April 28

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss 4 historic NFL Drafts and the players chosen with the top ten picks as well as many more Legendary stories.

April 28, 1987 - The NFL Draft of 1987 took place and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used their first overall pick to aquire University of Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Vinnie T. had a really nice long career in the League playing for 21 seasons all the way to 2007 wearing the uniforms of seven different franchises along the way with over 46,000 yards passing and 275 TD throws. Testaverde is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but there is one of his classmates from this Draft of ‘87 that does own a Gold Jacket. Purdue corner Rod Woodson who was the 10th overall pick by Pittsburgh. Woodson played 17 seasons himself in the NFL picking off 71 passes in the process and scoring 15 TDs between the interceptions, fumbles and kick returns.  
The balance of the top ten looked like this per the Pro Football Reference:

Pick    Tm    Player    Pos    College/Univ            
1    TAM    Vinny Testaverde    QB    Miami (FL)
2    IND     Cornelius Bennett    LB    Alabama
3    HOU    Alonzo Highsmith    RB    Miami (FL)
4    GNB    Brent Fullwood    RB    Auburn
5    CLE     Mike Junkin    LB    Duke
6    STL     Kelly Stouffer    QB    Colorado St.
7    DET    Reggie Rogers    DE    Washington
8    BUF    Shane Conlan    LB    Penn St.
9    PHI      Jerome Brown    DT    Miami (FL)
10  PIT      Rod Woodson    DB    Purdue

April 28, 2007 - NFL Draft: LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell first pick by Oakland Raiders. Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson, “Megatron” was the second overall selection by the Detroit Lions per the website Pro-Football-Reference.com. So far Mr Johnson is the only player from this class in Canton but I would keep my eyes open for Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Darelle Revis and others to be in the discussion very soon! https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2007/draft.htm 

The Top ten of the 2007 NFL Draft rounded out like this:
Pick    Tm    Player    Pos    College/Univ
1    OAK    JaMarcus Russell    QB    LSU
2    DET     Calvin Johnson    WR    Georgia Tech
3    CLE     Joe Thomas    T    Wisconsin
4    TAM    Gaines Adams    DE    Clemson
5    ARI     Levi Brown    T    Penn St.
6    WAS    LaRon Landry    DB    LSU
7    MIN    Adrian Peterson    RB    Oklahoma
8    ATL     Jamaal Anderson    DE    Arkansas
9    MIA    Ted Ginn Jr.    WR    Ohio St.
10  HOU    Amobi Okoye    DT    Louisville

Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the day The Charlotte Observer “Prospects and fans work hard before the Draft."
April 28, 2011 - Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was the first pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft. It is far too early to have hHall of Famers officially named but I am quite sure in the next decade some of these names will be found in Canton. Here is a look at the top 11 picks per the PFR.

Pick    Tm    Player    Pos    College/Univ
                
1    CAR    Cam Newton    QB    Auburn
2    DEN    Von Miller    LB    Texas A&M
3    BUF    Marcell Dareus    DT    Alabama
4    CIN    A.J. Green    WR    Georgia
5    ARI    Patrick Peterson    DB    LSU
6    ATL    Julio Jones    WR    Alabama
7    SFO    Aldon Smith    DE    Missouri
8    TEN    Jake Locker    QB    Washington
9    DAL    Tyron Smith    T    USC
10    JAX    Blaine Gabbert    QB    Missouri
11    HOU    J.J. Watt            DE          Wisconsin

April 28, 2016 - NFL Draft: Cal quarterback Jared Goff  was the first pick by Los Angeles Rams. The Pro Football Reference identifies the rest of the top ten players.
Pick    Tm    Player    Pos    College/Univ
                
1    LAR    Jared Goff    QB    California
2    PHI    Carson Wentz    QB    North Dakota St.
3    SDG    Joey Bosa    DE    Ohio St.
4    DAL    Ezekiel Elliott    RB    Ohio St.
5    JAX    Jalen Ramsey    CB    Florida St.
6    BAL    Ronnie Stanley    T    Notre Dame
7    SFO    DeForest Buckner    DE    Oregon
8    TEN    Jack Conklin    T    Michigan St.
9    CHI    Leonard Floyd    OLB    Georgia
10    NYG    Eli Apple    CB    Ohio State

April 28, 2018 - Shaquem Griffin is the first one-handed person to be drafted into the NFL, for the Seattle Seahawks

April 28, 1947 - Pawhuska, Oklahoma - Bill Enyart the big fullback from Oregon State that played from 1966 to 1968 was born.  Enyart was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. He played three seasons for the Bills and Oakland Raiders.   

April 28, 1955 - Brenham, Texas - Wilson Whitley the University of Houston Defensive Tackle was born. The National Football Foundation tells of how Wilson was a two time All-American who lead a very fiesty defense. Wilson Whitley received the great honor of being selected for inclusion into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.  He played in the NFL for 7 seasons with the Bengals.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by Oliver Herford circa 1924 and is titled " Boy in uniform kicking football and letter H ."