Fullbacks are awesome. Roger Vick was not awesome. Not at the time, not in retrospect, not ever under any circumstances.
Why Marino over Kelly? I remember reading a 1983 NFL Re-draft some years ago-- Sports Illustrated or The Sporting News....back in the days of real magazines, you may remember-- and Elway, Kelley, Marino, and O'Brien all went in the top ten, in that order. Considering there are 8 HOFers from that draft, top 10 is pretty good company. Blackledge and Eason didn't make the first round. I'll bet somebody can find that article. I couldn't in 10 minutes or so of searching the web.
Yeah, I kinda agree. Parcells had o tolerance for players that fumbled. He had great speed but once he fumbled it got in his head.
It was the consensus pick in a bad draft. He deserves criticism as an NFL player but this isn't in my "Top 10 Worst Jets Draft Picks".
it was...pat kirwan who coached HS football across the turnpike back in the day, was amused as well.... but agreed with me.
No sir....marino was their 2nd rated QB as the colts coaches were with marino at the senior bowl that year and liked him. As per ernie accorsi (colt gm) they would have taken him with whatever first round pick they had AFTER trading elway or the top pick. ESPN has a great 30/30 show on the 83 draft. check it out. that's where this info comes from.
Well the whole USFL thing ......the Bills lost 3 years of a young Jim Kelly. Otherwise either player could of fit right behind Elway...
Steinberg came to the Jets with a good reputation - but couldn’t get the team over the hump. Taking Blair Thomas with that top pick really cost him ...
In my lifetime as a Jets fan, Christian Hackenberg stands above the rest. IMO none came close and I was more furious with that pick than any other. I was able to follow PSU football a bit so I knew how bad things were after his first year. At best he was worth a late-round flier and picking him in the 2nd probably set him up for failure too. I will say, does anybody else remember his first preseason series where he led them down the field in a handful of plays and looked phenomenal? Gave me pause for a moment, but didn't last long...
Kelley had said before the draft that he would not sign with the Vikings, Packers, or Bills if any of them drafted him. Bills drafted him anyway. Otherwise, there is no USFL for him. You really have to wonder how history would be different if just a few little things had changed in '83. If the Colts and Broncos had traded the 1st and 4th picks instead of the players they picked 1st and 4th-- Elway would have been a Bronco, and, likely Marino would have been a Colt. If the Chiefs had been sensible and drafted Kelley instead of Blackledge. If both of those go down, the Bills and Pats likely end up with Eason/Blackledge, with the Bills getting their pick and the Pats taking the leftover. The Jets are left out of the names, and still end up with O'Brien-- but instead of a blunder, since Marino is long off the board, he gets seen fairly as a far better pick than Eason & Blackledge. The Dolphins are out of options, but they picked well in this era, so I say they end up with Darrell Green to torment the rookie QBs of every other team in the AFC East. Also in this scenario, the Colts go to four straight Super Bowls, not the Bills. But the Jets crush the Todd Blackledge Patriots and get defeated by the '85 Bears in the Super Bowl....
LOL that’s really deep but it all could have been possible ...... I think if the Jets didn’t show up flat against NE they would’ve wound up in the SB that year and yes they would of lost to the Bears too. Of course had they not blown the regular season game in Miami that year they would of won the division and not even played NE in the playoffs unless NE made it to the Championship game through different match ups......it’s all something to ponder.
Good point, Mrjet80. Kelly was slinging the ball all over the field for those Houston teams, MrJet. In two seasons in Houston leading offensive coach Mouse Davis's run-and-shoot offense, Kelly threw for 9,842 yards and 83 touchdowns, completing 63% with an average of 8.53 yards per attempt with 45 interceptions. He was the USFL MVP in 1984, when he set a league record with 5,219 yards passing and 44 touchdown passes. Kelly's USFL records eclipsed those of fellow league quarterbacks Doug Williams and Steve Young.
In defense of the Mike Nugent pick. At the time, the rival Pats had a FG kicker by the name of Vinatieri who was making everything in sight. He was making clutch FGs to win games, consistently long FGs over 50 yds, and basically giving the Pats another offensive weapon. Because of Brady, even an offensive drive that stalled almost anywhere in opponents territory could result in 3 pts. The Jets at the time had a pretty good team and were solid on both sides of the ball. They almost made it to the Super Bowl the previous year except for a missed 47 yd FG by a journeyman kicker who shall not be named. Nugent was clearly the most hyped kicker in college, and as so, someone was going to take him early in the draft. This was an opportunity for the Jets to match the Pats in the kicking game. Based on his college career, I don't see how anyone could foresee how awful he would be as a Jet.
I'd never heard of Nugent. All I heard was he had some giant leg that could cream the ball. So I was kind of okay with the pick thinking we'd routinely be kicking 60 yard FGs and every kickoff would be a touchback. That wasn't how it went though.
