The 2025 NFL Draft starts on April 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with the 32 first-round picks. AL.com is counting down to the event by highlighting the best choice – overall, from the SEC and of players from Alabama high schools and colleges — made with each of the first 32 picks in the 89 NFL drafts.

Best No. 15 pick: Notre Dame defensive tackle Alan Page by the Minnesota Vikings in 1967

When the Vikings chose Page, the franchise had had one winning season, and Minnesota went 3-8-3 in his rookie campaign. The Vikings didn’t have another losing record until 1979, after trading Page to the Chicago Bears during the 1978 season.

Page received nine consecutive Pro Bowl invitations, and as an annual all-star from 1968 through 1976, he also was selected first-team All-Pro five times. In 1971, The Associated Press named Page the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year as the leader of the Purple People-Eaters.

Page played in three Super Bowls with the Vikings, but Minnesota lost each game.

Page went from the 15th pick to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as did fullback Jim Taylor, the Green Bay Packers’ selection at No. 15 in the 1958 NFL Draft.

The Indianapolis Colts chose UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu at No. 15 in last year’s NFL Draft.

Best No. 15 pick from the SEC: LSU fullback Jim Taylor by the Green Bay Packers in 1958

After Taylor ran for 699 yards and seven touchdowns in his first two seasons with Green Bay, he ran for 6,069 yards and 66 touchdowns in the next five. He made the Pro Bowl in each of those seasons and won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1962, when he led the NFL with 1,474 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns.

The Packers won two NFL championships in those seasons. Taylor played three more seasons with Green Bay, and the Packers won the NFL title in each of those campaigns, plus the first two Super Bowls.

The most recent of the 17 SEC players who have joined the NFL as the No. 15 pick is Texas A&M guard Kenyon Green, taken in that spot by the Houston Texans in 2022.

Best No. 15 pick with Alabama football roots: Auburn center Forrest Blue by the San Francisco 49ers in 1968

Blue apprenticed behind four-time Pro Bowler Bruce Bosley as a rookie before entering the San Francisco lineup in 1969.

From 1971 through 1974, Blue was a Pro Bowl selection for the 49ers, and from 1971 through 1973, he was the center on The Associated Press’ All-Pro team.

The Arizona Cardinals hold the No. 16 pick in the NFL Draft on April 24.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.