It’s easy to look back now and laugh. In April 2017, plenty of people—scouts, talking heads, even some GMs—honestly thought Mitchell Trubisky was the safest bet in the world. The Chicago Bears famously traded up one spot with the San Francisco 49ers to secure him. They gave up a haul. They thought they had their guy. Meanwhile, a skinny kid from Texas Tech with a "reckless" arm and a guy from Clemson who just wouldn't stop winning national titles were sitting right there.
Looking at the 2017 draft nfl picks today feels like looking at a different dimension.
This wasn't just another year of college kids getting jerseys. It was a fundamental shift. We saw the birth of the modern "dual-threat plus elite arm" era. We saw some of the greatest defensive talents of a generation go in the first round. And yeah, we saw some massive busts that are still haunting franchises nearly a decade later. If you want to understand why the league looks the way it does in 2026, you have to start with that night in Philadelphia.
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The Patrick Mahomes Gamble that Broke the League
Let's be real. Nobody actually knew Patrick Mahomes would become this. If they did, he wouldn't have lasted until the 10th pick.
The Kansas City Chiefs traded up from 27 to 10 to get him. At the time, Mahomes was labeled as a "project." Scouts loved the arm strength but hated the mechanics. They called his style "Air Raid fluff." They were wrong. Dead wrong.
Andy Reid saw something different. He saw a player who could process the field faster than the defense could react. By sitting behind Alex Smith for a year, Mahomes polished those "mechanics" without losing his backyard football magic. It's probably the single most impactful pick in the last twenty years of professional football. It ended a championship drought in KC and turned the AFC West into a gauntlet.
Then you have Deshaun Watson at pick 12.
Before the off-field controversies and the massive trade to Cleveland, Watson was the heart of the Houston Texans. He was an immediate star. He went to three straight Pro Bowls. The 2017 class proved that you didn't need a 6'5" statue in the pocket. You needed a playmaker.
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Beyond the Quarterbacks: A Defensive Masterclass
While everyone focuses on the signal-callers, the 2017 draft nfl picks on the defensive side of the ball were equally insane.
- Myles Garrett (No. 1 overall): Sometimes the consensus is right. Garrett has been a wrecking ball for the Browns. He's a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
- Jamal Adams (No. 6 overall): Though his star has faded a bit due to injuries and a weird stint in Seattle, for a few years, he was the most terrifying safety in the league.
- Marshon Lattimore (No. 11 overall): The Saints hit a home run here. He walked in and won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
- T.J. Watt (No. 30 overall): This is the one that still makes GMs lose sleep. How did 29 teams pass on a guy with that DNA? Watt has basically been the soul of the Steelers' defense since he stepped on the field.
It's rare to see a draft where the top-tier talent is so evenly distributed between the trenches and the secondary. Usually, one unit is weak. In 2017? It was a buffet of Hall of Fame potential.
The Mid-Round Steals and Value Wins
If you only look at the first round, you're missing half the story. The real geniuses of the 2017 draft found gold in the "boring" rounds.
Take Cooper Kupp. Pick 69 in the third round. A guy from Eastern Washington who "wasn't fast enough." He went on to have one of the greatest receiving seasons in history, winning the Triple Crown and a Super Bowl MVP.
Or Alvin Kamara. Also a third-rounder (pick 67). He changed how teams value "scat-backs." Suddenly, everyone wanted a guy who could catch 80 passes out of the backfield. The Saints' 2017 draft is widely considered one of the best single-team hauls ever. They got Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Marcus Williams, and Kamara. That's four starters—three of them All-Pros—in one weekend.
George Kittle went in the fifth round. 146th overall. Think about that. Every team in the league passed on perhaps the most complete tight end of the decade multiple times. The 49ers found a cornerstone player while everyone else was looking at special teamers.
The Trubisky Shadow
We have to talk about it. The Bears.
They traded pick 3, 67, 111, and a 2018 third-rounder just to move up one spot. They did it to jump the 49ers (who didn't even want a QB) because they were terrified someone else would take Mitchell Trubisky.
Trubisky wasn't a "bad" player in a vacuum. He made a Pro Bowl. He led them to the playoffs. But when you are drafted ahead of Mahomes and Watson, you aren't compared to the average NFL starter. You're compared to greatness. The "what if" factor for Chicago fans is a permanent scar. If they stay at 3 and take Mahomes? The last decade of NFC North football looks completely different.
Lessons for the Modern Front Office
What did we actually learn from the 2017 draft nfl picks?
First, college systems matter less than raw traits and mental processing. The "Air Raid" stigma that hurt Mahomes is basically dead now. NFL coaches realized they should adapt to the talent, not force the talent into a 1990s scheme.
Second, the "safe" pick is often the most dangerous. Trubisky was "safe." Mahomes was "risky." In the modern NFL, playing it safe is a great way to end up picking in the top ten again three years later.
Third, positional value is king, but elite traits trump everything. T.J. Watt fell because people weren't sure if he was an 4-3 end or a 3-4 linebacker. It didn't matter. He was just better at football than everyone else.
What to Do With This Info
If you’re analyzing upcoming drafts or looking at how rosters are built, use 2017 as your benchmark.
- Look for the "Traits" Guy: Stop worrying about "pro-readiness." Focus on the ceiling. Mahomes is the blueprint for why you take the high-upside swing.
- Watch the Third Round: This is where Super Bowls are won. The difference between a 10-win team and a 13-win team is finding a Cooper Kupp or an Alvin Kamara on Day 2.
- Evaluate the "Why": When a team trades up, ask if they are chasing a player or reacting to fear. The Bears reacted to fear. The Chiefs chased a vision. One worked. One didn't.
The 2017 class is still the gold standard for how a single draft can reshape the power dynamics of the entire league. It gave us the faces of the NFL and a few cautionary tales that will be told in draft rooms for the next thirty years.