Facts about 1st Round Draft Picks

In this edition filled with Football Fun Facts we dive into some interesting little tidbits of the NFL Number one Draft Picks.

Welcome to the football short-yardage segments from PigskinDispatch.com. On this drive, we want to bring you a few football factoids of knowledge on first-round draft picks that will make your football brain grow just a little big larger with knowledge of gridiron history. 

Since the inception of the NFL Draft in 1936, there is only one defunct NFL franchise to have ever had the first overall pick in the League’s draft. In fact, this same franchise had the distinct honor of the number one selection twice. The Boston Yanks held the spot in 1944 and 46. Both times they selected a quarterback from the University of Notre Dame: Angelo Bertelli (1944) and Frank “Boley” Dancewicz (1946).

Angelo Bertelli never did play for the Yanks or in the NFL though. Bertelli was the 1943 Heisman winner but played in only six collegiate games that season as Uncle Sam called him to serve his country. Angelo had enlisted in the Marine Corp earlier and just six weeks into the 1943 football season, he went off to fight in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. He fought bravely at the Battle of Iwo Jima, darn near losing his life when a Japanese mortar shell went off some 15 feet away from him. After the war, he did play some professional football only not for the red, white, and blue shield of the National Football League. Angelo played three seasons as a quarterback in the All-American Football Conference; 1946 with the LA Dons and then two years as the signal-caller of the Chicago Rockets. In his three-year pro career, he threw for just under 1000 yards and had 8 TD passes.

Boley Dancewicz was 6th in the Heisman voting in 1946. Boley also played just three years of pro ball and they were all with the Boston Yanks. His numbers were not much different than Bertelli’s as he tossed for 1551 yards and 12 TDs.

Unlike today these two quarterbacks drafted number one only had a total of 7 starts between them in their combined 6 seasons of pro football according to the Pro-Football-Reference. The Boston Yanks with their poor drafting from the top only sported a 14-38-3 record. They lost fan support, money, and their franchise after only five years of existence. It just goes to show you how important building a team through the Draft can be.

So just how many number one picks in the NFL have gone on to start in and lead a team to a Lombardi Trophy? According to SportsCasting.com in a recent article there have been 18 top picks in the last 56 years to do so.

• Paul Hornung (1957) – Won Super Bowl 1
• Bubba Smith (1967) – Won Super Bowl 5
• Terry Bradshaw (1970) – Won Super Bowl 9, 10, 13, 14
• Jim Plunkett (1971) – Won Super Bowl 15, 18
• John Matuszak (1973) – Won Super Bowl 11, 15
• Ed “Too Tall” Jones (1974) – Won Super Bowl 12
• George Rogers (1981) – Won Super Bowl 22
• John Elway (1983) – Won Super Bowl 32, 33
• Troy Aikman (1989) – Won Super Bowl 27, 28, 30
• Russell Maryland (1991) – Won Super Bowl 27, 28, 30
• Drew Bledsoe (1993) – Won Super Bowl 36
• Keyshawn Johnson (1996) – Won Super Bowl 37
• Orlando Pace (1997) – Won Super Bowl 34
• Peyton Manning (1998) – Won Super Bowl 41, 50
• David Carr (2002) – Won Super Bowl 46
• Eli Manning (2004) – Won Super Bowl 42, 46
• Matthew Stafford (2009) – Won Super Bowl 56
• Eric Fisher (2013) – Won Super Bowl 54

Many more have won an NFL title prior to the Super Bowl era.

Chuck Bednarik 1949 NFL Draft: First overall pick by the Philadelphia Eagles won the 1949 and 1960 NFL title. Concrete Charlie had some heroics during the 1960 NFL Championship game against Green Bay. The Packers were trying to score a game-winning touchdown, but Bednarik tackled running back Jim Taylor at the 8-yard line to preserve Philly's 17-13 win. 

Billy Cannon was the top pick in the 1960 Draft but went to the AFL’s Houston Oilers and won two title games there.

Charley Trippi the top pick in 1945 helped the Chicago Cardinals win the League in 1947.

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of the Public Domain of Navy football helmet illustrated by Supa Snoopa.

Special thanks to Pro-Football-Reference.com, Stathead.com and the article called out above in the body of the article.