The All-Time Ohio State NFL Team

Few colleges send NFL-ready products to the NFL like Ohio State.

According to pro-football-reference.com, the Buckeyes rank third all-time in NFL draft picks with 516. Ohio State also ranks second all-time in first-round picks with 79. So it comes as no surprise that the Buckeyes have become so prolific at producing one position in particular – wide receiver.

Ohio State has three Hall-of-Fame wide receivers: Dante Lavelli, Paul Warfield and Cris Carter. Warfield and Carter are among the eight wide receivers from the school drafted in the first round. Buckeyes have been taken with the seventh (Terry Glenn), eighth (Joey Galloway, David Boston), ninth (Ted Ginn Jr.) and 11th (Warfield) overall choices of a draft. There have been seven more Ohio State receivers selected in the second round.

What is surprising, though, is the lack of quality quarterbacks Ohio State has produced to complement all those elite receivers. There have been only three Ohio State quarterbacks selected in the first round – and two have come in the last three years, Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields. Art Schlichter, the fourth overall choice of the 1982 draft by the Baltimore Colts, was the other.

Ohio State quarterbacks have enjoyed some success in the NFL. Rex Kern started 15 games for the Colts – at safety. Tom Tupa ranks 39th all-time – in career punts. And Terrelle Pryor became a 1,000-yard receiver in 2016 for the Cleveland Browns.

But you’ll find only one Ohio State quarterback in the NFL’s Top 250 in passing – journeyman Kent Graham near the bottom of that list with 7,801 yards. He started 38 games for seven teams in an 11-year career.

The Buckeyes have produced 10 Hall of Famers and a Super Bowl MVP in WR Santonio Holmes. He caught nine passes for 131 yards and Pittsburgh’s game-winning touchdown in the final minute of a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in 2009.

Warfield won an NFL title with the Cleveland Browns in 1964 and a pair of Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins in the 1970s. Lavelli won four All-America Football Conference titles and three more NFL crowns with the Browns, and Carter ranks fourth in career touchdown receptions with 130.

Here’s a look at Ohio State’s all-time NFL team:

QB–Kent Graham, 1,339 career passes

HB–Eddie George, 10,000 career rusher

FB–Matt Snell, 3 Pro Bowls

WR–Paul Warfield, Hall of Fame

WR–Cris Carter, Hall of Fame

TE–Rickey Dudley, 221 career catches, 33 TDs

OT–Orlando Pace, Hall of Fame

OT–Jim Tyrer, All-time All-AFL team

G–Jim Parker, Hall of Fame

G–Dick Schafrath, 6 Pro Bowls

C–Nick Mangold, 7 Pro Bowls

DE–Jim Marshall, NFL record 29 fumble recoveries

*-DE–Joey Bosa, 4 Pro Bowls

DT–Bill Willis, Hall of Fame

DT–Dan Wilkinson, first overall pick of 1994 NFL draft

LB–Randy Gradishar, 1978 NFL Defensive Player of the Year

LB–Chris Spielman, 4 Pro Bowls

LB–Pepper Johnson, 2 Pro Bowls

CB–Dick LeBeau, Hall of Fame

CB–Antoine Winfield, 3 Pro Bowls

S–Donte Whitner, 2 Pro Bowls

S–Malcolm Jenkins, 3 Pro Bowls

K – Lou Groza, Hall of Fame

P – Tom Tupa, Pro Bowl

*-Still active