Bart Starr’s time at Alabama didn’t match the promise of his prep career at Sidney Lanier in Montgomery. And it took Starr some time to make his mark in the NFL after the Green Bay Packers picked him at No. 200 in the 1956 NFL Draft.
But from 1960 through 1967, Green Bay played in the NFL Championship Game six times, and the Packers won five of them. Green Bay went on to victories over the AFL champion in the first two Super Bowls, too.
Starr was the quarterback for all those teams, won the MVP awards for the 1966 NFL season and Super Bowls I and II and executed one of the most famous plays in NFL history to win the Ice Bowl, the NFL Championship Game for the 1967 season.
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A first-ballot choice for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Starr is one of eight members of the football shrine selected 200th or later in an NFL Draft, along with Raymond Berry, Rosey Brown, Lou Creekmur, Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Ken Houston and Andy Robustelli.
The Packers picked 16 players before they got to Starr, including another future Hall of Famer, SMU tackle Forrest Gregg, at No. 20. Starr wasn’t even Green Bay’s first selection from Alabama in 1956. Twelve picks before Starr, the Packers chose Crimson Tide tackle Curtis Lynch. Green Bay also picked two other quarterbacks in the 1956 draft – Florida’s Bobby Lance and Beloit’s Rod Hermes.
When the Packers picked Starr, the 200th selection was in the 17th round. In the 89th NFL Draft, the 200th pick will fall in the sixth round on April 27. The sixth-round selections made in Detroit will range from No. 177 through No. 220. Thirty-three players have been drafted from Alabama with those picks.
Twenty-six Alabama players have been sixth-round picks in an NFL Draft, but those selections ranged from No. 67 to No. 222. Over the decades, the picks comprising the sixth round have changed as the number of teams in the NFL has increased and the league has added compensatory choices as part of its free-agency plan.
The Alabama players who have been picked with the 177th through 220th selections of an NFL Draft include:
No. 177 pick: Jeoffrey Pagan, defensive end, Houston Texans, 2014.
Pagan played in 22 games in two seasons with Houston.
No. 178 pick: Anthony Bryant, defensive tackle, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2005.
The former Sunshine High School standout played in 15 NFL regular-season games – four for Tampa Bay in 2005, four for the Detroit Lions in 2006, one with the Miami Dolphins in 2007 and six with the Washington Redskins in 2010.
No. 180 pick: Billy Jackson, running back, Kansas City Chiefs, 1981.
No Alabama player drafted 100th or later has more NFL rushing yards than Jackson. In four seasons with Kansas City, Jackson ran for 1,365 yards and 16 touchdowns on 399 carries and caught 58 passes for 416 yards and two touchdowns. In the Chiefs’ final game of the 1981 season, Jackson ran for 102 yards on 25 carries in a 10-6 victory over the Minnesota Vikings for his only 100-yard rushing game.
No. 181 pick: Jim McWhorter, back, Detroit Lions, 1945.
McWhorter’s final season with the Crimson Tide came in 1942. McWhorter was drafted after military service in World War II, but he never played in the NFL.
No. 184 picks: Rich Wingo, linebacker, Green Bay Packers, 1979; Bo Wright, running back, Buffalo Bills, 1988.
Wingo was a starter in the first four of his five seasons with Green Bay (not including the 1980 season, which he missed with an injury). He played in 69 NFL regular-season games. Wingo has the unusual career scoring total of one point – and he didn’t kick an extra point to get it. In the Packers’ 16-9 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sept. 6, 1981, Wingo caught a pass from punter/holder Ray Stachowicz after a mishandled snap on the point-after attempt following Green Bay’s first touchdown. At the time, the NFL did not have 2-point conversions, and kicking the extra point or getting the ball across the goal line in the free play after a touchdown yielded the same result.
Wright spent time on the rosters of Buffalo and the Indianapolis Colts but did not play in the NFL regular-season game. He helped the Tampa Bay Storm win the Arena Football League championship in 1991. But his career was ended after that season when he was shot in the leg while visiting his hometown of Mobile.
No. 187 pick: Greg Gantt, punter, New York Jets, 1974.
Gantt served as New York’s punter in the 1974 and 1975 seasons. He averaged 36.2 yards on 134 punts. Gantt also made an extra-point kick while with the Jets. He was the first of four Alabama punters who have been drafted, preceding Chris Mohr in 1989, Bryne Diehl in 1995 and JK Scott in 2018.
No. 188 picks: Curtis Lynch, tackle, Green Bay Packers, 1956; George Bethune, linebacker, Los Angeles Rams, 1989.
The Wadley High School Bulldogs play at Curtis Lynch Stadium.
Bethune played in all 32 regular-season and three playoff games for Los Angeles in his two NFL seasons. He then helped the Sacramento Surge win the 1992 championship in the World League of American Football and played for the Canadian Football League’s Sacramento Gold Miners in 1994 and San Antonio Texans in 1995.
No. 192 pick: Isaiah Buggs, defensive tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2019.
Buggs played in 29 games, with seven starts, with Pittsburgh in his first three seasons. Joining the Detroit Lions in 2022, Buggs became a regular starter and registered his first NFL sack.
No. 193 pick: Deonte Brown, guard, Carolina Panthers, 2021.
Brown played 30 offensive snaps in three games for Carolina as a rookie, then spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons on the Panthers’ practice squad. He’s playing for the Birmingham Stallions in the United Football League this season.
No. 194 pick: Phillip Brown, linebacker, Atlanta Falcons, 1988.
Brown spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason, but he was released before the 1989 campaign.
No. 195 picks: Pat O’Sullivan, center, New York Giants, 1949; Ricky Davis, defensive back, Cincinnati Bengals, 1975.
Because of military service, O’Sullivan was draft-eligible when the Giants picked him, but he returned to the Crimson Tide for two more seasons of football.
Davis appeared in three NFL seasons with three teams – 14 games with Cincinnati in 1975, 11 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976 and 13 with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1977, when he started five games. Davis’ only NFL interception came in his second game: On Sept. 28, 1975, the Bengals beat New Orleans 21-0 in the Saints’ first regular-season game in the Superdome.
No. 197 picks: Tony Johnson, tight end, Philadelphia Eagles, 1996; Shaun Dion Hamilton, linebacker, Washington Redskins, 2018.
After failing to make the Philadelphia roster as a rookie, Johnson still played in nine games, with seven starts, in 1996 when he caught on with the New Orleans Saints. Johnson played in 27 regular-season games in three seasons with the Saints. He caught nine passes for 97 yards and one touchdown.
Hamilton played in 46 games, with seven starts, for Washington in his first three NFL seasons. After joining the Detroit Lions, Hamilton missed the 2021 campaign because of an injury. He re-signed with Detroit for the 2022 season, but he ended up on the Lions’ coaching staff instead of the roster.
No. 200 picks: Bart Starr, quarterback, Green Bay Packers, 1956; Ken Harris, running back, New York Giants, 1980.
Way down here in the draft, the Packers struck green-and-gold. Starr quarterbacked Green Bay to five NFL championships, earned the NFL MVP Award for the 1966 season, won the MVP Award for the first two Super Bowls and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 in his first year of eligibility.
Giants coach Ray Perkins took a flyer on Harris after working him out. Harris didn’t play football at Alabama after his freshman season, and he didn’t end up playing for the Giants either.
No. 202 pick: Waine Bacon, defensive back, Atlanta Falcons, 2003.
Bacon never played for Atlanta. But in 2004, he played in 11 regular-season games and two playoff contests for the Indianapolis Colts. In his only NFL campaign, Bacon had 16 tackles and intercepted one pass.
No. 204 pick: Toderick Malone, wide receiver, New Orleans Saints, 1996.
Malone never played in an NFL regular-season game. But he caught 57 passes for 657 yards and three touchdowns for the London/England Monarchs of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
No. 207 pick: Rebel Steiner, end, Detroit Lions, 1948
Steiner went back to Alabama for the 1948 season. In the 1949 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers took him with the 114th pick as a defensive back. He played two seasons in the Green Bay secondary before a knee injury ended his career. He returned the second of his 10 interceptions 94 yards for a touchdown after picking off Johnny Lujack in a 31-21 victory over the Chicago Bears on Oct. 1, 1950.
No. 208 pick: Greg McElroy, quarterback, New York Jets, 2011.
McElroy was the third-team QB behind Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow when New York coach Rex Ryan benched Sanchez, bypassed Tebow and named McElroy the starter for Game 15 of the 2012 season. Ryan made the move after Sanchez threw four interceptions in a 14-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans that dropped the Jets to 6-8 on Dec. 17. McElroy had thrown a fourth-quarter touchdown pass in a 7-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in his first NFL appearance on Dec. 2. McElroy completed 14-of-24 passes for 185 yards with no touchdowns and one interception and ran for 25 yards on four carries in a 27-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Dec. 23. McElroy was sacked 11 times in the game. Ryan planned to stick with McElroy for the season finale, but it turned out all those sacks had given the rookie a concussion. He never played in another NFL regular-season game.
No. 210 pick: Thomas Boyd, linebacker, Green Bay Packers, 1982.
Boyd played two seasons apiece with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders and the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions before playing in the NFL. The former Lee-Huntsville standout played in four games, with three starts, for the Detroit Lions in 1987.
No. 211 picks: Tommy Brooker, end, Washington Redskins, 1962; Marquis Johnson, defensive back, St. Louis Rams, 2010; Michael Williams, tight end, Detroit Lions, 2013.
Brooker went with the Dallas Texans, who had picked him 131st in the 1962 AFL Draft, rather than Washington. He ended his rookie season by kicking a 25-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Texans to a 20-17 victory over the Houston Oilers in the third AFL Championship Game. After winning the crown, the Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs, and Brooker was an all-star kicker for them in 1964. In addition to making 41 field goals in his five NFL seasons, Brooker also played end in his first two. He caught six passes in his NFL career, with three going for touchdowns, including a 92-yard reception from Len Dawson in Dallas’ 24-3 victory over the Denver Broncos on Nov. 18, 1962.
Hampered by a knee injury, Johnson played in five games over two seasons with St. Louis.
Williams broke his hand in a preseason game and missed his entire rookie season. Detroit then announced it would convert the former Pickens County High School standout into an offensive tackle, but he never played in that capacity. After joining the New England Patriots in 2015, Williams reverted to tight end and started in nine of his 15 games. He caught three passes for 26 yards.
No. 212 pick: Calvin Culliver, running back, Denver Broncos, 1977.
Culliver did not play in the NFL. But he did run for 207 yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries for the CFL’s British Columbia Lions in 1978.
No. 215 pick: Bradley Bozeman, center, Baltimore Ravens, 2018.
After making one start as a rookie, Bozeman took every offensive snap at left guard for Baltimore in 2019, when the Ravens set an NFL record for single-season rushing yards, and he was back at that spot in 2020, when Baltimore led the NFL in rushing again. In 2021, the former Handley High School standout returned to his college position as the Ravens’ center. After playing for the Carolina Panthers the past two seasons, Bozeman signed with the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason.
No. 216 picks: Bill Cadenhead, back, Detroit Lions, 1947; Tommy Tolleson, wide receiver, Atlanta Falcons, 1966.
Originally enrolled at Alabama in 1942, Cadenhead left for the U.S. Navy and World War II. He was drafted by Detroit after his first season for the Crimson Tide, but Cadenhead returned to play in the 1947, 1948 and 1949 seasons at Alabama.
An original Atlanta Falcon, Tolleson played in eight games for the franchise in its inaugural season.
No. 218 pick: Robert Stewart, defensive tackle, New Orleans Saints, 1992.
Stewart did not play in the NFL. But he spent 11 seasons in the Arena Football League. He was a first-team All-Arena selection in 1994 for the Charlotte Rage, 1999 for the New Jersey Red Dogs and 2001 for the New York Dragons. The Ashford native was the league’s Lineman of the Year in 1999.
No. 219 pick: Ray Abruzzese, back, Baltimore Colts, 1962.
Abruzzese signed with the Buffalo Bills, who had selected him at No. 180 in the 1962 AFL Draft. He played five seasons in the AFL – three with Buffalo and two with the New York Jets – and intercepted nine passes in 61 games as a safety. Abruzzese also intercepted a pass by Babe Parilli in the Bills’ 26-8 loss to the New England Patriots in an AFL playoff game on Dec. 28, 1963.
No. 220 pick: Lemanski Hall, linebacker, Houston Oilers, 1994.
Despite his draft position, Hall played in 101 NFL regular-season games across eight seasons. The former Valley High School standout made 13 of his 20 career starts in 2001 as the Minnesota Vikings’ strongside linebacker, but injuries curtailed his career after that.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.