Roger Goodell called out 32 names during the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. While we think about draft picks in terms of where they went to college, these players all have hometowns and states that they’re making proud, too.
A United States heat map of every 1st-round NFL draft pick for the last decade
Where first-rounders come from, in map form.
Morgan Moriarty of SB Nation. Made with Google Maps.
We decided to put together a heat map that shows the home towns of all first-rounders from 2008-17. There are a number of cities, states, and even different countries represented.
Here’s a heat map of American-born first-rounders from the last 10 drafts, from 2008 through this year’s. This includes the vast majority of draftees in that time:
Made with Google Maps
The majority of first-rounders come from distinct areas: In the Northeast, there’s a high concentration in areas starting with the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, and extending into Pennsylvania and New York.
The Southeast is busy:
The state of Texas has been represented 38 times in the first round over the last 10 years. Florida has a high number as well, totaling 31 first-rounders in the last 10 drafts.
Thirty-five Californians have gone in the first round over the last 10 drafts.
There have also been a few notable first-rounders from outside the United States. Ezekiel Ansah (2013) of Ghana and Nelson Agholor (2015) of Nigeria are just a couple of the examples.
A few states were well-represented in the first round this year, in particular.
Here’s this year’s map, represented by pins:
A total count by state:
State | 1st-rounders |
|---|
Ohio had a total of four picks: Cowboys defensive end Taco Charlton, Raiders cornerback Gareon Conley, Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, and Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
The state of Texas also had four in Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, 49ers defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, Jets safety Jamal Adams, and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Interestingly enough, three of those top six players picked from Texas didn’t end up signing with the Longhorns as recruits. Texas normally does quite well in the draft, including last year. So does Florida, but that changed this year.
Unlike the drafts of the recent past, this year there were no prospects from the first round taken from Florida, a state that has produced 226 blue-chip recruits in the last five recruiting cycles. That had not happened since 2009.
