year of production at Wisconsin. But his testing was off the charts and his "DNA" (literally and figuratively) was football-obsessed.
- The "Second Tier" QB Win: Don't always trust the guy who goes #1 or #2. Mahomes and Watson were considered "flawed" compared to Trubisky. The "flaws" were actually just high-ceiling traits that hadn't been coached yet.
- Third-Round Value is King: From Kamara to Kupp to Hendrickson, the third round of 2017 produced more All-Pros than some entire draft years. This is the sweet spot where "risky" traits meet elite talent.
When you're watching the next draft, don't just look at the top five. Look at the guy who falls to 30. Look at the Wisconsin linebacker with the famous last name that everyone says is "too small." He might just end up being the best player on the field for the next decade.
To really appreciate the impact of this group, go back and watch the 2017 Week 1 highlights. You'll see a bunch of kids who looked like they didn't belong yet, only to realize you were watching the first chapter of a dozen Hall of Fame careers.