Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals Lead League with Seven Buckeyes Each As 26 of 32 NFL Teams Now Have Players from Ohio State On Their Rosters

With their selection of Quinshon Judkins in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns now have seven former Ohio State players on their roster. He joins cornerback Denzel Ward, safety Ronnie Hickman, defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr., linebacker Jerome Baker and offensive linemen Dawand Jones and Luke Wypler as Buckeyes on the Browns.

The Browns’ affinity for the program two hours south down I-71 has been apparent in recent years as they’ve drafted five players from Ohio State since 2021, including four in the past three years alone. And while Judkins didn’t play with any of the other Cleveland Buckeyes at Ohio State, as he was at OSU for just one year after transferring in from Ole Miss, he’s excited to be joining a team where he’ll have a half-dozen teammates who also wore the scarlet and gray.

“It feels great,” Judkins said during his introductory press conference in Cleveland on Saturday. “I got to see Denzel when I first got in the building earlier, and just that feeling of being a Buckeye and getting the feeling of just staying home and you don’t have to go out of state anywhere else and just getting to keep making my mark here in the state of Ohio, that’s important.”

Asked #Browns RB Quinshon Judkins what it means to be among several Buckeyes on the roster.

"Just that feeling of being a Buckeye and the feeling of staying home and you don't have to go out of state anywhere else and just keep getting to make my mark here in the state of Ohio." pic.twitter.com/nqQGMpFaWn

— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) April 26, 2025

The Browns aren’t the only NFL team that has seven Buckeyes on its roster following the 2025 NFL draft. The Arizona Cardinals also now have seven Buckeyes on their roster after adding three members of last year’s national championship team on Saturday: linebacker Cody Simon and cornerback Denzel Burke, who they drafted in the fourth and fifth rounds, and offensive tackle Josh Fryar, who they signed as an undrafted free agent.

They join the Cardinals’ 2023 and 2024 first-round picks, Paris Johnson Jr. and Marvin Harrison Jr., as well as outside linebacker Baron Browning and offensive lineman Matthew Jones in Arizona. Johnson, Jones and Fryar will all be coached by their former offensive line coach at Ohio State, Justin Frye, who left the Buckeyes after this past season to become the Cardinals’ OL coach.

“We’ve got a good track record with guys coming from Coach Day's program there, a successful program,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said of drafting Ohio State players during the team’s post-draft press conference on Saturday. “We're not taking them because they were at Ohio State. We're taking them because of the value on our board, and it just so happened that they played at Ohio State. But I do think there is value in coming from a winning organization. And the guys that are used to winning, have played at the highest level, have played in games that are really high stakes and through the playoff run there.”

Cleveland and Arizona each have two more players from Ohio State on their current rosters than any other franchise. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the third-most Buckeyes on their roster, with five, after they drafted both of Jack Sawyer and Will Howard, who join Cameron Heyward, Cameron Johnston and Malik Harrison as former Ohio State players in Pittsburgh. The Houston Texans, New York Jets and Washington Commanders each have four Buckeyes on their teams.

Altogether, 26 of the NFL’s 32 teams now have at least one Buckeye on their roster following the draft, as six teams who didn’t have Buckeyes on their roster added at least one this weekend: The New England Patriots (TreVeyon Henderson and Gee Scott Jr.), the Carolina Panthers (Lathan Ransom), Cincinnati Bengals (Seth McLaughlin), the Kansas City Chiefs (Josh Simmons), the Los Angeles Rams (Ty Hamilton) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Emeka Egbuka).

The only teams that don’t currently have at least one former Ohio State player on their rosters are the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.

With 17 new rookies on NFL rosters, the total of Ohio State players in the NFL – only including players who finished their collegiate careers at Ohio State – sits at the nice number of 69. That total could still climb into the seventies, at least for the preseason, as several Buckeyes who played in the NFL last season remain unsigned as free agents, including running backs J.K. Dobbins, Ezekiel Elliott and Trey Sermon, defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins and safety Vonn Bell, among others.

The full list of players from Ohio State who are currently on NFL rosters, sorted by team in order of how many players each team currently has on its roster, can be found below.

Cleveland Browns (7)

LB Jerome Baker
DT Mike Hall Jr.
S Ronnie Hickman
OT Dawand Jones
RB Quinshon Judkins
CB Denzel Ward
C Luke Wypler

Arizona Cardinals (7)

OLB Baron Browning
CB Denzel Burke
OT Josh Fryar
WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
OT Paris Johnson Jr.
G Matthew Jones
LB Cody Simon

Pittsburgh Steelers (5)

LB Malik Harrison
DE Cameron Heyward
QB Will Howard
P Cameron Johnston
DE Jack Sawyer

Houston Texans (4)

WR Xavier Johnson
TE Cade Stover
QB C.J. Stroud
DT Tommy Togiai

New York Jets (4)

QB Justin Fields
C Josh Myers
TE Jeremy Ruckert
WR Garrett Wilson

Washington Commanders (4)

WR Noah Brown
DT Jalyn Holmes
CB Marshon Lattimore
WR Terry McLaurin

Atlanta Falcons (3)

S Jordan Fuller
DE Zach Harrison
LS Liam McCullough

Buffalo Bills (3)

DE Joey Bosa
DB Jordan Hancock
WR Curtis Samuel

Detroit Lions (3)

OT Taylor Decker
OT Jamarco Jones
DT Tyleik Williams

New Orleans Saints (3)

WR Chris Olave
LB Pete Werner
DE Chase Young

Chicago Bears (2)

G Jonah Jackson
CB Shaun Wade

Dallas Cowboys (2)

WR Parris Campbell
S Malik Hooker

Denver Broncos (2)

OLB Jonathon Cooper
DB Tanner McCalister

Indianapolis Colts (2)

DE Tyquan Lewis
DE JT Tuimoloau

Las Vegas Raiders (2)

LB Tommy Eichenberg
OT Thayer Munford

Minnesota Vikings (2)

G Donovan Jackson
CB Jeff Okudah

New England Patriots (2)

RB TreVeyon Henderson
TE Gee Scott Jr.

San Francisco 49ers (2)

DE Nick Bosa
TE Luke Farrell

Seattle Seahawks (2)

DE Tyreke Smith
WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Tennessee Titans (2)

DE Dre’Mont Jones
OT Isaiah Prince

Carolina Panthers (1)

S Lathan Ransom

Cincinnati Bengals (1)

C Seth McLaughlin

Jacksonville Jaguars (1)

DT DaVon Hamilton

Kansas City Chiefs (1)

OT Josh Simmons

Los Angeles Rams (1)

DT Ty Hamilton

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1)

WR Emeka Egbuka