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. 5 pick: Florida State cornerback Deion Sanders by the Atlanta Falcons in 1989

The fifth selection in the NFL Draft hasn’t produced just nine members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Six members of the NFL All-Time Team selected in 2019 for the league’s centennial were No. 5 picks.

Of those all-time greats, Sanders was a six-time first-team All-Pro selection and eight-time Pro Bowler who won the AP’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 1994 season and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

A two-time Super Bowl winner, Sanders returned nine of his 53 regular-season interceptions for touchdowns, and he also scored on three receptions, six punt returns and three kickoff returns.

The sixth selection in last year’s draft was Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt by the Los Angeles Chargers.

Best No. 5 pick from the SEC: LSU halfback Steve Van Buren by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1944

One of the 12 running backs chosen for the NFL All-Time Team in 2019 as part of the league’s celebration of its centennial, Van Buren made first-team All-Pro five times in his first six seasons.

In the final two of Van Buren’s All-Pro seasons, Philadelphia won the NFL championship in 1948 and 1949.

Van Buren became the first NFL player to reach 5,000 career rushing yards after he led the league in rushing in 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1949. He led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in each of those seasons, too. In 1946, when Van Buren didn’t win the rushing crown (because he missed two games), he still led the NFL in rushing yards per game

Of the 16 SEC players picked at No. 5, LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is the most recent after going to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2021.

Best No. 5 pick with Alabama football roots: Auburn split end Red Phillips by the Los Angeles Rams in 1958

A prep star at Benjamin Russell in Alexander City, Phillips was a three-time Pro Bowler who received first-team All-Pro recognition in 1961, when he led the NFL with 78 receptions.

During his peak seasons from 1960 through 1963, Phillips tied with future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Ray Berry for the most receptions in the NFL and ranked fifth in receiving yards, with a high of 1,092 in 1961.

When he retired in 1967, Phillips was among the seven players who had at least 400 receptions and 6,000 receiving yards in the NFL.

The Jacksonville Jaguars hold the No. 5 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.