Greatest NFL Draft Ever

[BullFrog Dad]

1 Baltimore John Elway QB Stanford
2 L.A. Rams Eric Dickerson RB Southern Methodist
3 Seahawks Curt Warner RB Penn State
4 Broncos Chris Hinton T Northwestern
5 Chargers Billy Smith Ray OLB Arkansas
6 Bears Jimbo Covert T Pittsburgh
7 Chiefs Todd Blackledge QB Penn State
8 Philadelphia Michael Haddix RB Mississippi State
9 Houston Bruce Matthews G Southern California
10 Giants Terry Kinard S Clemson
11 Packers Tim Lewis DB Pittsburgh
12 Bills Tony Hunter TE Notre Dame
13 Detroit James Jones RB Florida
14 Bills Jim Kelly QB Miami
15 New England Tony Eason QB Illinois
16 Atlanta Mike Pitts DE Alabama
17 St. Louis Leonard Smith S McNeese State
18 Bears Willie Gault WR Tennessee
19 Minnesota Joey Browner S Southern California
20 Chargers Gary Anderson RB Arkansas
21 Pittsburgh Gabriel Rivera NT Texas Tech
22 Chargers Gill Byrd CB San Jose State
23 Dallas Jim Jeffcoat DE Arizona State
24 N.Y. Jets Ken O'Brien QB Cal-Davis
25 Cincinnati Dave Rimington C Nebraska
26 L.A. Raiders Don Mosebar C Southern California
27 Miami Dan Marino QB Pittsburgh
28 Washington Darrell Green CB Texas A&M-Kingsville

1983. It's known as the Quarterback Draft(Elway,Kelly,Marino) but look at the rest of the picks. I doubt there's been a better first round in the NFL before or since.

[Gobbla2001]

Bruce Matthews - They should have a lineman, tough-guy and consistancy award named after this guy...

Darryl Green - speed, timing... should have awards named after him as well...

[Phil C]

What about the Cowboys drafting Roger Stauback who led them to two super bowl wins.
What about the Steelers drafting Terry Bradshaw who led them to four super bowl wins.
The Cowboys drafting Tony Dorsett.
The Steelers drafting Lynn Swan.
The 49ers drafting Jerry Rice.
The Cowboys when they drafted Too Tall Jones for defense. A lot of people had never heard of him but man did he help the Cowboys.
The Giants drafting Lawrence Taylor.

And don't forget this year whoever drafts Vince Young!!

[BullFrog Dad]

Originally posted by Phil C
What about the Cowboys drafting Roger Stauback who led them to two super bowl wins.
What about the Steelers drafting Terry Bradshaw who led them to four super bowl wins.
The Cowboys drafting Tony Dorsett.
The Steelers drafting Lynn Swan.
The 49ers drafting Jerry Rice.
The Cowboys when they drafted Too Tall Jones for defense. A lot of people had never heard of him but man did he help the Cowboys.
The Giants drafting Lawrence Taylor.

And don't forget this year whoever drafts Vince Young!! Phil C, Those were great picks but I meant a first round top to bottom like this. There is a good chance that at least a fourth of the '83 draft will go Hall of Fame. I do think that the 2006 draft will be looked back on as the Vince Young Draft!

[Phil C]

Originally posted by BullFrog Dad
Phil C, Those were great picks but I meant a first round top to bottom like this. There is a good chance that at least a fourth of the '83 draft will go Hall of Fame. I do think that the 2006 draft will be looked back on as the Vince Young Draft!

Oops! :o

[Jason1725]

Steelers' Class of '74 second to none


By Ed Bouchette
NFL Insider

(April 9, 2002) -- The best draft in the history of the National Football League?

There are nearly as many opinions on that subject as there are NFL scouts, but the Pittsburgh Steelers' Class of 1974 may be in a class by itself. Twenty-eight years ago, the Steelers selected four players among their 21 picks who would wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Famous Foursome were wide receiver Lynn Swann in the first round, linebacker Jack Lambert in the second, wide receiver John Stallworth (who will be enshrined this summer) in the fourth, and center Mike Webster in the fifth.

"We got out of the right side of the bed that year," says Art Rooney Jr., the Steelers' player personnel chief at the time. "The stars were lined up."

It hardly was blind luck, however, because Rooney, his staff, and coach Chuck Noll spent the first half of the 1970s lining up the stars that would take Pittsburgh to four Super Bowl victories in six years, starting with that rookie class in 1974.

Before that came Joe Greene in 1969, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount in 1970, Jack Ham in 1971, and Franco Harris in 1972. In fact, the debate for years in Pittsburgh has been which of the Steelers' drafts was better -- 1974 or 1971, which yielded Ham and Super Bowl starters Frank Lewis, Gerry Mullins, Dwight White, Larry Brown, Ernie Holmes and Mike Wagner.

"That really was the draft that set the foundation," says longtime scout Bill Nunn, who dug out many of the gems from small, black schools during the early 1970s and still works for the team. "When you ask me about the greatest draft of all time, I've never been one to compare. But that '74 draft would have to be one of the greatest drafts of all time, just based on the Hall of Famers you have out of it."

To put in perspective just how good that draft was, only nine times since 1936, according to Hall of Fame records, has an entire NFL Draft sent more than four players to Canton. No other team has had a draft that produced more than two.

Says Nunn: "We always had the idea that once you got pretty good as a team -- and we were on our way to being pretty good [in 1974] -- we felt if you can get three guys who can make your team each year, you would have a great turnover. But you're talking about four guys ... in the Hall of Fame!"

The Steelers hit the mother lode in 1974 even though they had the twenty-first pick in the first round and didn't own a third-round choice, having traded it to Oakland for defensive lineman Tom Keating. They did have two fourth-round selections, which they used on Stallworth and defensive back Jimmy Allen, who eventually became a good safety in Detroit.

Fifth-round pick Webster was the last of that year's draft choices to become a full-time starter, but the Steelers did sign two free agents who would star for them. Donnie Shell became a five-time Pro Bowl strong safety who made this year's final list of 15 candidates for the Hall of Fame. Tight end Randy Grossman also earned four Super Bowl rings.

"It's nice to be lucky," Noll says. "You never know how it's going to turn out. Fortunately, we got some guys who wanted to produce."