SEC Football by the Numbers: 1 NFL Draft drought ends, 15 continue

The 90th NFL Draft on April 24-26 was the 44th in a row that the New Orleans Saints did not choose a player from Auburn.

The Saints made nine selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, including three from the SEC, but Frank Warren, the first pick of the third round of the 1981 draft, remains New Orleans’ most recent choice from Auburn.

“It’s not because we haven’t tried or haven’t wanted to or that they haven’t had good players,” Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said on Sunday night while attending the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Point Clear, “because they got a lot of good players and we’ve had a lot of good evaluations and grades on them. I get the same thing in New Orleans about LSU players. And look, there’s been a ton of great LSU players that we have coveted.

“But in that draft, you’ve got to draft what’s available to you, and it just doesn’t seem like the Auburn guys or the LSU guys have been available when we’re drafting at those spots. We get them occasionally, but I agree, not enough.”

New Orleans’ only draft pick from LSU in the past 15 drafts is center Will Clapp in 2018.

Auburn has had 174 players chosen in the NFL Draft since the Saints selected Warren. That’s the longest active draft drought for SEC players from one program for one NFL team when measured by picks.

There is a conference member with a longer pick drought with an NFL team, but it did not involve SEC players until the 2025 draft. Texas played its first season as a league member in 2024 and sent SEC players to the NFL for the first time this year.

Twelve Longhorns got picked in 2025, but none by the New York Jets. Texas has produced 199 drafted players since the Jets made their most recent selection of a Longhorn — wide receiver Lam Jones at No. 2 in 1980.

The longest draft drought in terms of years involving an SEC program and an NFL team pairs Vanderbilt and the Detroit Lions. Detroit made its most recent selection from the Commodores in 1959, when the Lions took center Ben Donnell. Since then, the other NFL teams have chosen 81 players from Vanderbilt in the draft.

One SEC member had its longest active draft drought broken in the 2025 picks. The Tennessee Titans’ fourth-round selection of wide receiver Chimere Dike was the team’s first from Florida since defensive back Ryan Smith in 2007.

The Los Angeles Chargers also had gone since 2007 without drafting a player from Florida when they took defensive back Trikweze Bridges with the next-to-last pick in 2025.

Those picks left Pittsburgh as the team that has gone the longest without choosing a player from Florida, even though with 24, the Steelers have selected more Gators than any other NFL team. Pittsburgh’s most recent pick from Florida was running back Chris Rainey in the fifth round of the 2012 draft.

The longest droughts (as measured by the number of drafted players) in the NFL Draft for each SEC team include:

· Alabama: 111 Crimson Tide players have been drafted since the Kansas City Chiefs made their most recent pick from Alabama – LB Nico Johnson in 2013.

· Arkansas: 126 Razorbacks have been drafted since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made their most recent pick from Arkansas — RB Jerry Eckwood in 1979.

· Auburn: 174 Tigers have been drafted since the New Orleans Saints made their most recent pick from Auburn — DL Frank Warren in 1981.

· Florida: 77 Gators have been drafted since the Pittsburgh Steelers made their most recent pick from Florida – RB Chris Rainey in 2012.

· Georgia: 103 Bulldogs have been drafted since the Dallas Cowboys made their most recent pick from Georgia – RB Shaun Chapas in 2011.

· Kentucky: 134 Wildcats have been drafted since the Miami Dolphins made their most recent pick from Kentucky — RB Larry Seiple in 1967.

· LSU: 102 Tigers have been drafted since the Indianapolis Colts made their most recent pick from LSU – DT Drake Nevis in 2011.

· Mississippi State: 133 Bulldogs have been drafted since the Los Angeles Chargers made their most recent pick from Mississippi State — WR Sammy Milner in 1971.

· Missouri: 87 Tigers have been drafted since the New York Giants made their most recent pick from Missouri — OT Conrad Goode in 1984.

· Oklahoma: 119 Sooners have been drafted since the Houston Texans made their first pick in an NFL Draft in 2002, and the team has never selected a player from Oklahoma.

· Ole Miss: 115 Rebels have been drafted since the Cleveland Browns made their most recent pick from Ole Miss – LB Curtis Weathers in 1979.

· South Carolina: 128 Gamecocks have been drafted since the Pittsburgh Steelers made their most recent pick from South Carolina – G Steve Courson in 1977.

· Tennessee: 85 Volunteers have been drafted since the Jacksonville Jaguars made their most recent pick from Tennessee – DT John Henderson in 2002.

· Texas: 199 Longhorns have been drafted since the New York Jets made their most recent pick from Texas – WR Lam Jones in 1980.

· Texas A&M: 104 Aggies have been drafted since the Tennessee Titans (as the Houston Oilers) made their most recent pick from Texas A&M – RB Rodney Thomas in 1995.

· Vanderbilt: 81 Commodores have been drafted since the Detroit Lions made their most recent pick from Vanderbilt — C Ben Donnell in 1959.

The draft streaks for Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas A&M also extend to before they became SEC members.

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