The famous Quarterback Draft Class of 1983, but it was also the best number one draft class of all time. Well, at least so far.
1. John Elway – Stanford: Baltimore Colts took Elway with the #1 pick. Elway refused to play for the Colts and threatened to play baseball for the Yankees. As a sports fan, that sounds cool and all, but he probably would have toiled in the minor leagues at best. Elway was born to play football. He was an incredible Quarterback, playing 16 years in the NFL and making the Pro Bowl 9 times. He threw for 51,475 yards and 300 Touchdowns according to NFL.com. After 3 Super Bowl losses, the Broncos and Elway finally won and won 2 of them in a row. Elway was obviously a wise decision as the top pick and he’s in the Pro Football and College Football Hall of Fame.
2. Todd Blackledge – Penn State: Kansas City Chiefs picked Blackledge with the 7th selection. Dan Marino warned that he was better than Blackledge and that turned out to be prophetic. Blackledge is a good announcer on college football, in my opinion, but he was a serious bust and the biggest bust of this list. Blackledge did play 7 seasons with the Chiefs and with the Steelers but only threw for 5,000 career yards. Blackledge led the Penn State Nittany Lions to the national title in 1982, and he is a
good TV guy, but he didn’t cut it in the NFL.
3. Jim Kelly – Miami: Buffalo Bills picked Kelly with the 14th pick. Kelly was a success from day one. In spite of losing more Super Bowls than anyone, Kelly earned his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame by throwing for well over 35,000 yards and 237 touchdown passes. Kelly at Miami was not given credit, but he and his class of players were actually the ones that put the Hurricanes on the map.
4. Tony Eason – Illinois: Picked by the New England Patriots at 15th. Eason was a junior college transfer for Illinois and his first start came against Dan Marino and Pittsburgh. Eason was a moderately successful NFL quarterback with the New England Patriots long before the days of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. As an NFL QB, Eason threw for over 11,000 yards as he played 8 seasons.
5. Ken O’Brien – California-Davis: New York Jets picked Mr. O’Brien with the 24th pick. You may not have ever heard about O’Brien, but he was a two-time All-Pro and threw for over 25,000 yards in an 11 year NFL career with the Jets. He did spend his last season with the Eagles, but the first 10 years were with the Jets.
6. Dan Marino – Pittsburgh: Taken by the Miami Dolphins at 27th. Other than not winning the Super Bowl, Dan Marino may have been the best of the very best. Marino threw for over 61,000 yards and 420 touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl an astonishing 9 times. Like Elway and Kelly, Marino is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Others of serious interest and talent in that particular 1st round:
2. Eric Dickerson – SMU: Los Angeles Rams RB: Pro Football Hall of Fame member after rushing for over 13,000 yards. He was a 6 time Pro Bowler, and every other honor available to NFL players. At SMU, Dickerson ran for over 4,000 yards while splitting time with Craig James.
Dickerson was a big back at 6-3, 220 but extremely fast as well.
3. Curt Warner – Penn State: Seattle RB: The Pineville, West Virginia native helped Penn State and Joe Paterno finally win their first ever national championship. Warner ran for over 3,300 yards at Penn State before being taken with the 3rd pick overall. At Seattle, Warner was a 3 time Pro Bowler and ran for just under 7,000 yards and played 7 years in Seattle and finished his career at Los Angeles with the Rams in 1990.
4. Chris Hinton – Northwestern: Denver OT: Don’t look down your nose because Chris Hinton was a lineman. He was maybe about as good as any of these guys. He played 13 seasons in the NFL mostly as a guard, but also much at tackle. Hinton also proves my point about high school tight ends coming in and bulking up. Because of their athleticism, they often turn into really good OL. The Chicago product was picked by Denver but traded to Baltimore in the Elway trade. He was a 7-time
pro bowler and the Hall of Fame should include Hinton.
5. Billy Ray Smith – Arkansas: San Diego DE: From Plano, Texas Smith helped his high school win the state championship. Then, at Arkansas, Smith was a 2 time unanimous All American during his junior and senior season at Arkansas. As the 5th pick, Billy Ray Smith Jr adapted to a linebacker position and played 10 seasons in the NFL, all for the Chargers. Good draft pick.
6. Jimbo Covert – Pittsburgh: Chicago Bears: A Pennsylvania native, Covert played on those tough Pitt teams from the early 1980s. With talent up front like Covert, the Chicago Bears became great and Covert was a star on the great Bear team of 1985. The only downside about Covert was he only played for 8 seasons in the NFL, but he was a two-time All-Pro and a member of the All 1980s team. Only playing 8 seasons might keep him out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but that would be the only thing.
Men shall not need that high dosage of ED medicine while others are certainly going to need that medicine throughout the year in such cases during the reorder the person tends to get a huge levitra 20 mg discount. But due to some health monsters I tadalafil tab seem impossible to get cured. There are different ways you can deeprootsmag.org cheapest sildenafil have fun in the bedroom but this will not work well when used alongside Topical Spiro to replicate the effects of Propecia. 7. The excited blood flow advantages the beauty and health of the major organ that it treats. lowest price on viagra 9. Bruce Matthews – USC: Houston Oilers OT: A member of the famous Matthews family and a Pro Bowler for an amazing 14 times. Matthews played an even more amazing 19 years in the NFL.
He was a consensus All American at USC in 1982, but in the NFL he was amazing and played every position in the offensive line for the Oilers. One of the NFL’s all-time best offensive linemen and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is the son of Clay Matthews and the brother of Clay Matthews Jr and the uncle of Clay Matthews III. His son Jake was a first-round draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons and another son plays in the NFL. He had 2 other sons play college football. The Matthews are an amazing football family.
10. Terry Kinard – Clemson: New York Giants DB: Succesful safety for the Giants with 31 career interceptions. He made the Pro Bowl in 1988 and helped the Giants win the Super Bowl. He played 8 seasons in the NFL.
12. Tony Hunter – Notre Dame: Buffalo Bills TE: Another of the great Notre Dame tight ends, Hunter didn’t have a very good NFL career due to injuries which is hardly his fault. He played a couple of seasons with the Bills and then finished with the Rams of Los Angeles. Hunter finished his NFL playing days with 131 receptions.
18. Willie Gault – Tennessee: Chicago WR: In the Super Bowl Shuffle that the 1985 Bears performed, Willie Gault was as smooth a chocolate swirl and that’s pretty much true. The mighty Bears faded quickly after 1985, but Gault did not and he finished with 333 career receptions with the run-oriented Bears and then with the Los Angeles Raiders.
19. Joey Browner – USC: Minnesota Vikings DB: A member of the incredible Browner family, one of 6 brothers that played in the NFL. Browner played 10 seasons in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl in 6 of them. He was incredible on every level. Not a Hall of Fame member, but maybe he should be with the career that he had.
20. Gary Anderson – Arkansas: San Diego RB: Anderson might have been more of a household name if he had not ditched the NFL for the USFL. He played at Tampa Bay in that league because he could not come up with a contract agreement with the Chargers. He played in the USFL until it folded and he came back to the Chargers, but never became the star he could have been for whatever reason.
21.Gabriel Rivera – Texas Tech: Pittsburgh DT: This was a sad case. Rivera, AKA Senor Sack, could have been a great one. He was a great college player and started out well with the Steelers
before driving drunk and wrecking his car and becoming paralyzed. One of the saddest tales of modern day football. He had been destined for greatness.
22. Gil Byrd – San Jose State: San Diego DB: Very good player for the Chargers and a 10-year veteran. The third 1st round draft pick for the Chargers in this draft. Byrd was an All-Pro and spent his entire time in the league with the Chargers. Byrd was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame, so he was a really good safety for them for 10 seasons.
23. Jim Jeffcoat – Arizona State: Dallas DE: Excellent pick by the Cowboys. Jeffcoat played for the Cowboys for 12 seasons and another 3 for the Buffalo Bills. He’s sacked the quarterback over 100 times including 5 in one game against the Washington Redskins.
25. Dave Rimington – Nebraska: Cincinnati C: Rimington was so good that a trophy is named after him for the best college center every season. Rimington won the Outland Award for the nation’s best lineman twice, in both 1981 and 1982. He won the Lombardi Award in 1982 and he would have won the Rimington if it had been around at the time.
26. Don Mosebar – USC: Los Angeles Raiders OT: Mosebar moved to center and played 13 seasons all for the Raiders. He was an All-Pro 3 times and the typical talented Southern Cal offensive lineman. He turned out to be a very good late round pick for the Raiders.
28. Darrell Green – Texas A%I: Washington Redskins CB: Simply an amazing player. He was the fastest player in the league for years and one of the very best corners to ever play the game. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Green was good enough to play 20 years for the Redskins and was a 7 time Pro Bowler. In college, Green ran a 10.08 and he used that speed to cover the leagues best receivers. Probably some teams passed on him because of the level of competition and his small size. But, that proved to be a mistake and a brilliant move by the Washington Redskins.
So, not only was the class of the Quarterback with 6 taken and 3 in the Hall of Fame, but there are 3 others already inducted into the Hall of Fame giving it a total of 6 overall.
This was without a doubt one of the greatest, if not the very best, NFL Draft of all time.