Packers pick invites parallels to Terrell Buckley. Is that good or bad?

When the Green Bay Packers selected Jaire Alexander out of Louisville in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft Thursday, it was easy to draw comparisons to 1992 draft choice Terrell Buckley.

Both were undersized cornerbacks, and both were taken by Packers general managers making their first draft choices.

Ron Wolf, who chose Buckley at No. 5 overall in his first draft, supposedly made the decision to up the minimum height requirement for any Packers cornerback draft selection to 5-11 after Buckley (5-9) struggled in his first few years in the NFL.

Current general manager Brian Gutekunst appeared to eschew that philosophy when he chose Alexander (5-10 1/4) with the 18th overall choice.

More than that, Buckley and Alexander have worked together. Buckley, who is cornerbacks coach at Mississippi State today, was in the same position from 2014-'15 at Louisville when Alexander first arrived on campus. Alexander appeared in 12 games in 2015.

Buckley is one of the more vilified draft selections in Packers lore, spending three years in Green Bay before moving to Miami. But fans may not be aware just how strong Buckley’s career wound up being. Here are some things you may not know about the 1991 Jim Thorpe Award winner as the nation’s best defensive back (while playing at Florida State):

He has 50 career interceptions

Packers fans may remember Buckley as a flameout, but he saw action in games as late as 2005, and that was really his only partial season in the league. That’s 13 straight years of playing nearly every game on the schedule (with at least one interception every year) and 14 seasons in NFL football overall. He had a career-high eight interceptions in 1998 with the Dolphins.

For context, the NFL record for career interceptions is 81 (Paul Krause). Buckley's 50 ties him for 35th in league history, ahead of Hall of Fame Packers Herb Adderley and Willie Wood (who, granted, didn’t play as many games in a season), and perhaps more importantly, ahead of University of Wisconsin standout Troy Vincent (47).

Wolf famously passed on Vincent to take Buckley with the fifth pick. Vincent went seventh to the Dolphins and played 13 years in the league, making five Pro Bowls.

Vincent, now the executive vice president of football operations in the NFL, told the Journal Sentinel’s Lori Nickel that he wasn’t disappointed about the choice.

“At the age of 20, I was just dreaming of playing pro ball, and frankly, hoping my name got called on draft day,” he said. “To play in Green Bay would have been like playing in Philadelphia; both feel like home. The player rarely stays in the same state where he plays his college ball, but it all worked out."

He has a Super Bowl ring

In 2001, Buckley recorded an interception as a member of the New England Patriots in a 24-17 win over Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, and two weeks later, he won a Super Bowl ring when the Patriots beat the Rams, 20-17.

Buckley spent two seasons with the Patriots and also had one-year stints with the Dolphins (a second go-round after spending 1995-'99 in Miami), Jets and Giants. In all, Buckley saw playoff action in 10 seasons, with four career postseason interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

He’s on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot

Buckley was listed on the 2018 ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame, and though he wasn’t inducted with the 10-player class (though defensive backs Ed Reed and former Packers standout Charles Woodson were), he’ll get there someday. He’ll remain eligible until 50 years have passed beyond his final year in college football (so he’s on the ballot until 2041). Buckley has been on the ballot since 2016.

He was a pretty remarkable athlete and played pro baseball

Buckley played three sports at Florida State, playing outfield and second base for the baseball team and sprinting for the outdoor track team. He actually spent time in the Atlanta Braves' minor-league organization after being picked in the 38th round of the 1992 amateur draft. He played in the South Atlantic League in 1993 – after he joined the Packers and before the start of training camp – and batted .196 in 127 plate appearances (Class A ball). He played independent baseball the following year in Mobile, Ala., but he hit just .202.

His skills in several sports may not, however, justify his claim that he was “the greatest athlete of the second half of the 20th century,” a proclamation he made before signing with the Packers. He credited Jim Thorpe -- the player for whom his notable college football recognition was named -- as the best of the first half.

He had an interception in a big playoff win

When the Packers returned to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years after the 1993 season, they traveled to the Silverdome and defeated the Detroit Lions, 28-24, and Buckley had an interception in the end zone to kill a Detroit drive. Herman Moore, a receiver 6 inches taller than Buckley, was expected to have a monster day against the undersized Buckley, but Moore caught just one pass.

Brett Favre found Sterling Sharpe for a touchdown pass with 55 seconds left to account for the wild-card win. Though he got burned on one big play, Buckley also helped keep Barry Sanders in check in the running game.

Buckley was not as good the following week when the Packers fell to a Cowboys team littered with Hall of Famers, 27-17. Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin, while noting that other cornerbacks were better than Buckley at the moment, later said he felt Buckley would “most definitely” become a great corner.

He didn’t report to minicamp in 1994

It’s true that Buckley never materialized as a reliable option in Green Bay. In April 1994, Buckley was no longer playing MLB-affiliated baseball but still didn’t report to the Packers’ minicamp, and Packers officials couldn’t even reach him.

It was not a mandatory camp, but the team still couldn’t contact him by phone or through Buckley’s agent. Even teammate LeRoy Butler tried to find him.

Buckley did arrive early for the second minicamp and was solid in 1994 until a rough outing against Moore and the Lions in November (eight catches, 151 yards for Moore). Buckley struggled down the stretch matching up with bigger receivers. The Packers made the playoffs before again falling to the Cowboys in the divisional round, 35-9 – another game in which Buckley did not play well. The Milwaukee Journal gave him a “D” for the year and said he “almost certainly will not return,” and that was true. There was some thought he could be taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars or Carolina Panthers in the expansion draft, but once that draft passed (and six of the first 15 picks were cornerbacks), the Packers announced they were moving on.

That 1992 draft was pretty solid overall

Robert Brooks, Edgar Bennett and Mark Chmura, all of whom finished strong careers in Green Bay, were also among the selections in the 1992 draft, so it's not as if Wolf's draft was a bust. Wolf had also traded for quarterback Brett Favre in February just months before the 1992 draft. That ... worked out.

Oddly enough, the 1993 draft yielded two first-round picks who didn't last in the league as long as Buckley. Wayne Simmons was part of the Super Bowl team in 1996, and George Teague spent just three years with the Packers. Both were out of football by 2001.

Yet, Buckley remains the memorable "bust" in Packers draft history.