 | Jake Scott |
Time for Part V of the Greatest Drafts series. Last week we looked at the Texans, Colts, Jaguars, and Chiefs. This week's teams: the Dolphins, Vikings, Patriots and Saints.
Click Here for Part I
Click Here for Part II
Click Here for Part III
Click Here for Part IV
Miami Dolphins
1970
Jim Mandich, TE, Michigan (2nd round, 29th pick)
Tim Foley, DB, Purdue (3rd round, 55th pick)
Curtis Johnson, DB, Toledo (4th round, 81st pick)
Jake Scott, DB, Georgia (7th round, 159th pick)
Mike Kolen, LB, Auburn (12th round, 289th pick)
Two future Pro Bowlers and five starters for the undefeated 1972 team, a rich crop indeed. The prize of this group is Jake Scott, who belied his lowly draft status by quickly becoming one of the league's top defensive backs, making it to five Pro Bowls and being named to the Associated Press All-NFL team in 1973. In Miami's victory in Super Bowl VII, Scott aborted two Redskin drives with interceptions, including one in the end zone, and was named the game's MVP. Tim Foley made the Pro Bowl in 1979. Kolen and Johnson weren't Pro Bowlers, but they filled the bill as dependable pieces of Miami's "No Name Defense". What's more, the Dolphins traded their first-round pick, the third overall, to Cleveland for Paul Warfield, a Hall-of-Fame receiver. The Browns used the acquired pick on Mike Phipps, the Tim Couch of his era. In their first four seasons prior to the 1970 draft, the Dolphins were 15-39-2. In the four seasons following this draft, they were 46-9-1 and won two Super Bowls.
Honorable Mention
1983
Dan Marino, QB, Pittsburgh (1st round, 27th pick)
Reggie Roby, P, Iowa (6th round, 167th pick)
Mark Clayton, WR, Louisville (8th round, 223rd pick)
Thanks to a subpar senior season at Pitt, Dan Marino was the last of the 'Class of '83' quarterbacks remaining on the board, falling all the way to the 27th pick of the first round. The Dolphins already had a good team- they were defending AFC Champions- but Don Shula had been hampered by inconsistency at the quarterback position. Marino stepped in to the starting spot early in the 1983 season, racked up the best quarterback rating ever for a rookie, and proceeded to rewrite the NFL record book in a career that lasted through the 1999 season. Mark Clayton was the 28th wide receiver taken in the '83 draft, behind such luminaries as Darryal Wilson, Wayne Capers, JoJo Townsell, and Dokie Williams. The former Louisville Cardinal went on to establish the Dolphin record for receptions, made it to five Pro Bowls, and combined with Mark Duper to form the "Magic Markers", the most prolific receiving combination in football during the mid-80s. The late Reggie Roby, a three-time Pro Bowl punter, was the icing on the cake. The selections of Marino and Clayton transformed the Dolphins from a defense-and-ball-control team into the most explosive outfit in football for the balance of the decade. In 1984, powered by Marino's NFL-record 5,084 passing yards and 48 touchdowns and Clayton's 1,389-yard, 18-touchdown performance, the Dolphins reached the Super Bowl, their last to date.
Minnesota Vikings
1967
Gene Washington, WR, Michigan State (1st round, 8th pick)
Alan Page, DE, Notre Dame (1st round, 15th pick)
Bobby Bryant, DB, South Carolina (7th round, 167th pick)
The Vikings had three picks in the first round of the '67 draft. They wasted the second pick overall on Clint Jones, a running back who never panned out. More successful was Gene Washington, Jones's teammate at Michigan State, who made two Pro Bowls in a six seasons in Minnesota. The Vikings hit paydirt with the selection of Alan Page, maybe the best defensive tackle to ever play pro football. Page used his devastating quickness and nose for the ball to maximum effect in a Hall of Fame career that saw him reach nine Pro Bowls, make All-NFL six times, be named to the All-Pro Team of the 1970s, and become the first-ever defensive player to win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, in 1971. Bobby Bryant became a Viking institution, playing thirteen seasons in the purple. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1975 and '76 and opened the scoring in Minnesota's '76 NFC Title Game win over the Rams with a 90-yard return of a blocked field goal.
Honorable Mention
 | Alan Page & Bobby Bryant |
1998
Randy Moss, WR, Marshall (1st round, 21st pick)
Matt Birk, T, Harvard (6th round, 173rd pick)
Randy Moss could be a real pain in the you-know-what during his seven seasons in a Viking uniform. He was also the best receiver in the history of the franchise. In his first six seasons, Moss never caught fewer than 69 passes, and piled up at least 1,233 yards annually, with a high of 1,632 in 2003. He has also caught 90 touchdown passes, an average of well over 12 per season. Matt Birk, hailing from that notable football factory, Harvard, has turned into one of the best centers in the game, with four Pro Bowl appearances. In 1997, the Vikings were 9-7 and scored 354 points, 11th in the league. In '98 they went 15-1 and set a league record with 556 points. There may never have been an offensive player to make a greater impact in his rookie year than Randy Moss.
New England Patriots
1995
Ty Law, DB, Michigan (1st round, 23rd pick)
Ted Johnson, LB, Colorado (2nd round, 57th pick)
Curtis Martin, RB, Pittsburgh (3rd round, 74th pick)
New England's draft history in the 1990s is similiar to that of the '70s. There are a number of good ones to choose from among the drafts that made the Pats the league's best franchise. Back in the day they needed all the help they could get. The Patriots of the early '90s were HORRIBLE, going 9-39 in the first three years of the decade, but Bill Parcells had already taken them to the playoffs when New England drafted in 1995. Ty Law played ten seasons in Foxboro, went to three Pro Bowls, and is one of the six men to play in all four Patriot Super Bowls of the Robert Kraft era. Ted Johnson is another one of the six. And Curtis Martin was the steal of the year in the third round. He went for 1,487 yards his rookie year, and put together two more seasons of 1,152 and 1,160 before going to New York and continuing ten straight seasons of 1,000+.
Honorable Mention
1973
John Hannah, G, Alabama (1st round, 4th pick)
Sam Cunningham, RB, USC (1st round, 11th pick)
Ray Hamilton, LB, Oklahoma (14th round, 342nd pick)
Conditioned by the disaster that was the Butch Davis regime, Browns fans ardently believe that ex-college coaches can't draft for the pros. Longtime Pats fans can refute this notion (as can Cowboy fans, but anyway). Arriving from the University of Colorado following the '72 season, Chuck Fairbanks landed Pro Bowl talent annually in five straight drafts starting with his first, 1973. The flood of top-flight ballers were a tonic to a franchise that had been, in a word, awful, for nearly a decade. By 1976 New England was equipped to compete in the loaded AFC (50-26 from '76 through '80). It's tough to pick one Patriot draft out of this period and call it the "Greatest" outright.
1973 wins out because of the first pick. Coming off a 3-11 season in '72, the Patriots had three picks in the opening round. John Hannah might be the best offensive guard to ever play in the pros, reaching nine Pro Bowls and making first-team All-NFL nine consecutive seasons from 1977 through '85. Hannah is on the All-Decade Team for two decades- the '70s and '80s- and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, the first Patriot to achieve that honor. Cunningham, whose single-handed destruction of Alabama while at USC inspired Bear Bryant to integrate his team, was the wheelhorse of New England's powerful running game in the late '70s. Sam Bam rushed for 1,015 yards in 1977 and was a Pro Bowler in '78. Ray Hamilton played nine seasons in New England, and he's the "Sugar Bear", of course.
New Orleans Saints
1986
Jim Dombrowski, T, Virginia (1st round, 6th pick)
Dalton Hilliard, RB, LSU (2nd round, 31st pick)
Rueben Mayes, RB, Washington State (3rd round, 57th pick)
Pat Swilling, LB, Georgia Tech (3rd round, 60th pick)
Barry Word, RB, Virginia (3rd round, 62nd pick)
A true rarity- a loaded draft for the Saints. Dombrowski was a rock for eleven seasons on the offensive line. Swilling went to four Pro Bowls in New Orleans, as a piece of the great linebacker corps on that team. Mayes was an immediate sensation, rushing for 1,353 yards and making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. He went back to Honolulu his second season before his career was curtailed by injuries. Hilliard took over for Mayes and had a 1,262-yard, Pro Bowl season in 1989. Barry Word didn't do much in New Orleans, but rushed for 1,015 yards with the Chiefs in 1990. This has to be the only time in NFL history in which a team has landed three future 1,000-yard runners in one draft. The Saints jumped from 5-11 in '85 to a competitive 7-9 in '86, and had their first-ever winning season and playoff berth in 1987. From 1987 through '92 New Orleans went 62-33 and went to the playoffs three times.
Honorable Mention
 | John Hannah |
1981
George Rogers, RB, South Carolina (1st round, 1st pick)
Rickey Jackson, LB, Pittsburgh (2nd round, 51st pick)
Frank Warren, DE, Auburn (3rd round, 57th pick)
Hoby Brenner, TE, USC (3rd round, 71st pick)
The Saints went 1-15 in 1980, the year they were the 'Aints and fans wore paper bags over their heads at the Superdome. With the first pick in '81, they selected George Rogers, the Heisman Trophy winner. In his rookie year Rogers rushed for 1,674 yards (still a Saints single-season record) to lead the league and scored 13 touchdowns. He went to two Pro Bowls as a Saint and, with 4,267 yards in New Orleans, holds the franchise record. Drug problems led to him being shuffled to the Redskins in 1985. Rickey Jackson is the star of this draft. He spent thirteen seasons in New Orleans, went to five Pro Bowls, and is the charter member of the powerful Saints linebacker corps of the late '80s and early '90s. Tight end Hoby Brenner played thirteen seasons for the Saints, caught 267 passes, and made the Pro Bowl in 1987. And another draftee, the late Frank Warren, played thirteen seasons for the Saints on the defensive line.
Next Week- New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
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