ASU's 50 Best Professional Athletes: No. 37 Football's Adam Archuleta

The odds don't just say it--they scream that former ASU linebacker Adam Archuleta shouldn't have reached the heights he did in professional football. But he did, and he's earned the No. 37 spot on our top-50 list as a result.

After attending in-state Chandler High School, Archuleta walked-on to the Sun Devils football team in 1996, redshirting his first season. By his junior season, he was starting at weak-side linebacker, and was named to the All-Pac-10 first team. His senior season, he was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

His NFL career began when he was selected with the 20th overall pick by the then-St. Louis Rams in the 2001 NFL Draft. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, Archuleta would go on to play safety during his NFL career.

As a rookie, he started in Super Bowl XXXVI, where the Rams fell to the New England Patriots by a score of 20-17.

Archuleta would spend five seasons with the Rams before testing free agency in 2006. He would sign with Washington, however was traded to the Chicago Bears the following year despite signing a six-year, $30 million deal, which was the largest in NFL history for a safety at the time.

He would be released from the Bears the following season.

The former Sun Devil was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in 2011, and today serves as a color analyst for NFL on CBS.

Check back tomorrow to see who will be No. 36 on our list of the 50 best professional athletes to come out of Arizona State.