The Kansas City Chiefs came away with a good player in the second round of the NFL Draft, who some project could be a starter in the NFL within his first two season. At 58th overall, the Chiefs selected former Mizzou linebacker Nick Bolton, a two-year starter who led the Tigers in tackling the last two years. It turned out to be great weekend for Mizzou, as a total of five Tigers were picked this past weekend.
In terms of volume, this was one of the best draft years in Mizzou history, but I wanted to see how it stacked up to other classes.
In addition to Bolton, Mizzou had four other Tigers selected in the draft which was the most since five were picked in 2015. Defensive back Tyree Gillespie went in the fourth to Vegas, O-lineman Larry Borom went in the fifth round to the Bears, and defensive back Josh Bledsoe to New England and running back Larry Rountree to the Chargers were taken in the sixth round.
2021 is slightly behind in terms of where players were drafted compared to 2015. That class had Shane Ray selected in the first round, followed by Mitch Morse and Marcus Golden in the second rounds with wide receiver Bud Sasser going in the sixth and Marcus Murphy, the running back going in the seventh. Sasser never held on with the Rams and Murphy appeared in four seasons. Ray, Morse and Golden saw significant playing time and have made strong contributions in the NFL.
The 2009 draft class had six Tigers selected and was the most prolific with first round picks Jeremy Maclin and Evander Hood, and second round pick Willie Moore all going in the first 55 picks. Tight end Chase Coffman went in the third round. In no other draft did Mizzou ever have four players taken within the first 100 picks. OL Colin Brown in the fifth to the Chiefs and Stryker Sulak taken in the sixth, rounded out that draft class.
No class was more successful in terms of numbers than the 1981 draft class which started with current radio analyst Howard Richards going in the first round to Dallas. Running back James Wilder and defensive back Eric Wright were picked in the second. Then four more DBs went in rounds 5-thru-7 with Wendell Ray, Johnnie Poe, Bill Whitaker and Ron Fellows. Before Mizzou earned the reputation as “D-Line U,” the Tigers could have been called “DB-U.”
Source: 247Sports