The NFL Draft Chronicles: 1983 Elway to Marino

The 1983 NFL Draft produced one of the best quarterback classes of all time.

It featured the likes of John Elway of Stanford, Dan Marino of Pitt, Jim Kelly from the University of Miami, and Ken O’Brien from Cal Davis. Three out of the four are Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

This draft sparked the modern-day draft because of the drama behind the scenes.

First, the Baltimore Colts were to make Elway the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, but he wasn’t having any of it.

He told the Colts that if they took him as No. 1, he would play baseball. Several teams were interested in Elway, but as we all know, he eventually ended up with the Denver Broncos, where he won two Super Bowls.

The only quarterback on this list to do so.

Dan Marino’s journey to Miami is even more interesting. Marino was expected to be the second quarterback to be taken in the draft that year, but it didn’t work out that way.

He slipped all the way down in the draft because of rumors of drug use, which was never proven. The hometown Pittsburgh Steelers passed on him, along with the New York Jets, who ended up with Ken O’Brien.

Marino fell into the grateful arms of the Miami Dolphins, where he would set multiple NFL passing records and set the standard for today’s modern-day passing game in the league.

As for Jim Kelly, he also didn’t want to venture up North and play for a cold city team like the Buffalo Bills, so he went to a start-up USFL team, the Houston Gamblers.

Kelly would run one of the most prolific offenses in USFL history, but when the league folded, the Bills still had his rights, and he would end up playing for them, where he’d lead his team to four Super Bowls.

This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: The NFL Draft Chronicles: 1983 Elway to Marino