By Guest Writer Willypops:

If you asked my family, they would tell you that I love to live in the past, especially when it comes to sports.  So it should come as no surprise that I am a sports trivia nut.  Indeed, there have been a few times when there has been an upcoming major event like the Super Bowl or March Madness, that I've written a blog presenting some trivial facts about that particular event.

For the most part, the facts were irrelevant in terms of their bearing on the potential outcome of the event.  But to some at least, they were interesting tidbits that were just fun to know.  So, on the assumption that you are reading this because you consider the NFL Draft to be a major event (and why wouldn't you?), I offer up a few pieces of information and other observations about past NFL Drafts – enjoy!

• The first NFL draft was held in 1936 and lasted 9 rounds.

• Over the intervening years, the number of rounds in the NFL Draft has fluctuated between a high of 32 rounds to the current 7-round format we have today.

• As a young boy growing up in Western Pennsylvania in the 60’s, I was an avid Steelers fan,  While in recent decades, the Steelers have been one of the best drafting teams in the NFL, they were far from that in the 50’s and 60’s.  Within a 3-year time frame, they drafted two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks – Johnny Unitas (9^th round-1955) and Len Dawson (1^st round-1957).  Unitas never played a down for the Steelers and, after three unremarkable years with Pittsburgh, Dawson eventually found his way to the Chiefs in the AFL and went on to establish his Hall of Fame credentials.

And then in the 60’s, the Steelers changed their approach and began wasting picks on running backs.  In 1962 they selected Bob Ferguson out of Ohio State in the 1^st round (5^th overall) and in 1966, they took Dick Leftridge out of West Virginia in the 1^st round (3^rd overall).  Ferguson played one and a half seasons with the Steelers, rushing 63 times for 208 yards and 0 TD’s.  He was out of the league by 1964.  Leftridge was even more of a bust, playing only one year in the NFL, that 1966 season with the Steelers.  He picked up 17 yards on 8 carries – but he did score 2 TD’s!  The Steelers didn’t select another running back in the 1^st round until 1972 when they took Franco Harris.  At last!!

Sorry for the long blurb about the Steelers – clearly, that scarred me.  But now that I am a Redskins fan, I have to admit, it did prepare me for dealing with some of their drafts over the past decade and a half or so!

• In 1960, the NFL had to start competing for college players with the newly-formed American Football League (AFL).  These rival leagues held separate drafts from 1960 through 1966 and bidding wars for top draftees commenced.  In fact, that first "competing" draft in 1960 resulted in half of the NFL's 12 first round draft picks signing with the AFL.

• After players were signed, there was an unwritten agreement between the two leagues to honor the contracts signed in the other league.  That agreement unraveled in 1966 when the Giants signed kicker Pete Gogolak, who was under contract with the Buffalo Bills.  About that time, Al Davis became the Commissioner of the AFL and, with his encouragement, AFL owners began to raid NFL teams by signing established star players to include John Brodie, Mike Ditka and Roman Gabriel.

Those raids along with the continued bidding wars over college draft choices prompted the initiation of merger talks.  The merger talks resulted in an agreement that the "raided" NFL players would remain with their NFL teams.

With respect to the drafting of college players, it was agreed that starting in 1967 through 1969, a single "Common Draft" would be held with the order of selection determined by the final records of the teams in their respective leagues (worst to go first).

• The merger was fully implemented in 1970 and since that year a single NFL Draft has been held.  The draft time frame from 1970 to the present is commonly referred to as "The Modern Era Draft".

• In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys NFL expansion franchise was hastily established in an effort to compete with the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs), one of the original AFL teams.  The Cowboys acquired players through an "expansion draft", whereby they selected players from existing NFL teams that were placed on a list of players that each team was willing to part with.

However, because the Cowboys franchise was not awarded until after the 1960 college player draft was held, they did not have the benefit of stocking their roster with top college players in their first year of existence.  They remain the only NFL team to never have participated in the draft in their inaugural season.

• The 1961 draft was the first regular draft for the Cowboys.  Since they finished the 1960 season with the worst record, they ordinarily would have had the first pick in the draft.  However, the Minnesota Vikings franchise was added as an expansion team in 1961 and they therefore were awarded the first overall pick.  The Cowboys had the 2nd overall pick but they traded it to the Redskins for quarterback, Eddie LeBaron.  The Cowboys did work a trade with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the Browns first round pick (#13 overall) and made future Hall of Fame defensive lineman, Bob Lilly, the very first Cowboys draft pick.

• In 1967, the first year of the Common Draft, the New Orleans Saints team was an expansion franchise that was to begin play in the 1967 season.  They therefore had the first pick in the 1967 draft, which they traded to the Baltimore Colts.  The Colts selected Bubba Smith, a defensive tackle out of Michigan State, as the #1 overall pick.  An AFL team didn't select until the #4 overall spot but the Miami Dolphins hit the jackpot with that pick when they selected future Hall of Famer, Bob Griese.

• Intrigued by the AFL-NFL competing drafts from 1960 through 1966, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the notable players of that era and see who drafted them.  A few of those observations follow:

• 1961 – Mike Ditka was the first pick of the Houston Oilers but he signed with the Bears who took him in the 1st round (#5 overall)
• 1963 – Quarterback Terry Baker, the Heisman Trophy winner out of Oregon State, was selected in the 12th round by the Chargers.  He was the #1 overall pick of the Rams in the NFL draft and he signed with them.  The Chargers seemed to know what they were doing since Baker turned out to be one of the first truly monumental draft busts,  playing just three unremarkable seasons for the Rams.
• 1964 – This draft produced 10 future Hall of Famers including Carl Eller (Vikings@#6/Bills@#1), Charley Taylor (Redskins@#3/Oilers@#9) and Paul Warfield (Browns@#11/Bills@#28).
• Also drafted in 1964 was future Hall of Famer, Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winner from Navy.  Because he had the service commitment, teams didn't want to waste a high round draft pick on him.  He was selected by the Cowboys in the 10th round (#129) and by the Chiefs in the 16th round (#122).  Even though the Cowboys had to wait until 1969 for him join the team, most people would agree that it turned out to be a wise draft pick and he was well worth the wait.
• 1965 – the Bears got two gems in Dick Butkus (#3/Broncos@#9) and Gale Sayers (#4/Chiefs@#5).

• One of the most interesting draft scenarios involves Bo Jackson, the Heisman Trophy winner and two-sport star out of Auburn.  He was drafted #1 overall by the Buccaneers in the 1986 draft.  The Buccaneers gave him an ultimatum to choose football over baseball.  He chose baseball and signed with the Kansas City Royals.

He decided to again enter the draft in 1987 and was selected by the Raiders in the 7th round.  Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, allowed him to be a part-time running back, playing football only after the Major League Baseball season ended.  He had several very productive seasons in that role for the Raiders until a serious hip injury ended his football career.

• The 1983 draft became known as the draft with "the quarterback class of 1983" because of the fact that six quarterbacks were selected in the 1st round of that draft.  That's the most quarterbacks ever taken in the 1st round.  All six were taken by AFC teams and three of the six were eventually elected to the Hall of Fame.

• There's always interest in the first quarterback taken in any draft.  The lowest drafted "first quarterback taken" occurred in 1988.  That year, Tom Tupa, a quarterback/punter out of Ohio State, was the first quarterback drafted when the Cardinals selected him in the 3rd round (#68).  Because Tupa only had one year where he had any significant (and unremarkable) playing time at the quarterback position in the NFL, it's questionable if he should even be considered a quarterback for this observation.  Tupa had a long, and very successful career as a punter in the NFL.

The next quarterback selected in the 1988 draft was Chris Chandler, drafted by the Colts in the 3rd round (#76).  So, if you consider Tupa to have been drafted for his punting ability rather than as a signal caller, then it turned out that the 1988 draft had a kicker and two punters drafted before the first quarterback was drafted!

• Speaking of punters and kickers, there have been two of each selected in the first round of a draft in the Modern Era (1970-present).  Those turned out to be a somewhat of a 50-50 proposition.  Russell Erxleben out of Texas was actually drafted as a placekicker/punter, taken in 1979 by the Saints in the 1st round (#11).  His placekicking career quickly turned out to be a bust and he was primarily known as a punter.  He played for six seasons with varying degrees of success.

On the other hand, Ray Guy was drafted in 1973 by the Raiders in the 1st round (#23) and he played for 13 seasons.  His punts were long and had amazing hang time.  He was considered to be an extra offensive weapon for the Raiders because he was so successful in turning around field position in the Raiders favor.

As for placekickers, Steve Little out of Arkansas was drafted in 1978 by the Cardinals in the 1st round (#15).  He quickly became a bust, lasting only two years in the league.  Sebastian Janikowski out of Florida State was drafted in 2000 by the Raiders in the 1st round (#17) and has had a very successful career.  Known for his long-distance range, he is still with the Raiders, about to enter his 12th season with them.

• Now, let's conclude with some information that doesn't pertain directly to teams or players.  And this is really important.  The 1980 NFL draft was the first to be aired on national TV in its entirety.   ESPN did the honors.  Chris Berman has been involved in every ESPN telecast of the draft since 1980, either as a reporter or as the anchor.

Mel Kiper first appeared as ESPN's "draft guru" in 1984 and has held that assignment every year since then.  I believe that ESPN’s decision to televise the draft is the factor that is most responsible for creating the numerous "draftniks" out there who just can't get enough of NFL draft talk.   Many of you who are reading this fall into that category.  Thank you ESPN!!