Tar Heels Legend Lawarence Taylor Receives Top Honor

This year's 2025 NFL Draft watched North Carolina's running back, Omarion Hampton, get selected in the first round with the No. 22 pick by the San Diego Chargers. Hampton came off a big junior season under former head coach Mack Brown. The six-footer ran for 1,660 yards on 281 carries, scoring 15 touchdowns. He will now play for Jim Harbaugh as he makes awaits his NFL debut this September.

Hampton is now a part of the list of Tar Heels in the NFL. And to make that note hold greater value — 1982 No. 2 overall pick, Lawrence Taylor, a former UNC football player, is listed as the best player to be selected with such pick.

ESPN's Ben Solak wrote about his top NFL Draft picks, and added Taylor to his list of 262 players:

"The best defensive player of all time is also the best second overall pick of all time. Taylor is one of two defensive players to ever win league MVP (in 1986, joining defensive tackle Alan Page in 1971), and that rarefied air all but cements him over contenders such as Marshall Faulk, Julius Peppers and Calvin Johnson. Modern contenders such as Von Miller, and Nick Bosa are excellent in their time but don't hold a candle to L.T., who finished his 13-year career with 142 sacks."

Taylor played his entire career for the New York Giants, a grand total of 13 seasons. At the end, where he played 184 games, Taylor amounted 37 TOTs, 28 SOLOs, nine ASTs, and 132.5 SACKs. Plus catching nine interceptions throughout that time.

More importantly, Taylor secured two Super Bowl rings during the 1987 and the 1991 seasons, one of which with North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick.

Jay Glazer, Ric Flair, and Michael Strahan of NFL.com wrote about Taylor and his unique style of playing the linebacker position:

"Former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s unique combination of strength and speed made him one of the most dominant and freakish players ever in the NFL. Nicknamed “L.T.,” Taylor had 20.5 sacks in 1986, a year in which he won the MVP, making him the second defensive player to ever win the award. A Williamsburg, Virginia native, the 6-foot-3, 237-pound Taylor played at the University of North Carolina before being chosen second overall by the Giants in 1981.

As an outside linebacker, Taylor was unlike any player before him. He was unusually disruptive to offenses because in pass protection he was too big, strong, and quick to be blocked by a running back, and his athleticism enabled him to single-handedly squash traditional running plays."

There have been a good number of commits to land in Chapel Hill in the month of June, maybe one of those players can end up having a big career in the NFL, too. O'Mari Johnson committed earlier this week on July 1, Coach Belichick, an eight-time Super Bowl champion, is pouring his new job with talent for the future.

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