The 2025 NFL Draft starts on Thursday night 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. 3 pick: Southern Cal offensive tackle Anthony Munoz by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1980

The third pick in the NFL Draft has produced 14 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame so far. Four No. 3 selections were on the NFL All-Time Team selected for the league’s centennial in 2019. Five of the third picks were invited to 10 or more Pro Bowls. Six No. 3 choices made first-team All-Pro five or more times.

Munoz is on all four of those lists. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1998, Munoz was an 11-time Pro Bowler and nine-time All-Pro.

He’s also the only offensive lineman in the past 45 seasons to receive a first-place vote in the balloting for The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year

The third selection in last year’s draft was North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye by the New England Patriots.

Best No. 3 pick from the SEC: LSU quarterback Y.A. Tittle by the San Francisco 49ers in 1951

The 49ers didn’t draft Tittle from LSU. He already had been a first-round draft choice, but the second time around, Tittle played for the team that picked him.

The Detroit Lions chose the LSU quarterback at No. 6 in the 1948 NFL Draft. Tittle instead signed with the Baltimore Colts of the All-American Football Conference. After two seasons, the Colts joined the NFL as the established league absorbed the rival league’s Baltimore, Cleveland and San Francisco franchises.

In 1950, Tittle led the NFL in completions, but Baltimore folded at the end of the season. Instead of holding a dispersal draft or turning the Colts players into free agents, the NFL made them eligible for its 1951 draft. San Francisco got Tittle with the third pick.

In addition to being a seven-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro in 17 seasons, Tittle is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1963.

In 1962, Tittle became the NFL’s career leader in passing yards on his way to becoming the first player with 30,000. He broke the record of Bobby Layne, who had been drafted at No. 3 from Texas — three picks ahead of Tittle — in 1948.

Of the 20 SEC players picked at No. 3, Alabama outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. is the most recent after going to the Houston Texans in 2023.

Best No. 3 pick with Alabama football roots: Alabama offensive tackle Chris Samuels by the Washington Redskins in 2000

A prep standout at Shaw High School in Mobile, Samuels earned unanimous All-American honors at Alabama in 1999.

That led Washington to select Samuels 196 picks before quarterback Tom Brady came off the board in the 2000 NFL Draft.

During his nine full seasons, Samuels earned Pro Bowl recognition six times.

Samuels started all 141 regular-season games in his NFL career at left offensive tackle for Washington before a spinal condition abruptly ended his career five game into his 10th season.

The New York Giants hold the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday night.

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