Every NFL draft pick coached by James Franklin
James Franklin got his first head coaching opportunity with Vanderbilt after the 2010 season despite previously being the head coach-in-waiting at Maryland. The Commodores are not necessarily known for producing a tremendous amount of NFL talent, but Vanderbilt managed to send a few players off to the next level by way of the NFL draft under the guidance of Franklin, who has experience as an assistant coach in the NFL.
In the years Franklin was the head coach at Vanderbilt, from 2011 through 2013, Vanderbilt had seven players drafted. And a few more who would go on to be drafted later on out of Vanderbilt were brought into the program initially by Franklin and his staff. The seven players drafted from Vanderbilt from Franklin’s three seasons with the program is the most draft picks from Vanderbilt in a three-year span in school history since 1957-1969 saw 11 players selected by NFL teams, in the days of a draft lasting at least 20 rounds.
Since arriving at Penn State in 2014, Franklin has seen a growing number of his players go on to be drafted by NFL franchises, including an offensive rookie of the year in running back Saquon Barkley in 2018 and a defensive rookie of the year in linebacker Micah Parsons in 2021.
Here is a look at every player drafted by an NFL team that had James Franklin as a head coach in their last game before being drafted, beginning with Franklin’s time at Vanderbilt.
And once you are done checking out this list, here is a list of every Penn State player drafted in the first round of the NFL draft since Penn State joined the Big Ten.
2012: Casey Hayward
Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Green Bay Packers
Pick: Round 2, No. 30 (No. 62 overall)
2012: Tim Fugger
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
Position: DE
NFL team: Indianapolis Colts
Pick: Round 7, No. 7 (No. 214 overall)
2013: Zac Stacy
Syndication: The Tennessean
Position: RB
NFL team: St. Louis Rams
Pick: Round 5, No. 27 (No. 160 overall)
2013: Ryan Seymour
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OG
NFL team: Seattle Seahawks
Pick: Round 7, No. 14 (No. 220 overall)
2014: Jordan Matthews
Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Position: WR
NFL team: Philadelphia Eagles
Pick: Round 2, No. 10 (No. 42 overall)
2014: Wesley Johnson
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OT
NFL team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick: Round 5, No. 33 (No. 173 overall)
2014: Andre Hal
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Houston Texans
Pick: Round 7, No. 1 (No. 216 overall)
2015: Donovan Smith
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OT
NFL team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pick: Round 2, No. 2 (No. 34 overall)
2015: Adrian Amos
Syndication: PackersNews
Position: DB
NFL team: Chicago Bears
Pick: Round 5, No. 6 (No. 142 overall)
2015: Jesse James
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: TE
NFL team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick: Round 5, No. 24 (No. 160 overall)
2016: Austin Johnson
AP Photo/Daily Record/Sunday News, Jason Plotkin
Position: DT
NFL team: Tennessee Titans
Pick: Round 2, No. 12 (No. 43 overall)
2016: Christian Hackenberg
Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Position: QB
NFL team: New York Jets
Pick: Round 2, No. 20 (No. 51 overall)
2016: Carl Nassib
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DE
NFL team: Cleveland Browns
Pick: Round 3, No. 2 (No. 65 overall)
2016: Anthony Zettel
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DT
NFL team: Detroit Lions
Pick: Round 6, No. 27 (No. 202 overall)
2016: Jordan Lucas
Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Miami Dolphins
Pick: Round 6, No. 29 (No. 204 overall)
2017: Chris Godwin
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Position: WR
NFL team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pick: Round 3, No. 20 (No. 84 overall)
2018: Saquon Barkley
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Position: RB
NFL team: New York Giants
Pick: Round 1, No. 2 (No. 2 overall)
2018: Mike Gesicki
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: TE
NFL team: Miami Dolphins
Pick: Round 2, No. 10 (No. 42 overall)
2018: Troy Apke
Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Washington Redskins
Pick: Round 4, No. 9 (No. 109 overall)
2018: DaeSean Hamilton
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Position: WR
NFL team: Denver Broncos
Pick: Round 4, No. 13 (No. 113 overall)
2018: Marcus Allen
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick: Round 5, No. 11 (No. 148 overall)
2018: Chris Campbell
Billy Hardiman/The Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
Position: DB
NFL team: Arizona Cardinals
Pick: Round 6, No. 8 (No. 182 overall)
2019: Miles Sanders
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Position: RB
NFL team: Philadelphia Eagles
Pick: Round 2, No. 21 (No. 53 overall)
2019: Connor McGovern
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OG
NFL team: Dallas Cowboys
Pick: Round 3, No. 26 (No. 90 overall)
2019: Shareef Miller
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DE
NFL team: Philadelphia Eagles
Pick: Round 4, No. 36 (No. 138 overall)
2019: Amani Oruwariye
Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Detroit Lions
Pick: Round 5, No. 8 (No. 146 overall)
2019: Trace McSorley
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: QB
NFL team: Baltimore Ravens
Pick: Round 6, No. 24 (No. 197 overall)
2019: Nick Scott
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Los Angeles Rams
Pick: Round 7, No. 29 (No. 243 overall)
2020: Yetur Gross-Matos
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DE
NFL team: Carolina Panthers
Pick: Round 2, No. 6 (No. 38 overall)
2020: KJ Hamler
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Position: WR
NFL team: Denver Broncos
Pick: Round 2, No. 14 (No. 46 overall)
2020: John Reid
John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: Houston Texans
Pick: Round 4, No. 35 (No. 141 overall)
2020: Cam Brown
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: LB
NFL team: New York Giants
Pick: Round 6, No. 4 (No. 141 overall)
2020: Robert Windsor
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DT
NFL team: Indianapolis Colts
Pick: Round 6, No. 14 (No. 193 overall)
2021: Micah Parsons
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Position: LB
NFL team: Dallas Cowboys
Pick: Round 1, No. 12 (No. 12 overall)
2021: Odafe Oweh
Rob Carr/Getty Images
Position: LB
NFL team: Baltimore Ravens
Pick: Round 1, No. 31 (No. 31 overall)
2021: Pat Freiermuth
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Position: TE
NFL team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick: Round 2, No. 23 (No. 55 overall)
2021: Shaka Toney
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DE
NFL team: Washington Football Team
Pick: Round 7, No. 19 (No. 246 overall)
2021: Michael Menet
Position: C
NFL team: Arizona Cardinals
Pick: Round 7, No. 20 (No. 247 overall)
2021: Will Fries
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OT
NFL team: Indianapolis Colts
Pick: Round 7, No. 21 (No. 248 overall)
2022: Jahan Dotson
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: WR
NFL team: Washington Commanders
Pick: Round 1, No. 16 (No. 16 overall)
2022: Arnold Ebiketie
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DE
NFL team: Atlanta Falcons
Pick: Round 2, No. 6 (No. 38 overall)
2022: Jaquan Brisker
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: S
NFL team: Chicago Bears
Pick: Round 2, No. 16 (No. 48 overall)
2022: Brandon Smith
Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: LB
NFL team: Carolina Panthers
Pick: Round 3, No. 15 (No. 120 overall)
2022: Jordan Stout
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: P
NFL team: Baltimore Ravens
Pick: Round 3, No. 25 (No. 130 overall)
2022: Tariq Castro-Fields
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: DB
NFL team: San Francisco 49ers
Pick: Round 6, No. 43 (No. 221 overall)
2022: Rasheed Walker
Mark Alberti-USA TODAY Sports
Position: OT
NFL team: Green Bay Packers
Pick: Round 7, No. 28 (No. 249 overall)
2022: Jesse Luketa
AP Photo/Barry Reeger
Position: LB
NFL team: Arizona Cardinals
Pick: Round 7, Pick 35 (No. 256 overall)
2023: Joey Porter Jr.
Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Position: CB
NFL team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Pick: Round 2, Pick 1 (32 overall)
2023: Brenton Strange
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: TE
NFL team: Jacksonville Jaguars
Pick: Round 2, Pick 30 (61 overall)
2023: Juice Scruggs
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Position: C
Team: Houston Texans
Pick: Round 2, Pick 31 (62 overall)
2023: Ji'Ayir Brown
Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Position: Safety
Team: San Francisco 49ers
Pick: Round 3, Pick 24 (87 overall)
2023: Sean Clifford
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Position: Quarterback
Team: Green Bay Packers
Pick: Round 5, Pick 14 (149 overall)
