1983 NFL Draft had there been no USFL

[rhickok1109]

Elway was not only the #1 pick, but he also had the opportunity to play baseball.

The baseball angle was always exaggerated, with one book on baseball scout ("Dollar Sign on the Muscle") stating that nobody outside the Yankees thought that Elway was a legitimate baseball prospect. Even if he was, it would have been years before he made it. He's passing up the NFL to play Double A ball?

I'm not sure what you mean by "exaggerated," since Elway did insist that he would play minor-league baseball rather than sign with the Colts. That was reported, as it should have been, but I don't see how it was exaggerated.

I don't think there's anything improbable about the notion that Elway would indeed have played baseball in the summer of 1983 if the Colts hadn't traded him.

[BD Sullivan]

When Bo Jackson signed to play baseball in 1986, he was quoted as saying, "I've had my share of football." He also had this ironic comment, given what later took place:

"I look at William Andrews and Billy Sims, what happened to them. You never know what might happen. The next play might be your last. I don't think I could put up with that anymore."

A year later, he signed with the Raiders.

[conace21]

Elway was not only the #1 pick, but he also had the opportunity to play baseball.

The baseball angle was always exaggerated, with one book on baseball scout ("Dollar Sign on the Muscle") stating that nobody outside the Yankees thought that Elway was a legitimate baseball prospect. Even if he was, it would have been years before he made it. He's passing up the NFL to play Double A ball?

I'm not sure what you mean by "exaggerated," since Elway did insist that he would play minor-league baseball rather than sign with the Colts. That was reported, as it should have been, but I don't see how it was exaggerated.

I don't think there's anything improbable about the notion that Elway would indeed have played baseball in the summer of 1983 if the Colts hadn't traded him.

I've read that Elway was considered an average baseball project. I think there's been some revisionist history in portraying him as a potential HOF baseball player. However, even if the Yankees were the only team to consider him a top prospect, one team is all it takes... because if he's on that one team, he's not on the Colts. Only Elway really knows if he was bluffing or not.

[Gary Najman]

In what round do you think Anthony Carter, Kelvin Bryant, Trumaine Johnson and Tim Spencer would have been drafted had not been the USFL? Certainky not in the 7th to the 12th.

[JuggernautJ]

In what round do you think Anthony Carter, Kelvin Bryant, Trumaine Johnson and Tim Spencer would have been drafted had not been the USFL? Certainky not in the 7th to the 12th.

I remember seeing all those guys play in the USFL (I had Invader season tickets).
That sentence brought back some memories!

[Rupert Patrick]

In what round do you think Anthony Carter, Kelvin Bryant, Trumaine Johnson and Tim Spencer would have been drafted had not been the USFL? Certainky not in the 7th to the 12th.

Carter finished fourth in the Heisman voting in 1982, and it's difficult to imagine him not being the first WR drafted in the 1983 draft. Willie Gault was the first WR taken, by Chicago with the 18th pick, but I think if Carter had been available, he might have been taken by Philadelphia with the eighth pick in the draft.

Living in the Carolinas in 1981-82, I saw quite a bit of Kelvin Bryant at UNC on TV. He struck me as a guy who would go on to be successful in the NFL , and in 1982 when the preseason polls had UNC in the top five, he was touted as a Heisman candidate. When the Tarheels fell off the Championship radar following a 7-6 loss to Pitt in the opening week, they went on to an 8-4 season and Bryant fell off the Heisman radar although he led the ACC in rushing and yards from scrimmage. I think with no USFL he would have been one of the 5-6 first RB's taken, probably late first round or early second round.

I didn't follow Johnson and Spencer during their college careers and can't make a guess as to their draft position.