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Remembering the Incredible NFL Draft Class of 2020- Where Are They Now?
Photo: Sep 25, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) walks to the locker room after the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 3 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports

Remembering the Incredible NFL Draft Class of 2020- Where Are They Now?

By - P Hodges

Although every NFL Draft is a buzz of excitement and anticipation, time can be a cruel mistress when reflecting on the subsequent careers of the players in each annual class.

But there’s no such issues with the vintage of 2020; now five years old, this cohort produced a number of NFL stars that are still relevant and delivering high quality performances to this day.

So here’s our ode to the NFL Draft alumni of 2020.

Hey Joe

Although the Cincinnati Bengals aren’t the force they once were – NFL betting odds of +50000 on them to win Super Bowl LX are evidence of that – in Joe Burrow they picked up the classiest of operators with the first pick of the 2020 Draft.

You won’t find many sport betting tips columns that are bullish about the Bengals right now, and that’s largely because Burrow suffered a serious toe injury in Week 2 of the 2025-26 season. He has been absent ever since.

You may remember in his sophomore year that the quarterback not only helped Cincinnati snap the longest playoff drought in the NFL, but he also guided them to Super Bowl LVI, where they would suffer heartbreak at the hands of Cooper Kupp’s last minute touchdown for the Los Angeles Rams.

Burrow was rewarded with the largest contract in NFL history in 2023; not bad for a player that was still representing LSU just four years earlier.

The good times kept on rolling in 2024, with Burrow almost reaching the 5,000 yard milestone – he still led the NFL, comfortably, in passing yards and touchdowns, to confirm his status as one of the best quarterbacks in football today.

Did the Bengals ‘win’ the 2020 NFL Draft? The stats are irrefutable.

Best of the Rest

Burrow wasn’t the only star picked up in the Class of 2020.

Chase Young bounced back from a torn ACL to record a sack for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII – he’d initially been drafted by Washington back in 2020, while Andrew Thomas was selected as a second team All-Pro in 2022, before being handed the record contract for an offensive lineman by the New York Giants a year later.

Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert were the fifth and sixth picks respectively in the Class of 2020; this truly was a vintage year for elite quarterbacks graduating from college football.

Tagovailoa was a Pro Bowl selection in 2023 after leading the NFL in passing yards, while Herbert – a Pro Bowl pick in 2021 – has come of age during the 2025-26 season, delivering 2,390 passing yards for the Chargers through Week 9 and completing 18 touchdown passes. He currently ranks second in the NFL for both of those statistical categories.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Super Bowl LIX MVP in the building <a href="https://t.co/StYT214icu">pic.twitter.com/StYT214icu</a></p>&mdash; Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/1946360737342935215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Derrick Brown, Tristan Wirfs, Jerry Jeudy, and CeeDee Lamb have also been selected for the Pro Bowl, while Jalen Hurts – incredibly, the number 53 pick in the 2020 Draft – is a two-time Pro Bowl pick and a Super Bowl MVP.

His Philadelphia Eagles team won Super Bowl LIX, with Hurts – alongside fellow 2020 cohort Mekhi Becton, Braden Mann, and Bryce Huff – all featuring in the victory.

Has there been a more successful Draft vintage in the modern era than the Class of 2020?