Much like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Donald will go down in history as a player who likely deserved to be drafted much higher than even his top-15 draft status would have expected him too.
The 2014 NFL Draft was actually filled to the brim with stars who would shine quickly, veterans who still hold it down to this day and Pro Bowlers.
But of the 12 players picked before Donald in the 2014 NFL Draft, it’s hard to imagine any of them finishing their careers with a greater legacy than he will. And that’s despite eight of the 12 making at least one Pro Bowl so far.
Today we’re taking a look at those 12 players, how their NFL careers have gone (or went), and what they’ve been up to lately.
Jadeveon Clowney, DE – No. 1 Overall By Houston Texans
Once seen as the next great all-time great NFL pass rusher, Clowney’s NFL career seemed cursed from the jump when he suffered a season-ending injury just four games into his career. Clowney would find significant success with the Texans between 2016 and 2018, making three straight Pro Bowls, but has never reached 10 sacks in a season.
Since 2019 he has bounced around the league. As of writing he is a free agent seeking his sixth NFL team in the last seven years.
Greg Robinson, OL – No. 2 Overall By St. Louis Rams
11 picks before taking Donald, the Rams chose Robinson in a move that they would ultimately regret. Robinson would start 46 games over three years with the Rams and the team eagerly traded him to the Lions in 2017, where he played only six games.
He would play the 2018 and 2019 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, starting 22 of 31 games. But he never really lived up to the pre-draft hype around him. Ironically, Robinson would have been slightly less of an NFL Draft bust if the Rams had simply switched their draft position.
The less that’s said of Robinson’s post-NFL exploits, the better.
Blake Bortles, QB – No. 3 Overall By Jacksonville Jaguars
Despite leading the Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game in 2017, Bortles’ NFL career really isn’t viewed fondly by Jaguars fans or the wider NFL – and for good reason.
Bortles began his career with an 11-34 record as a starter that saw him throw 51 interceptions over three seasons. While he did put up some good numbers in stretches, his turnovers were unbearable for most and even after his solid 2017 season, his future did not look bright.
After a lackluster 2018 season where he went 3-9 as a starter, the Jaguars released him just one year into a three-year $54 million contract and he only threw two more passes in his NFL career.
Bortles’ retired in October 2022, having not seen the field since 2019.
Sammy Watkins, WR – No. 4 Overall By Buffalo Bills
Once a superstar at Clemson, Watkins was the first wide receiver taken in an NFL Draft filled to the brim with Pro Bowl talent at the position (five of them). While he has enjoyed a reasonably long career and even won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in 2019, it’s hard to make the case that he has lived up to his draft position.
Watkins has 364 receptions for 5,384 yards and 34 touchdowns in 111 games played. But he has not seen the field since 2022 and had not had 500 yards in a season since 2019.
Khalil Mack, LB – No. 5 Overall By Oakland Raiders
The first player in this draft to truly emerge as an all-time great, Khalil Mack was one of the best pass rushers of the 2010s and for a good while battled Donald for the mantle of the top defender in the NFL.
Mack has enjoyed successful stints with the Raiders, Bears and Chargers, making multiple Pro Bowls for all three franchises amid his continued excellence.
As he heads into his 11th NFL season and third with the Chargers, Mack has 101.5 sacks, 170 QB hits and just recorded 17.0 sacks this past year alone.
Jake Matthews, OL – No. 6 Overall By Atlanta Falcons
Hailing from football royalty as part of the prestigious Matthews family, Jake Matthews has quietly been one of the league’s most reliable offensive tackles for a decade. He made his first and only Pro Bowl in 2018 and protected Matt Ryan’s blind side during his MVP 2016 season.
In 10 seasons, Matthews has missed only one game and a handful of snaps. He is currently in the midst of the longest active streak of starts for an NFL offensive lineman.
Mike Evans, WR – No. 7 Overall By Tampa Bay Buccaneers
One of the few players from the 2014 NFL Draft who seems to have a real shot at joining Donald in Canton someday, Evans was great from the get-go and has remained one of the most consistently good and consistently available wide receivers in the NFL.
He just wrapped up his fifth Pro Bowl season and 10th straight year with over 1,000 receiving yards, earning a monster contract extension from the Bucs for his hard work in the process.
Justin Gilbert, CB – No. 8 Overall By Cleveland Browns
Gilbert can’t thank his lucky stars that he wasn’t the only player the Browns took in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, otherwise there might have been a lot more focus on his lackluster career than Johnny Manziel’s trainwreck.
Gilbert lasted just two years in Cleveland, after which he was traded to the rival Steelers. He spent one year in Pittsburgh before being suspended for an entire year in 2017 for a substance-abuse policy violation and has not played in the NFL since.
Nobody had seen hide nor hair of Gilbert on a football field until recently, when he joined the Sioux City Bandits indoor football team.
Anthony Barr, LB – No. 9 Overall By Minnesota Vikings
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The first of nine straight Pro Bowlers taken between picks nine and 17, Barr has been a solid linebacker for the past decade – nine years in Minnesota and one with the Dallas Cowboys.
Barr enjoyed four straight Pro Bowl seasons between 2015 and 2018, but recently has been used mainly as a practice squad guy. He’s still under contract with the team, but the days of Barr being an every-down defender appear to be behind him.
Eric Ebron, TE – No. 10 Overall By Detroit Lions
Ebron’s eight-year NFL career saw some peaks with the Indianapolis Colts and valleys with the Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. In his first four years in Detroit, Ebron was a productive but hardly elite pass-catching tight end, making 186 receptions for 2,070 yards and 11 touchdowns.
However, in his first year with the Colts and quarterback Andrew Luck, Ebron made his first and only Pro Bowl after scoring a whopping 13 touchdowns in that single 2018 season.
Sadly, injuries hindered Ebron throughout his career and while he technically hasn’t retired, it doesn’t look like he’ll be playing again after not playing since 2021.
Taylor Lewan, OL – No. 11 Overall By Tennessee Titans
From 2015 to 2018 there were few left tackles in the NFL playing at a higher level than Lewan was with the Titans and quarterback Marcus Mariota’s early career with the team surely benefited from it. Lewan made three straight Pro Bowls from 2016 to 2018, during which the team enjoyed three straight 9-7 seasons and a playoff trip in 2017.
But like so many players, Lewan also caught the injury bug in a big way. A series of injuries between 2019 and 2022 cost him over 30 games and he has not played since sustaining a season-ending knee injury in 2022.
Last year Lewan filed a lawsuit against the doctor who performed surgery on his torn ACL, citing “severe and permanent” damage – which does not bode well for his NFL future.
Odell Beckham Jr. – No. 12 Overall By New York Giants
At one time Odell Beckham Jr. was the face of the NFL and seemed like a lock for Canton. But these days he isn’t even a lock to be a healthy active on GameDay anymore.
As a member of the Giants, OBJ took the league by storm, leading the league in yards per game as a rookie, dazzling casual viewers with his amazing receptions and starting his career with Pro Bowl, All-Pro and Rookie of the Year honors.
But a series of injuries slowed his production dramatically while issues with the team resulted in him being traded to the Cleveland Browns in 2019. OBJ had a solid 2019 season but was injured the following year, forced his way out and onto the Rams’ Super Bowl team the year after that, and did not play in 2022 before playing 14 games for the Ravens in 2023.
As of writing, OBJ is a free agent, but he isn’t seen as a game-changer that he once was.