Auburn’s NFL Draft: Is there another Hall of Famer in the fourth round?
The 103rd through 138th selections will make up the fourth round of the NFL Draft when the league reconvenes on April 26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for the third day of this year’s event.
Auburn prospects Eugene Asante, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Jalen McLeod and Rivaldo Fairweather are pegged as third-round prospects by draft evaluators, and NFL teams can only hope one pans out as well as the 113th selection in the 1985 draft.
Chosen from Auburn by the Los Angeles Rams, Greene went on to record the third-highest career sack total in NFL history and reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In 1985, the 113th choice was the first pick in the fifth round. In this year’s draft, the 113th selection will be the 11th in the fourth round.
The Auburn players who have been picked with the 103rd through 138th selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 103 pick: George Gross, defensive tackle, St. Louis Cardinals, 1962.
A native of Romania, Gross went with the San Diego Chargers instead of St. Louis after being the 128th selection in the 1962 AFL Draft. He was a future pick in both drafts and signed his first pro contract under the goal posts at Legion Field after the Iron Bowl on Dec. 1, 1962. “Mr. Muscles” spent five seasons with the Chargers, starting with San Diego’s AFL championship campaign in 1963. His brother Andy Gross also played at Auburn but was not drafted. That didn’t keep Andy Gross from playing in every game in the 1967 and 1968 seasons for the New York Giants.
No. 107 pick: Bobby Wasden, end, San Francisco 49ers, 1960.
Wasden did not play in the NFL. But in 27 years as a high school football coach in Alabama, he compiled a 202-86-7 record.
No. 113 picks: George Rogers, tackle, Green Bay Packers, 1955; Kevin Greene, linebacker, Los Angeles Rams, 1985; Leonardo Carson, defensive tackle, San Diego Chargers, 2000; Gabe Wright, defensive tackle, Detroit Lions, 2015.
A member of Phillips High School’s undefeated team in 1950, Rogers joined his brother, Don, as bookend tackles on Auburn’s offensive line. A track-and-field standout at for the Tigers, too, Rogers went from his college ROTC program to the U.S. Air Force and did not play in the NFL.
Two former Auburn players are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After his only season on the Plains, Frank “Gunner” Gatski was not drafted. He tried out for the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference, starting a 12-year career during which the center played in a league championship game 11 times. Gatski entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2016, he was joined by Greene. A two-time first-team All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler, Greene recorded 160 sacks — the third-highest total in NFL history and the most for a player who was primarily a linebacker.
Carson started 15 games for the Dallas Cowboys in his fifth season. But the next season, he lost his job in training camp to Jay Ratliff, a rookie from Auburn, and never played in another NFL game.
Wright played in seven games as a rookie with the Lions in 2015. In the next seven seasons, Wright played in eight NFL regular-season games.
No. 114 picks: Ben Preston, tackle, Washington Redskins, 1958; Jeff Parks, tight end, Houston Oilers, 1986; Brad Ware, defensive back, Tennessee Titans, 1999; Ricardo Louis, wide receiver, Cleveland Browns, 2016.
An All-State selection for Eufaula’s undefeated team in 1952, Preston went to the Senior Bowl after playing for Auburn’s 1957 AP national-championship team, but he never played in the NFL.
A Gardendale High School star, Parks had one reception in 15 games across three NFL seasons. Parks had a 22-yard reception for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 4, 1988. Something else unique happened on that day: The Bucs’ 10-5 victory over the Buffalo Bills is the only NFL game to end with that score.
Ware left Auburn with a season of eligibility remaining and never played in an NFL regular-season game.
On the receiving end of the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, Louis caught 45 passes for 562 yards in his first two seasons with Cleveland, then missed the 2018 and 2019 NFL seasons because of injuries before his football career continued in the CFL.
No. 115 pick: Fred Baxter, tight end, New York Jets, 1993.
A prep star at Pike County, Baxter played 134 games in 11 seasons, including the first eight with New York. Baxter caught 100 passes for 1,008 yards and 12 touchdowns.
No. 116 picks: Carl Lawson, defensive end, Cincinnati Bengals, 2017; Colby Wooden, defensive lineman, Green Bay Packers, 2024.
Lawson led the NFL’s rookies with 8.5 sacks in 2017 and earned a place on the Pro Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team. In 2020, Lawson finished second in the NFL with 32 quarterback hits and earned a three-year, $45 million contract from the New York Jets in free agency, but a knee injury kept him off the field during the 2021 season. He returned with seven sacks and 24 quarterback hits in 2022, then played in only six games in 2023. Lawson had five sacks for the Dallas Cowboys in 2024.
Wooden has played in 30 games in his first two seasons with the Packers.
No. 118 pick: Lionel James, running back, San Diego Chargers, 1984.
James’ roster measurements were 5-foot-6 and 171 pounds, but “Little Train” lasted for five NFL seasons. He led the NFL in kickoff-return yards as a rookie and in all-purpose yards in his second season. James’ 2,535 all-purpose yards in 1985 set an NFL single-season record, and it’s been bettered only three times since. In 1985, James caught 86 passes for 1,027 yards and six touchdowns to join Red Phillip as the only Auburn alumni with 1,000 receiving yards in an NFL season. Frank Sanders has joined them by recording two 1,000-yard receiving seasons since. James is one of five running backs with 1,000 receiving yards in one season.
No. 119 picks: Tommie Agee, running back, Seattle Seahawks, 1987; James Willis, linebacker, Green Bay Packers, 1993.
Agee played in 100 regular-season games, ran for 309 yards and one touchdown and caught 44 passes for 366 yards and one touchdown. He played in every game as a fullback for Dallas in 1992, when the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVI.
Like Agee, Willis played in seven NFL seasons. In 93 regular-season games, he intercepted four passes and recovered five fumbles. All 44 of Willis’ NFL starts came in the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons, when he was the middle linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles and made 255 tackles.
Agee and Willis were Alabama prep stars – Agee at Maplesville and Willis at J.O. Johnson in Huntsville.
No. 125 pick: Fob James, back, Chicago Cardinals, 1956.
James never played for the Cardinals. He did play for the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, but he’s better known in Alabama these days for serving two terms as the state’s governor more than a decade apart — from 1979 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999.
No. 127 picks: Ty Irby, back, Detroit Lions, 1946; Neil O’Donoghue, kicker, Buffalo Bills, 1977.
Seven Auburn players have been drafted as specialists — kicker or punter — with O’Donoghue coming off the draft board the quickest. He spent nine seasons in the NFL, reaching a high of 117 points for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1984.
No. 129 picks: Lloyd Cheatham, back, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1941; Corey Barlow, defensive back, Philadelphia Eagles, 1992; Jonathan Wilhite, New England Patriots, 2008.
Cheatham was drafted twice. After being drafted by Brooklyn, Cheatham played another season at Auburn. In 1942, Cheatham, a top blocking back, got drafted 115 spots higher by the Chicago Cardinals, played professional baseball for the Montgomery Rebels and the Anniston Rams of the Class B Southeastern League and appeared in 11 games in his rookie NFL season. World War II service caused Cheatham to miss the next three seasons. He returned in 1946 to play three seasons with the New York Yankees of the All-American Football Conference.
Barlow played in 10 NFL regular-season games in his only NFL season, and Wilhite played in 54 in five seasons.
No. 131 pick: Brandon Mosley, tackle, New York Giants, 2012.
The injuries started early for Mosley and plagued his NFL career. He missed his entire rookie season, played in 22 games over the next two seasons and was released at the end of the preseason in 2015.
No. 132 picks: Dave Campbell, defensive end, Miami Dolphins, 1970; Chris Gray, guard, Miami Dolphins, 1993.
Things didn’t work out for Campbell with Miami in 1970 or the New Orleans Saints in 1971, and he never played in an NFL regular-season game. As a high school football coach in Alabama, Campbell compiled a 132-84 record in 13 seasons at Walker and six at Sumiton Christian.
Gray spent the final 10 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and was a starter for the entire decade. Gray is one of the eight Auburn alumni who has played in more than 200 NFL regular-season games, appearing in 208. The top two on Auburn’s list for NFL games — place-kicker Al Del Greco with 248 and fullback Tony Richardson with 234 — were not drafted. Other Auburn players with 200 NFL games include Kevin Greene (228), Takeo Spikes (219), Wayne Gandy (219), Karlos Dansby (212) and Ed West (211). West wasn’t drafted either.
No. 133 picks: Tyronne Green, guard, San Diego Chargers, 2009; Jarrett Stidham, quarterback, New England Patriots, 2019.
After playing in 41 games with 28 starts in his first four NFL seasons in San Diego, Green signed contracts with the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers but never played in a regular-season game for any of them.
Stidham backed up Tom Brady in his first season and former Auburn All-American (and No. 1 draft pick) Cam Newton in his second in New England. He made his first NFL starts for the Las Vegas Raiders in the final two games of the 2022 season and became the second player in NFL history with at least 350 passing yards and three touchdown passes in his first start. Stidham got two more starts to close the season for Denver in 2023, then ended up backing up another former Auburn signal-caller, Bo Nix, for the Broncos in 2024.
No. 138 pick: Walter McFadden, defensive back, Oakland Raiders, 2010.
After playing in four games as a rookie with Oakland, McFadden signed contracts with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, but never played for any of those teams.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.