The 5 Best Clemson Tigers To Play in the NFL
The Greatest Clemson Tigers in NFL History
The Clemson Tigers have been a college football powerhouse for the last decade or so.
Under Head Coach Dabo Swinney, the Tigers have added two National Titles (2016 & 2018) to their 1981 championship, taking their total to three in school history. Clemson has turned their program into a football factory that churns out pro-ready NFL superstars on an annual basis.
Yet a lot of the best NFL players to come out of Clemson haven’t suited up in decades.
Showcasing the storied history of a proud football program. Hundreds of Clemson alumni have played in the NFL, but who is/was the best?
Clemson Tigers NFL Facts (As of 2021)
- Number of Players Drafted in the NFL: 256
- Number One Overall Picks: 1 (Trevor Lawrence, QB, 2021)
- Number of Players to Have Earned At Least One Pro Bowl in the NFL: 19
- 24 players share a combined 30 Super Bowl Championship Rings
- The Baltimore Ravens & Carolina Panthers have never drafted a Clemson Tiger (What’s up with that guys?)
So, who are the best Clemson Tigers to have made it to the National Football League?
5) Dwight Clark - Wide Reciever
Time with Clemson: 1976-1978
Entered the NFL: 10th Round Pick (249th Overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in 1979
NFL Highlights: 2x Super Bowl Champion, 2x Pro-Bowls, 1 All-Pro
Clark was a late bloomer, playing mainly as a backup throughout his time in college with Clemson.
He only managed to compile 33 receptions for 571 receiving yards and three touchdowns in three seasons as a Tiger.
Leading to every NFL team overlooking Clark in the 1978 NFL Draft until the 49ers selected him in the 10th round. However, it worked out for Clark, who joined a San Francisco team on the eve of the franchise becoming an NFL juggernaut.
After a quiet rookie campaign, Clark didn’t dip below 800+ receiving yards as a pro for the next five seasons.
That included a team-leading 1,105 receiving yard campaign in 1981, the season in which San Francisco also won Super Bowl XVI.
Clark is perhaps most famous for being on the receiving end of a play in the NFC Championship game of the same season.
With under a minute left in the game, Clark made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone to complete a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana, enabling the 49ers to defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 28–27.
A play that will never be forgotten, thanks in no small part to the former Clemson Tiger wide receiver, has since been coined simply “The Catch.”
4) Deandre Hopkins: Wide Reciever
Time with Clemson: 2010-2012
Entered the NFL: 1st Round Pick (27th Overall) by the Houston Texans in 2013
NFL Highlights: 3x All-Pro, 5x Pro-Bowls
Perhaps this is something of a projection. However, Hopkins is already one of the best wide receivers to ever play the game.
He dominated at the college level.
He improved every season until declaring for the 2013 NFL Draft on the back of an incredible 82 receptions, 1,405 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns campaign for Clemson.
The Tigers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the 2014 Orange Bowl in Hopkins final season, just as they were hitting their stride as a force in college football.
While Clemson would go on to find even more success without Hopkins, the wide receiver has been stamping his authority all over the NFL.
A bonafide superstar in the league, Hopkins has already racked up 10,009 receiving yards, one of only 49 players to reach that milestone. That’s not accounting for the fact he reached 10,000 yards before the age of 30.
With some postseason success and another half decade of steady statistical accumulation, Hopkins could sit atop this list in a few years.
3) Michael Dean Perry: Defensive Tackle /Defensive End
Time with Clemson: 1985-1987
Entered the NFL: 2nd Round Pick (50th Overall) by the Cleveland Browns in 1988
NFL Highlights: 2x All-Pro, 6x Pro-Bowls
Perry was a dominant force for Clemson along the defensive line in the mid 1980’s.
He set the school record for career sacks with 28 during his time at Clemson.
Perry is actually the younger brother of “The Refrigerator” William Perry, who played over 10 seasons in the league and was a Super Bowl champion with the Chicago Bears in 1985. Michael however, was arguably the better player.
As a defensive tackle in the NFL, Michael Perry racked up an impressive 61 career sacks over his time with the Browns and Denver Broncos.
The 1990 campaign was Perry’s best. He recorded a career high 11.5 sacks, a performance that earned him his second first-team All-Pro award.
Perry never enjoyed the team success of some of the other players on this list but make no mistake, he was a force to be reckoned with in the trenches throughout the late 80s into the 90s. Perry made sure his name was one opposition coaches had to account for in the game plan every week.
2) Trevor Pryce - Defensive Tackle /Defensive End
Time with Clemson: 1996
Entered the NFL: 1st Round Pick (28th Overall) by the Denver Broncos in 1997
NFL Highlights: 2x Super Bowl Champion, 4x Pro-Bowls, 3x All-Pro
Pryce only played one year for Clemson in 1996.
He was a transfer from the University of Michigan ahead of the season. That Tigers side was far from the greatest in school history. Following a lacklustre regular season in which the team achieved a 7-5 record, Clemson lost 10-7 to LSU in the 1996 Peach Bowl.
However, Pryce would go on and dominate at the pro level. The defensive lineman enjoyed a 15-year NFL career in which he racked up an impressive 97 sacks. Narrowingly missing out on becoming one of the very few with 100 career sacks.
A rookie for the Denver Broncos Super Bowl win in 1997, he became a key piece along the defensive front for the team that retained their crown in 1998, recording 8.5 sacks over the campaign.
His All-Pro awards speak for themselves when we consider the standard of play Pryce reached at his peak in the NFL. An unheralded name but one of the best Clemson Tigers to play in the NFL. However, who’s number one?
1) Brian Dawkins - Safety
Time with Clemson: 1993-1995
Entered the NFL: 2nd Round Pick (61st Overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996
NFL Highlights: Pro Football Hall of Famer, NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, 4x All-Pro, 9x Pro-Bowls
From one difficult position to make a name for yourself to another, there’s no doubt Brian Dawkins is one of the best safeties the NFL has ever seen.
Dawkins was dominant at Clemson and his highlight reel of knockout tackles on opposition ball carriers is worth a watch.
However, despite recording 11 interceptions in three college seasons as a safety, doubts over the value of the position and Dawkins consistency in coverage ensured he didn’t hear his name called until the Philadelphia Eagles picked him late in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft.
In a 16-season career, Dawkins suited up as an Eagles player for 13 of those seasons and Denver for the final three.
Over the span of his career, Dawkins developed a reputation as a ball-hawking safety and became the unquestioned leader of the Eagles defense.
He made 37 interceptions in total and was regarded as one of the hardest hitters in the league throughout his career before he announced his retirement in 2012. In February 2018, in just his second year of eligibility, Dawkins was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He remains the only football player from the Clemson Tigers program to receive a prestigious “Gold Jacket”, awarded to every Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.
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