Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary just missed first-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, as he went to the Tennessee Titans with the third choice in the second round.

A similar circumstance could await Auburn’s top prospect for the 2023 draft – pass-rusher Derick Hall.

The second round worked out well for McCreary, who played all but three of the Titans’ 1,168 defensive snaps during his rookie season.

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If Hall does appear among the picks when the NFL teams make their selections on April 27 in Kansas City, Missouri, he would become the 32nd player from Auburn to be selected in the first round of an NFL Draft.

Auburn also has produced 12 other players who were not first-round draft choices when they were picked but would be this year if selected in the same slot. That’s because the number of choices in the first round has grown over the years, starting from nine in the first NFL Draft in 1936.

The first Auburn player picked in the NFL Draft – center Walter Gilbert – would be the final choice in the first round this year. When he was drafted in 1937, Gilbert was the first selection in the fourth round.

The 2023 draft will have one fewer first-round pick than it’s supposed to. The Miami Dolphins forfeited their selection as part of their NFL-imposed punishment for violating the league’s tampering rules. That leaves the first round in the 88th NFL Draft at 31 choices.

The Auburn players who have been picked in the first 31 selections of an NFL Draft include:

No. 1 picks: Tucker Frederickson, running back, New York Giants, 1965; Bo Jackson, running back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1986; Aundray Bruce, linebacker, Atlanta Falcons, 1988; Cam Newton, quarterback, Carolina Panthers, 2011.

Four schools have provided more No. 1 picks in the NFL Draft than Auburn – Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Southern Cal with five apiece. Newton has been the most successful of the Tigers’ top picks in the pros, earning the NFL MVP Award in 2015 to go with his 2010 Heisman Trophy. Frederickson was a Pro Bowler as a rookie, but knee injuries wrecked his career. Bruce played in 11 NFL seasons but was a starter for only the first two. Jackson pursued football as a “hobby” with the Los Angeles Raiders while playing Major League Baseball, appearing in 38 games in four NFL seasons before an injury ended his football career.

No. 2 picks: Ronnie Brown, running back, Miami Dolphins, 2005; Greg Robinson, tackle, Los Angeles Rams, 2014.

Brown had a 10-year NFL career that included a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2006, a Pro Bowl invitation in 2008 and a brief stint as a league trendsetter as a wildcat quarterback.

Robinson started 70 games for three teams in six NFL seasons.

No. 4 pick: Brent Fullwood, running back, Green Bay Packers, 1987.

Fullwood was one of four Auburn running backs drafted in 1987, along with Tommy Agee, Tim Jessie and Bo Jackson, who was on his second time around in the NFL Draft after stiff-arming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986. Fullwood ran for 274 yards as a rookie and 483 in his second season before producing 821 rushing yards as Green Bay’s fullback in 1989. He earned a Pro Bowl invitation for that performance. The next season, though, the Packers traded Fullwood to the Cleveland Browns after five games. He’d been spotted out dancing at a Green Bay nightspot after being too sick to play in the second half against the Chicago Bears earlier in the day. Fullwood played in only one more game in his NFL career. In his only appearance for the Browns, Fullwood did not have a rushing attempt but did return six kickoffs for 119 yards in a 30-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 25, 1990.

No. 5 picks: Jim “Red” Phillips, end, Los Angeles Rams, 1958; Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, running back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2005.

Phillips was a three-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro who led the NFL in receptions with 78 for 1,092 yards and five touchdowns in 1961.

Williams ran for 1,178 yards and earned the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2005.

No. 7 picks: Travis Tidwell, quarterback, New York Giants, 1950; Joe Childress, running back, Chicago Cardinals, 1956; Derrick Brown, defensive tackle, Carolina Panthers, 2020.

The MVP of the first Senior Bowl (and the only one not played in Mobile), Tidwell played two seasons in the NFL before playing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Canada in 1954. New York had a 3-0-1 record in games started by Tidwell in 1950 and 1951.

A two-time Gator Bowl MVP, Childress’ NFL career as a fullback straddled the Cardinals’ move from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960. He retired after nine seasons to go into coaching. His 2,210 NFL rushing yards stood as the most for an Auburn alumnus for 15 years, until William Andrews passed him in 1980.

After becoming Auburn’s first unanimous All-American since guard Ed King in 1990, Brown became the Tigers’ first first-round draft choice since Greg Robinson and Dee Ford in 2014. Auburn hadn’t had a defensive player come off the draft board so fast since Aundray Bruce was the No. 1 pick in 1988. Brown earned a spot on the 2020 All-Rookie team.

No. 8 pick: Ken Rice, tackle, St. Louis Cardinals, 1961.

Rice never played for St. Louis despite being the No. 8 pick. Instead, he signed with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL, which had existed for one season at the time. Rice was an all-star in the first of his six AFL seasons.

No. 9 pick: Carlos Rogers, defensive back, Washington Redskins, 2005.

Rogers reached the Pro Bowl in 2011, his first season with the San Francisco 49ers after six in Washington.

No. 10 pick: Willie Anderson, tackle, Cincinnati Bengals, 1996.

Anderson spent 12 seasons as Cincinnati’s right offensive tackle. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and a Pro Bowler annually from 2003 through 2006. Anderson was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 and Class of 2023.

No. 12 picks: Dave Middleton, end, Detroit Lions, 1955; Jackie Burkett, linebacker, Baltimore Colts, 1959.

Middleton was a halfback at Auburn and an SEC 100-yard dash champ. In the NFL, he played wide receiver and caught a touchdown pass in the 1957 championship game — the last time that Detroit won the league crown.

Burkett was drafted as a future pick, so he played a season at Auburn after being chosen by Baltimore, then missed his rookie NFL season with a shoulder injury, delaying his pro debut until 1961 — more than two years after he’d been drafted. Burkett was drafted again in 1967, when the New Orleans Saints made him the fourth player picked in that year’s NFL expansion draft.

No. 13 picks: Takeo Spikes, linebacker, Cincinnati Bengals, 1998; Nick Fairley, defensive tackle, Detroit Lions, 2011.

With 1,425 NFL tackles, Spikes has recorded more than any other Auburn player. In 15 NFL seasons, Spikes played in 219 games, and his 215 starts are the most for any Auburn alumnus. In addition to Cincinnati, Spikes played for the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers. He was twice a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro in 2004 with Buffalo.

After four seasons with the Detroit Lions and one apiece with the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints, Fairley’s career came to a premature end after the 2016 season because of a heart issue.

No. 14 picks: Lloyd Cheatham, back, Chicago Cardinals, 1942; Jerry Wilson, defensive end, Chicago Cardinals, 1959; Gerald Robinson, defensive end, Minnesota Vikings, 1986.

A Carbon Hill High School alumnus, Cheatham played one season with the Chicago Cardinals before missing the next three years for military service in World War II. He returned in 1946 to play three seasons with the New York Yankees of the All-American Football Conference.

From Phillips High School in Birmingham, Wilson got traded twice in his two NFL seasons. After drafting him, Chicago shipped him to the Philadelphia Eagles before he’d played a game for the Cardinals. Philadelphia traded Wilson to the San Francisco 49ers four games into his second season, and the Eagles went on to win the 1960 NFL championship. After spending 1961 in the military, Wilson closed his career with three seasons for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canada Football League before a knee injury ended his playing days. Wilson almost started his pro football career in the CFL. The Cardinals successfully sued to keep Wilson from joining the Edmonton Eskimos, who’d made him a better offer. After winning the legal challenge, Chicago traded him. With 16 receptions for 207 yards, Wilson had been Auburn’s leading receiver in 1958, but he was a defensive end in the pros, although in the CFL he also caught nine passes.

A prep standout at Notasulga, Robinson played in 89 regular-season games in nine seasons, but early injuries derailed his promise after he set Auburn’s career sacks record. From 1987 through 1989, Robinson played in six games. His only season as a full-time regular came in 1992, when he started every game for the Los Angeles Rams and recorded five of his career total of 19 sacks. Robinson got 2.5 of his sacks in his seventh NFL game, a performance that earned the NFC Defensive Player of the Week Award.

No. 15 picks: Forrest Blue, center, San Francisco 49ers, 1968; Wayne Gandy, tackle, Los Angeles Rams, 1994.

Blue earned first-team All-Pro recognition in 1971 and 1972 with San Francisco and followed that with two more Pro Bowl seasons.

Gandy never earned all-star recognition, but in 15 NFL seasons, he played in 219 games and was a starter in all but the last of those campaigns. He and Takeo Spikes are the only former Auburn players with at least 200 NFL starts. In his first 13 seasons in the league, Gandy missed one game.

No. 16 pick: Frank D’Agostino, guard, Philadelphia Eagles, 1956.

After The Associated Press and the American Football Coaches Association selected D’Agostino as a first-team All-American tackle in 1955, his pro football career covered three leagues –Philadelphia in the NFL in 1956, the Grey Cup champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Canada in 1957 and the New York Titans in the AFL in 1960.

No. 17 pick: Monk Gafford, back, Philadelphia Eagles, 1943.

Considered the first 1,000-yard rusher in Auburn history, Gafford didn’t reach the NFL until three years after he was drafted. That’s because he was in military service in World War II after leaving the Tigers. His teammate, fullback Jim Reynolds, had the same timeline after being selected by the New York Giants with the 46th choice in the 1943 draft. Heading off to war robbed Gafford of the opportunity to play for the Steagles, the unofficial nickname for the one-year merger of the NFL’s Pittsburgh and Philadelphia franchises because of the shortage of players due to the worldwide conflict. Gafford never played in the NFL, but he spent three seasons in the All-American Football Conference with the Miami Seahawks and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

No. 19 pick: Terry Beasley, wide receiver, San Francisco 49ers, 1972.

A College Football Hall of Fame member, Beasley played in 29 NFL games over three seasons with San Francisco before head injuries ended his career.

No. 21 pick: Rufus Deal, back, Washington Redskins, 1942.

Deal played in six games and ran for 12 yards on five carries in his only NFL season. Yet he has a Pro Bowl selection from when the NFL’s all-star game was called the NFL All-Star Game. From 1938 through 1942, the event featured the NFL championship team playing an assemblage of all-stars from the rest of the league, and Washington was the NFL championship team in 1942. The all-stars defeated Washington 17-14 on Dec. 27, 1942, before 18,671 fans in Philadelphia.

No. 22 pick: M.L. Brackett, defensive end, Chicago Bears, 1956.

The former Etowah High School standout played in three NFL seasons but appeared in two league championship games. Unfortunately for Brackett, his team lost both title contests. In 1956, Chicago lost 47-7 to the New York Giants in the championship game. With the Giants in 1958 and in his last appearance, Brackett played in what’s often referenced as the NFL’s greatest game – the Baltimore Colts’ 23-17 overtime victory against New York.

No. 23 pick: Dee Ford, outside linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs, 2014.

After a back injury limited him to six games in 2017, Ford bounced back to record 13 sacks and force seven fumbles to earn Pro Bowl recognition in 2018. That led to an eventful offseason, during which he was franchise-tagged by Kansas City, traded to San Francisco and signed a five-year, $85.5 million contract with the 49ers. San Francisco then played in Super Bowl LIV. But a recurring back injury has limited Ford to seven games since.

No. 24 pick: James Brooks, running back, San Diego Chargers, 1981.

Brooks led the NFL in all-purpose yards in each of his first two NFL seasons. He went on to record three 1,000-yard rushing seasons and earn four Pro Bowl invitations with the Cincinnati Bengals.

No. 25 picks: Reese McCall, tight end, Baltimore Colts, 1978; Jason Campbell, quarterback, Washington Redskins, 2005.

Washington traded three picks to move up to draft Campbell, then had him sit his whole rookie season behind Mark Brunell. He finally got on the field as the starter for the final seven games of 2006, then spent the next three seasons as the starter for Washington and one more as the Oakland Raiders’ regular QB. Campbell had four more seasons mainly as a backup and was Auburn’s top NFL passer until Cam Newton surpassed him.

No. 26 pick: Alexander Wright, wide receiver, Dallas Cowboys, 1990.

In his seven NFL seasons, Wright caught 101 passes for 1,597 yards and 10 touchdowns after being the first wide receiver picked in the 1990 draft. In his second NFL game, Wright returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, and he had a 102-yard kickoff return for a TD in 1991, too.

No. 27 pick: Victor Riley, offensive tackle, Kansas City Chiefs, 1998.

Riley rebuilt his career after being arrested in the middle of it for ramming a vehicle driven by his wife and carrying his daughter several times with a vehicle that he was driving. Riley started 47 games in his first three seasons with the Kansas City, but he had five starts in 2001, the year of his arrest. After counseling and a two-week jail sentence, Riley played four more seasons – three with the New Orleans Saints and one with the Houston Texans – and started 41 more games.

No. 29 picks: Joe Cribbs, running back, Buffalo Bills, 1980; Doug Smith, nose tackle, Houston Oilers, 1984; Ed King, guard, Cleveland Browns, 1991; Ben Grubbs, guard, Baltimore Ravens, 2007.

The most Auburn players picked at one draft position are four — at No. 1, No. 29, No. 47, No. 83, No. 113 and No. 114.

Cribbs was a three-time Pro Bowler and a 1,000-yard rusher in three of his first four seasons for the Bills (and a strike likely kept him from going four-for-four), then led the USFL in rushing yards in 1984 and had two more 1,000-yard seasons after jumping to the Birmingham Stallions.

Ben Grubbs was a nine-year starter and two-time Pro Bowler – once for Baltimore and once for the New Orleans Saints. Smith was a starter in six of his eight years with the Oilers. King was a starter for three of his six NFL seasons.

No. 30 picks: Kendall Simmons, guard, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2002; Noah Igbinoghene, cornerback, Miami Dolphins, 2020.

Simmons started the first 80 games of his NFL career with Pittsburgh before suffering a torn Achilles tendon in 2008. He played in only four more NFL games — three with the Buffalo Bills and one with the New England Patriots.

No. 31 picks: Walter Gilbert, center, Philadelphia Eagles, 1937; Billy Wilson, tackle, St. Louis Cardinals, 1961; Lawyer Tillman, wide receiver, Cleveland Browns, 1989.

Gilbert was the first Auburn player picked in the NFL Draft, and he chose not to play professionally. He went on to become a Texaco executive instead of an NFL star. Auburn presents an award to outstanding alumni who were athletes that is named for Gilbert. Gilbert entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956 as a member of its fourth induction class.

Wilson was a future pick by the Cardinals. He played for Auburn in 1961 after being drafted by Chicago, but he never played in the NFL.

Auburn’s hero of the 1986 Iron Bowl, Tillman also played tight end during his NFL career, which consisted of 37 games and 38 receptions for 658 yards and three touchdowns.

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