Of the 38 players selected from Auburn in an NFL Draft with the picks from 33rd through 64th, which has had the best pro career?

Karlos Dansby, Dave Hill and Frank Warren played a long time.

Billy Atkins, Marcus McNeill and Marcus Washington earned all-star recognition.

Frank Sanders has more NFL receptions and receiving yards than any other Auburn alumnus.

But the best may be yet to come for Auburn from this portion of the draft. Of the 25 players drafted from the Tigers’ program who played in an NFL regular-season game in the 2023 season, five of them were picked from 33rd through 64th – Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Marlon Davidson and cornerback Roger McCreary, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (now Detroit Lions) cornerback Carlton Davis, Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker Derick Hall and Indianapolis Colts right tackle Braden Smith.

The second round of the 89th NFL Draft on April 26 in Detroit will consist of the 33rd through 64th selections, and it could contain the first player picked from Auburn this year, with defensive backs Jaylin Simpson, Nehemiah Pritchett and DJ James and defensive tackle Marcus Harris considered second-day candidates among the Tigers’ prospects.

In the past two drafts, the first pick from Auburn has come in the second round.

The Auburn players who have been picked with the 33rd through 64th selections of an NFL Draft include:

No. 33 picks: Bob Hoppe, back, San Francisco 49ers, 1958; Karlos Dansby, linebacker, Arizona Cardinals, 2004.

Dansby was the eighth player to reach 20 interceptions and 40 sacks in NFL history. The former Woodlawn High School standout finished his career in 2017 with 1,422 tackles, nine short of Takeo Spikes’ NFL record for Auburn alumni.

No. 34 pick: George Rose, cornerback, Minnesota Vikings, 1964.

Twelve games into his NFL career, Rose had six interceptions, returning No. 6 for a touchdown. In the remaining 35 games in his career, he intercepted three passes. Rose played his final season with New Orleans in 1967 after the Saints selected him from Minnesota in the expansion draft.

No. 35 pick: Roger McCreary, cornerback, Tennessee Titans, 2022.

The former Williamson High School standout was on the field for all but three of Tennessee’s defensive snaps as a rookie. He played in 15 games in his second season. McCreary had an interception in each campaign.

No. 36 pick: Gerald Williams, nose tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, 1986.

Williams played in 161 regular-season games in 12 seasons and recorded 25.5 sacks. He also played in six postseason games and had three sacks – all in the same game. In Pittsburgh’s 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 8, 1994, Williams sacked Joe Montana three times.

No. 37 pick: Bobby Freeman, defensive back, Cleveland Browns, 1955; Braden Smith, guard, Baltimore Colts, 2018; Derick Hall, outside linebacker, Seattle Seahawks, 2023.

In 1955, Freeman signed a contract to play quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Western Interprovincial Football Union in Canada. He signed another contract with Cleveland after being picked in the NFL Draft. The resulting legal battle kept him off the field until 1957. Freeman played as a defensive back for four teams in six NFL seasons, including Philadelphia in 1960, when the Eagles won the league championship.

An All-American guard for Auburn, Smith took over at right offensive tackle for Indianapolis in the fifth game of his rookie season and has been there since.

Hall played in every game as a special-teamer and defensive backup as a rookie in 2023.

No. 40 picks: Fred Hyatt, wide receiver, St. Louis Cardinals, 1968; Pat Sullivan, quarterback, Atlanta Falcons, 1972; Walter Reeves, tight end, Phoenix Cardinals, 1989.

Hyatt, Sullivan and Reeves were all Alabama prep standouts – Hyatt at Sylacauga, Sullivan at John Carroll Catholic in Birmingham and Reeves at Eufaula.

Hyatt played in 45 games in six seasons and caught six passes for 90 yards during his career. He also had one kickoff return in the NFL, which he ran back for 41 yards.

Auburn’s other two Heisman Trophy winners — Bo Jackson and Cam Newton– were No. 1 picks. Sullivan went to the Falcons in the second round. He threw 220 passes in 30 games, with four starts, in four seasons with Atlanta before heading into coaching.

Reeves was the first tight end selected in the 1989 draft. He played in 98 games, with 73 starts, over eight seasons and caught 55 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 43 pick: Eddie Blake, defensive tackle, Miami Dolphins, 1992; Kerryon Johnson, running back, Detroit Lions, 2018.

Mainly a guard at Auburn, Blake was drafted as a defensive lineman. But he dropped a weight on his foot, then tore an MCL while recovering to miss his entire rookie season. Back at guard, another knee injury set him back in 1993, and he never played in the NFL, although he did play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1996.

Johnson became Detroit’s No. 1 ball-carrier after running for 101 yards in the third game of his rookie season. But both the former Madison Academy standout’s first two NFL campaigns were interrupted by knee injuries, causing him to miss 14 games, and he never regained his depth-chart status. He finished his career with 1,225 yards and eight touchdowns on 283 carries and 61 receptions for 527 yards and three touchdowns in 35 games.

No. 46 picks: Jim Reynolds, fullback, New York Giants, 1943; Tim Carter, wide receiver, New York Giants, 2002.

Reynolds’ pro career consisted of seven games with the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Football Conference in 1946 after returning from World War II.

Carter caught 81 passes for 1,090 yards and four touchdowns in 71 games for three teams over seven seasons.

No. 47 picks: Joe Eddins, guard, Detroit Lions, 1946; Jimmy Sidle, running back, Dallas Cowboys, 1965; Frank Sanders, wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals, 1995; Marlon Davidson, defensive tackle, Atlanta Falcons, 2020.

Sidle was a 1,000-yard rusher at quarterback for Auburn, but a shoulder injury moved him to halfback as a senior, and Dallas put him at fullback. A re-occurrence of the shoulder injury kept him off the field as a rookie for the Cowboys, and Sidle’s NFL career consisted of six games in the first season of the Atlanta Falcons, when he caught a 16-yard pass, had a 12-yard run and returned six kickoffs for 117 yards.

In his nine-year NFL career — with all but one season with Arizona — Sanders caught more passes (507) for more yards (6,749) than any other Auburn alumnus. His 1,145 receiving yards in 1998 are the most in one NFL season for a former Auburn player.

Out after his second season and 19 games with the Atlanta Falcons, Davidson persevered and returned to play the final five games of the 2023 season with the Tennessee Titans, starting the last three.

No. 48 picks: Zeke Smith, linebacker, Baltimore Colts, 1959; Brian Smith, linebacker, Los Angeles Rams, 1989; Dontarrious Thomas, linebacker, Minnesota Vikings, 2004.

Zeke Smith started as a sophomore on Auburn’s 1957 team, which won the AP national championship. He won the Outland Trophy and earned consensus All-American recognition in 1958 and repeated as an American Football Coaches Association and Sporting News first-team All-American in 1959. By his senior season, he’d already been selected in the NFL Draft as a future pick, but that didn’t keep the New York Titans from picking him in the inaugural AFL Draft in 1960. Auburn’s top defensive player annually receives the Zeke Smith Award. Smith played in only two NFL seasons – 12 games with Baltimore in 1960 and 12 with the New York Giants in 1961.

Smith also played two seasons, getting into 19 games. Thomas played in 63 regular-season and two playoff games in five seasons, all with Minnesota.

No. 49 pick: Kenny Irons, running back, Cincinnati Bengals, 2007.

Irons suffered a knee injury in his first preseason game and never played in an NFL regular-season contest.

No. 50 picks: Byron Franklin, wide receiver, Buffalo Bills, 1981; Marcus McNeill, tackle, San Diego Chargers, 2006.

Franklin caught 69 passes for 862 yards and four touchdowns for Buffalo in 1984, the third of his six NFL seasons. For receiving yards, that’s No. 10 on Auburn’s NFL single-season list.

McNeill received a Pro Bowl invitation in each of his first two NFL seasons. He had started all 82 games in his career with the Chargers before a neck injury sent him to the sidelines permanently in 2011. McNeill had entered the NFL despite having spinal stenosis.

No. 52 picks: Lamar Rogers, defensive end, Cincinnati Bengals, 1991; Quentin Groves, defensive end, Jacksonville Jaguars, 2008.

Rogers spent two seasons and 26 games with the Bengals.

Groves played in 100 NFL games, but a heart attack took his life at age 32 in 2016.

No. 56 pick: Ben Thomas, defensive end, New England Patriots, 1985.

Thomas went to the Super Bowl with New England as a rookie in the first of his five NFL seasons with five teams.

No. 57 pick: Frank Warren, defensive end, New Orleans Saints, 1981.

Warren spent 13 seasons in the Saints’ defensive line, making 52.5 sacks for New Orleans. What makes Warren doubly noteworthy, though, is the Saints haven’t picked an Auburn player since drafting him 43 years ago. That’s the longest draft drought for Auburn in the NFL.

No. 58 pick: Ben Tate, running back, Houston Texans, 2010.

Tate broke his ankle in Houston’s preseason opener as a rookie and missed the whole season. Arian Foster, who’d rushed for 257 yards in 2009, emerged as the NFL rushing leader in 2010 with 1,616 rushing yards for the Texans. Tate almost got to 1,000 yards with 942 rushing yards in 2011 even though he was Foster’s backup that year. In his four NFL seasons, Tate ran for 2,363 yards in 51 games, with 15 starts.

No. 59 picks: Billy Atkins, defensive back, San Francisco 49ers, 1958; Kevin Porter, defensive back, Kansas City Chiefs, 1988; Marcus Washington, linebacker, Indianapolis Colts, 2008.

After two seasons as a reserve with San Francisco, Atkins started every game at cornerback for the Buffalo Bills in the inaugural AFL season in 1960. The next year at safety, Atkins led the AFL with 10 interceptions and also was the league’s top punter with an average of 44.5 yards per punt to earn all-star recognition. He topped the AFL in punting average in 1962 as well while playing for the New York Titans. In 1968, Atkins coached Troy State to the NAIA national championship.

Porter played all but two of his 81 NFL games with Kansas City. His lone interception came in a 34-0 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 30, 1990, off quarterback Mike Pagel.

Marcus Washington also was an all-star, earning Pro Bowl recognition in 2004 with the Washington Redskins, the high point of a nine-year career that included 113 starts.

No. 60 pick: Pat Lee, defensive back, Green Bay Packers, 2008.

In Lee’s second of four seasons, the Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in Super Bowl XLV.

No. 62 picks: Ed Dyas, back, Baltimore Colts, 1961; Dave Hill, tackle, New York Giants, 1963; Sen’Derrick Marks, defensive tackle, Tennessee Titans, 2009.

Dyas is in the College Football Hall of Fame, but he never took a shot at the pros. A standout at fullback and linebacker and a record-setting place-kicker, Dyas headed for medical school instead of the NFL after playing for the Tigers and became an orthopedic surgeon.

Hill never played for New York but chose to join the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. He spent 12 seasons as the Chiefs’ right tackle and played in the first and fourth Super Bowls.

While Hill played in 150 regular-season games, Marks played in 103 in eight seasons divided between Tennessee and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

No. 63 pick: Carlton Davis, cornerback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2018.

A starter since he joined Tampa Bay, Davis helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV to cap the 2020 season. Tampa Bay traded Davis to the Detroit Lions this offseason after he started 84 games for the Buccaneers.

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