Entering the 2024 NFL Draft, there had been only one. After it, there remains only one. In draft history, from Jay Berwanger in 1936 to Caleb Williams in 2024, only once has a defensive back gone first overall. It was a Pittsburgh Steeler.
With the Bears taking Williams, the star USC quarterback, first overall, Gary Glick remains the only defensive back to ever be selected with the top spot. All the way back in 1956. Though it’s an offense and quarterback-driven world, it’s remarkable that’s the only instance in NFL history.
Though Glick was the pick, he shouldn’t have been. As the story goes, one we’ve written before, Pittsburgh had virtually no idea who Gary Glick was. He wasn’t a star player; they didn’t have film on him; there was no concern the teams right behind the Steelers were anxious to take him. The only two things that told the Steelers to take Glick was a letter from his Colorado A&M (now known as Colorado State) coach Bob Davis and Steelers head coach Walt Kiesling’s insistence Pittsburgh couldn’t pass on Glick.
Pittsburgh only had the top pick that season after pulling the selection out of a hat and awarded the league’s “bonus pick,” a concept that prevailed from 1947 to 1958 before the league went back to drafting strictly via reverse standings. And they used it on Glick, a pick that shocked and confused most.
Glick would go on to become a decent NFL player, spending four years in Pittsburgh and four more in the NFL, picking off 14 total passes. But the Steelers passed on plenty of talent in that ’56 class. Future All-Pro and MVP QB Earl Morrall went second overall, longtime FB Joe Macroni went sixth, while Hall of Fame RB Lenny Moore was the ninth overall selection.
Twice, a defensive back has gone second overall, though it’s been awhile. LSU’s Jerry Stovall to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1963 and UCLA’s Eric Turner to the Cleveland Browns in 1991. In recent years, the first DB taken has gotten close but not all the way there.
First Defensive Back Drafted (2020-2024)
2024 – Quinyon Mitchell/CB Toledo (22nd Overall)
2023 – Devon Witherspoon/CB Illinois (5th Overall)
2022 – Derek Stingley Jr./CB LSU (3rd Overall)
2021 – Jaycee Horn/CB South Carolina (8th Overall)
2020 – Jeff Okudah/CB Ohio State (3rd Overall)
The position, like most others, has been boxed out by quarterbacks. In even just-decent classes, they go first overall. Of the past 10 classes, eight of the top picks have been passers. The other two defensive ends – Travon Walker and Myles Garrett – guys tasked to get after the quarterback.
Will the streak ever end? From sheer numbers alone, you’d think it would. Some blue-chip corner will come along in a down year for quarterbacks and a team will take him. They’re going top five with regularity, so we aren’t that far off. A DB has a better chance of going first overall than a running back ever does even again though that’s the second most often selected N0. 1 position in NFL history, though none have gone since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995.
But it’s also been nearly 70 years since Glick came off the board first. Perhaps, though, the streak will end in 2025. At least one mock draft has Colorado’s Travis Hunter going No. 1. He’s a receiver/corner hybrid but if deemed more of the latter, that would be enough consideration to join Glick as the second DB to go No. 1.
