In 1989, Four of the First 5 Picks in the NFL Draft Ended Up in the Hall of Fame

In Aikman's rookie season, the Cowboys went 0-11 in games he started and he threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdown passes (nine). That couldn't have proven less indicative of what was to come during Aikman's time in Dallas.

Between 1992 and 1995, Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin led the Cowboys to three of their five Super Bowl titles. In the team's Super Bowl XXVII victory over the Buffalo Bills, Aikman tossed four touchdown passes.

Though concussions limited Aikman to just 12 NFL seasons, he made six Pro Bowls and rode his three Super Bowl victories into Canton in 2006.

Like Aikman, Sanders had a relatively short career (10 seasons), but by the time he chose to walk away from the sport, he had established himself as arguably the greatest running back in NFL history.

In just a decade in the NFL, Sanders was a six-time All-Pro and ran for 15,269 yards. Sanders' ability to cut on a dime allowed him to be selected to the Pro Bowl in every season of his decorated NFL career. His most dominant individual campaign came in 1997, when he rushed for 2,053 yards - the fourth highest single-season rushing total in NFL history - en route to winning the NFL MVP.

A year later, Sanders retired after his age-30 season. Despite another dominant individual campaign, the Lions went just 5-11 in 1998, one of seven losing seasons the team endured during Sanders' tenure.

While Derrick Thomas didn't make the Pro Bowl in every season of his 11-year NFL career, he did manage to be selected to the Pro Bowl nine times and was a two-time All-Pro.

Thomas - who played his college ball at Alabama - turned in his most dominant season as a pro in 1990, when he led the NFL with 20.0 sacks and six forced fumbles for Marty Schottenheimer's Chiefs.

In February of 2000, Thomas tragically passed away from complications after a car crash that had killed one passenger and left him paralyzed the prior month. He was just 33. In 2009, Thomas was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The New York Giants apparently managed to get Deion Sanders in a room briefly for what they hoped would be a pre-draft visit. Instead, the story goes that the man that would eventually be referred to as "Prime Time" walked out of the meeting once he found out the Giants had the No. 18 pick, saying they had no chance to actually get him.

He wasn't wrong. Sanders would be selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the No. 5 overall pick, the place where he would ultimately spend the first five seasons of his NFL career at. Sanders finished his 14-year NFL career as a six-time All-Pro, having won Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.

Had Sanders not landed with the Falcons, it also would have affected MLB history, as he was a two-sport star that played for the Braves for parts of four seasons.