A Day that will Live in Infamy! | 1994 Caught in the Draft

coach johnson your team has a knack for coming to the white house the decade is not even half over and they've already won two super bowls there's no telling what this team can do 1994 began with the cowboys winning their second straight super bowl surprisingly a few weeks later america's team made headlines again we have mutually decided that i would no longer be the head football coach with the dallas cowboys the drama in big d wasn't the only thing keeping the nfl in the news growing interest in the scouting combine took hold in february free agency in only its second year made march the nfl's hot stove month the cincinnati bengals have the first selection and april of course belonged to the draft where in 1994 first-round trades and first-rate fireworks elevated the mundane to must-see tv that's why the colts are the laughing stock of the league year in and year out this was the dawn of the nfl as a year-round sport football league collection meeting is now in session pittsburgh selects lynn swann boomer i mean is he gonna go in the first round at all that's why the culture picking second every year who in the hell is mel kuiper charges select eli manning welcome back my friends to the show that never ends the 1994 draft was a benchmark for the nfl's modern era one team had to dump a defensive starter on the eve of the draft in order to fit under the league's new salary cap san francisco 49ers needed to make some room or they would not even be able to participate in the draft today it had a new seven-round format which led to one of the most upside-down drafts in history several late finds would help four different teams reach the super bowl the saint louis rams are the world champions and it ushered in a new era of trade inspired by jerry jones and jimmy johnson the men who remade america's team they made the big trade with herschel walker where they traded herschel walker to minnesota for just a boatload of draft picks which for the most part they use very wisely they end up with nine nfl starters out of the 91 92 drafts russell maryland with the first pick they draft alvin harper they draft dixon edwards they pick up eric williams leon lett larry brown in 92 they draft kevin smith robert jones and if that wasn't enough then they pick up some guy named darren woodson so nine guys in two drafts sort of fast forward this organization from one in 15 to winning three super bowls in four years [Music] jimmy jerry both of them are huge gamblers and they've traded like crazy in my five years in dallas we made 51 traits more than the rest of the league put together this freewheeling approach was backed by a mathematical tool of their own design the draft pick value chart i never ever felt like this old take the best player available was what i wanted to do i wanted to take the player that i wanted and if that pick was too high i want to trade down to a position where he should be picked i go to jerry and i said i think there's a better way to do it so jerry's buddy they were in oil business together his name was mike mccoy and he studied the past draft mike basically took the trades that had been made for years and put a quantitative value on them so that you could fundamentally say the fifth pick in the third round requires what to go with it to get up in the second round well is there anything any consideration soon the chart became as ubiquitous in nfl circles as the periodic table in the classroom everybody would refer to it before a trade was made we would talk about is this fair what do you think of this trade here's what they're offering and then somebody would say what does the chart say well obviously we'd switch places and we would want two tubes that chart was well received because we all in trades want to be sure that we don't get stiffed to switch first with them all he wants is our first second third and something else i said how about my daughter we'll throw her in and now the chart's been changed a hundred times salary cap on and on but it still gives you a quick look as far as making trades pick for pick jerry and jimmy to me they changed the whole dynamic they took it from this sleepy little meeting to this live poker game while the cowboys revolutionized the draft process espn made innovations to the draft broadcast they added former players like joe theismann remote reporters with the latest scoop and fly on the wall cameras in certain war rooms including the dallas cowboys moments ago on the dallas cowboy war room camera jerry jones was working the phones and ended up hanging up on one of the telephone calls looking rather upset it provided great visuals for us it did for the first time kind of take the viewer inside you know one of the clubs i mean i think that's kind of the secret to television take people where they normally can't go and i remember jerry jones just being a guy unlike any owner i had ever seen like just out front all the time and not shy the fallout with johnson made for a new dynamic in dallas entering the 94 draft it was jerry's world now jones tried to wheel and deal his way high enough to take defensive end willie mcginnis but the chart made popular by the cowboys now seemed to work against them yeah we tried like everything in the world to get up to get willy and we couldn't come up with enough draft choices or point spread and jerry was sick about it the cowboy reaction in the war room was less than popular when new england made the choice of the player that they were trying to trade up to get no word on if they'll move up for another defensive player you know that you have an opportunity to trade up and down the draft and we were going to trade alvin harper for one guy and that was willie mcginnis and no one else with the 23rd pick of the first round dallas has selected shantay carver defensive end from arizona state the cowboys salvaged their draft in the second round with the selection of larry allen a future hall of famer but the carver pick was the first of many draft misses that would haunt the team for years to come it ain't like we all quit after jimmy walked out you know everybody in this league would give anything a world be in the championship game and in the super bowl the next year we were and sure it was with jimmy's team but we didn't screw it up [Music] 15 years of the nfl draft here on espn boy time flies when you're having fun lots of changes over the past decade and a half from billy sims to drew bledsoe the time has changed the length has changed but one thing hasn't changed we're here we're there we're everywhere by 1994 the nfl draft had made it big now held in times square espn's telecast was a television spectacle it was a pretty big event it was huge and uh it really started to grow and the numbers the ratings all the preview shows and the like the coverage that it had on sportscenter uh everything was uh was elevated the nfl offseason had grown in popularity as well draftniks now took an interest in the data coming out of the scouting combine in february the popularity of it kind of caught me off guard because you know we'd go there we'd sit for hours and hours and hours and hours sometimes it felt like you're watching you know pain peeling but apparently people love it the poster child for this modern obsession with combine data was dan big daddy wilkinson the consensus number one overall pick we think we know who the first pick is young man named dan wilkinson defensive tackle extraordinaire from ohio state i saw this mammoth person sprinting effortlessly up and down the field leading the pack and naturally said who is this guy he looked like a man among boys a big six foot four and a quarter 313 pounder ran at 472 32 reps at 225 awesome weight room strength he set some uh combine numbers that were ridiculous he was almost like superman and for whatever reason people decided that dan wilkinson is going to be the next reggie white he's about as high rated defensive lineman as you've seen is that correct i really think chris he's one of the top three defensive linemen in the last decade up there with reggie white and cortez kennedy and the point is there isn't going to be another reggie white there are big bucks ahead for ohio state sophomore dan big daddy wilkinson the cincinnati bengals made the 315 pound defensive tackle the top pick in today's nfl draft i'm very happy to be here i'm very you know glad that cincinnati chose me as number one pick and uh basically i'm ready to you know give him cap soon as possible strap it up you know the knock on dan was in the big games he'd show up and flash and play brilliantly then against purdue when he came to me he kind of just like disappeared was he a guy that had the will desire motor to be a dominant player every single snap and talking to high school coaches that he played against up in date and that was the knock on him in high school there were always glimpses of the talent and the greatness but it was never sustained he would break your heart you'd watch a game and go there he is there's big daddy and then the next game or the next couple of games he would disappear big daddy certainly wasn't the next reggie white but he did play for 13 years in the nfl he was a very serviceable nfl defensive lineman who lasted for more than a decade there's no shame in that but when you are selected number one there is a burden of expectation that comes with that and he never quite lived up to that standard including wilkinson six of the first 13 picks in the 1994 draft were defensive linemen a record at the time while the bengals were rebuilding the kansas city chiefs were looking for a few final pieces to add to a contender modern free agency began in 1993 causing a shift in how nfl teams built their rosters it changed how you looked at the draft this was a great way to fill in some of the holes on your roster with some veteran players the chiefs filled a hole with future hall of famer marcus allen allen joined 1993 trade acquisition joe montana to lead kansas city to the afc title game where they lost to the bills in the 1994 draft the chiefs needed to add offense and the internal debate of their war room was captured in never-before-seen footage now the draft is actually happening in new york city and we're on the phone right here talking with them and as the draft goes on they communicate it's an open line with their first selection the chiefs knew they wanted a running back but the room was divided over who to take florida state's william floyd texas a m's greg hill or arizona state's mario bates we want that group 25th pick great hill on the clock now the kansas city chiefs who came so close who got to the afc title game last year bill we have five minutes [Music] and um i prefer hill he gave he gave this guy a better grade than he gave greg so we got to make a decision here okay we got three minutes and 40 seconds right now is there any questions at all about this guy's character two minutes and 30 seconds any questions about mario bait's name no we're fine okay because greg hill is what he is a tough sob and a good football player and i'm not so sure about the other guy but i don't know the other guy got mario bates from arizona state william glory from florida state and greg from texas i will just say this if very old baits haven't got hurt we wouldn't be talking bill we have one minute and 30 seconds from there bill yeah i'd say yeah let me talk to you alright we got 30 seconds bill [Music] whatever you want to do i want i think greg kills the player i mean jimmy said the only con the only difference in them was the size all right what exactly is excited with greg hill yeah all right okay greg hill greg hill greg hill greg hill i'm turning in greg hill running back from texas a m it's going up the card is on its way to the commissioner and you know what that means with the 25th pick in the first round kansas city selects greg hill running back texas a m all right hey got another number one pick it always gets down to a final decision i i had that responsibility with the chiefs as a general manager you're trying to give your head coach the players that fit his personality all right hopefully you make a good gut decision the chiefs spent their first four picks on offensive skill players in 1994 three out of the four were gone from kansas city in four years the 94 season ended with a first round loss in miami and joe montana's retirement mario bates and greg hill both turned in average nfl careers each rushing for just over three thousand [Music] this is the yards annual selection meeting as they call it in the nfl and as the rules change and the brave new world of the salary cap and teams and free agency perhaps more than ever before a premium on the seven rounds of the nfl draft i mean so many things were going on in 94 that really hadn't been seen before you had underclassmen being drafted in fairly significant numbers you had free agency begin to have an effect on how teams filled needs and you had all these mock giraffes taking interest in the draft to a greater degree than ever before milk hyper is doing his and dr zeople zimmerman is doing his no matter how many more hours these teams have spent having access to info and medicals and stuff that none of us have we all think that we can do it as good as they do well chris this is a pick that i had i had mcginnis going number four to new england really i thought it because he is an impact player sorry mel the rams now on the board let's take a look at yours where should they be looking for value mel kiper has built a career for himself as the outsider with inside knowledge the first great armchair gm he has published his own draft guide every spring since 1981 complete with write-ups on each pro prospect i'm always interested to read his book as long as he sends it free by 1994 kuiper and his big board were fixtures of the broadcast there was little debate as to who would go number one but intrigue surrounded the landing spots for heath schuler and trent dilfer the top two quarterback prospects the indianapolis colts are now on the clock now they have two very high first round picks the number two pick right now and the number seven pick overall with the second pick in the first round the indianapolis colts select marshall falk running back san diego state he's a great back but i strongly disagree with this pick and it's not any criticism of martial thought the cults have to come out of this draft with a quarterback and if they don't they're right for some criticism kuiper he had been building up two weeks prior to the draft about having to take a quarterback and i was the opinion that i was running the colts and not anybody on a network bill tobin took the future hall of famer he had acquired the colts other top 10 pick by trading jeff george to the falcons leaving free agent signee jim harbaugh as the only quarterback on the roster the same harbaugh that tobin drafted eight years earlier as gm of the chicago bears walter payton and jim harbaugh are the two most competitive players i've ever been around in my life and he's going to be my quarterback i wasn't interested in trent dilfer and heath schuler we didn't have either one of them in our top ten players the third pick of the first round the washington redskins select heath schuler quarterback tennessee new england patriots select willie mcginnis linebacker usc dilfer is falling [Laughter] can you believe that i don't know what he's saying was santa claus waiting on him ever this exciting i don't know man this is amazing huh i get a big kick out of every year i have that ugly green suit on and a big flock of seagulls hairdo so that's uh that's why i like it being reruns people actually believe i had hair at one point so you are surprised oh very surprised yeah we thought for sure it would be either indianapolis washington or l.a the next logical choice was the indianapolis colts the colts traded up with the rams moving from number seven to number five everyone thought they were moving up to take dilfer what followed became the signature moment of the 1994 draft the rams have made a trade with indianapolis and indianapolis has selected trev alberts linebacker from nebraska wow that's simple well i mean albert's a great player there's no question about that but you got a problem with this move i think it's a typical cult move i mean here's a team that needed a franchise quarterback to pass up a trent dilfer when all you have is jim harbaugh give me a break that's why the colts are picking second every year in the draft not battling for the super bowl like other clubs in the national football league it was whoa hell where you going babes you know and bell all of a sudden boom here he comes that's why the colts are picking second every year in the draft mel was never shy in his opinion and he wasn't shy in his opinion in this case well you think about jim harbaugh was a solid quarterback not a great one and you felt like okay can these quarterbacks improve your position and i thought trent dilfer could and obviously general managers don't like to be called out like that by analysts so shortly afterward we kick it down to indianapolis where chris mortensen is with bill tobin i knew he'd have one surprise for us today not a surprise to us no that's great i mean no that's what i mean i'm not i'm not hey one question bill a lot of criticism about not taking a quarterback here your response well you know we got a guy up there who in the hell is mel keiper in a way i mean here's a guy that criticizes everybody whoever they take he's got the answers to who you should take and who you shouldn't take in my knowledge of him he's never ever put on a jock strap he's never been a coach he's never been a scout he's never been an administrator and all of a sudden he's an expert he's in our papers two days ago telling us who we have to take we don't have to take anybody that mel keiper says we have to take mel keiper has no more credentials to do what he's doing than my neighbor and my neighbor is a postman and he doesn't even have season tickets to the nfl at that instant it just became clear that this was reality television of the highest order oh i think i probably got my irish up bill tobin was a hot-headed guy i love bill he said what the entire league thought who in the hell is mel type of anyone i know i and probably 27 other general managers congratulated him uh it it was classic who in the hell is mal kuiper mel kuiper doesn't know any more than my postman the thing is nobody's ever really tracked down tobin's mailman to find out exactly how much he do i'd like to know that sometime it could be that tobin's mailman knows a lot about football might have been more of a compliment than any of us realized no piper bill tobin obviously not going out to dinner tonight well chris i'll tell you i'm secure in my position obviously bill tobin is not very secure in his position to have a response like that i didn't take exception to the comments bill tobin was entitled to his opinion he was critical what i said so be it i wasn't there to show for the nfl was there to give an opinion and i've always done that to me it's a mistake you cannot go with jim harbaugh and pass up trent bilford forget it that's why the colts are the laughing stock of the league year in and year out april 24th 1994 a day that will live in infamy kuiper tobin and tobin's postman became the talk of the draft what do you want to cover first our players are that or that jerk in uh baltimore you know of all the things my whole career that might be the one that people want to talk about the most it was obviously an entertaining very entertaining for the fans and uh it's still being talked about today mel you know is probably the single biggest person in terms of why the draft has been popular on espn so we didn't have any problem with it you know controversy is good on television and we will win regardless of what mel keiper said in the aftermath jim harbaugh led the colts to the afc championship game in 1995. marshall falk is in the hall of fame trev alberts was out of the league in just three years bill tobin was fired in 1997 after the colts went 3 and 13. well first of all it had been a great experience for me not just me but everybody who came we had fun it's first class they really treat you nice up here 1994 was the second year the nfl showcased multiple players live at the draft our next guest is a three-time all-american running back a public administration major from new orleans louisiana please welcome marshall falk i always tell people about that moment and and i love going back to the draft because it takes me back and it brings me back to that moment fresno state quarterback trent dilfer's moment involves some behind the scenes drama my situation got a little tipsy turvy there we really thought that the whole process were going to the redskins the washington redskins select heath schuler quarterback tennessee so you are surprised oh very surprised but hey i mean shows how much we know and how much everybody else knows i spent a ton of time with the redskins obviously most not done very well in the test the redskins change of heart came not with a test but with the hire of head coach norv turner at the end of the regular season we had trent dilfer rated ahead of heath short we thought he was more of what we had been used to with the redskins big arm guy with the changing coaches mobility became a big issue so that's where schuler kind of jumped up in the process the next logical choice was indianapolis colts add context to the milk hyper argument with tobin we had manipulated the draft and let the colts know that i wouldn't play for them we had the leverage of the next year was expansion and i would have been the first pick the next year i was very serious that i was willing to sit out an entire year and then go into expansion your legs are moving a little bit you nervous right now i'm a little nervous all right boom we'll see here in just a minute which then kind of by default i then knew i was going to tampa bay buccaneers have made the sixth pick in the first round and they've selected trent dilfer quarterback fresno state well they took their time didn't they but deep regrets that we did that i think that is horrible my wife to this day gets mad at me for doing it uh the chance to play with marshall falk for 10 years think that i think my career might have been a little bit different but it's how things go you don't seem very excited andy i'm very surprised but i'm i'm fired up i really am fired up i mean this is a perfect situation you didn't go to a couple teams it does not matter when you're drafted it's who you're drafted by dilfer got his wish after six underwhelming years as a buccaneer he signed with the ravens in 2000 where aided by one of the nfl's all-time great defenses he won a super bowl in tampa bay's raymond james stadium and what a pass snooper threw right down the middle one here in tampa bay ever like that that pass is gorgeous three picks before dilfer washington selected heath schuler the quarterback many thought was a can't miss prospect chris i think norv turner's got his troy aikman and it's gonna be heath schuler personally i thought he's shuler had first round ability but wasn't a top pick but what happens is you can talk yourself into we have to get a quarterback if we don't take one here we won't get one the irony for the redskins was that they did find a quarterback in the seventh round of the same draft in gus farat while schuler was plagued with injuries and struggled farrot won over the hometown crowd by outperforming his first round counterpart issue one gus ferrot how successful will gus ferrat be john if heath schuler's performance last week is any measure which is absolute zero this guy can't get less than a five i went into coach turner i said coach why these people hate me so much you know it emotionally affected me because i've never had people dislike me ever in my life schuler won only four games in 13 starts while throwing twice as many interceptions as touchdowns it's gonna be picked off how do you explain that in 1996 for rock would lead washington to its first winning season in five years you know we took the guy everybody said hey this guy's a can't miss well it didn't work out we were trying to find a young quarterback we found a guy in the seventh round ahead of the guy in the first round that's really what happened at the end of the day farat left the redskins after five seasons and had a lengthy career as an nfl journeyman heath schuler would eventually find success in washington earning a seat in the house of representatives for his home state of north carolina if you don't have obstacles to overcome you know how much you really appreciate the the true goals that you've obtained and now obtaining those goals are not personal anymore yeah do you remember where he finished in heisman that year uh second remember who finished first charlie ward in 1994 charlie ward was the reigning heisman winner but two issues kept him from being a top pick first he was a two sport athlete and nfl teams doubted his dedication to football second he didn't fit the prototype for a franchise qb ward has joined army's pete dawkins is the only heisman winners to go undrafted dawkins was ignored back in 1959 because of his military commitment ward was given the cold shoulder treatment because he refused to make a choice between the nfl and the nba my statement was if the nfl didn't choose me in the first round i would consider my other options i'm not sure how that got to if i didn't get drafted in first round that i wouldn't come and play football or it made it seem like i was being arrogant but no one approached because i wasn't 6'5 210 guy what what is the quarterback at florida state saying about his basketball it all comes down to where he's drafted how high he's dropped how high he's drafted now he said obviously if he's number one draft pick football that's where he's going to go anything less than that still up in the air i don't know they can't see the chiefs call to see if i would be interested in being a backup for joe montana lamar hunt was enamored with him and we all were a great athlete and we got down sixth seventh round and we were considering doing that would have been an interesting pick that's a fine prospect but i couldn't guarantee them that i would show up for training camp if i'd have gotten drafted in nba in the first round with the 26th pick in the 1994 nba draft the new york knicks select charlie ward from florida state university charlie ward played for 12 seasons in the nba mostly in a reserve role but the question remains with players like russell wilson and robert griffin changing the perception of what it takes to be a franchise quarterback was ward just ahead of his time i see myself as one of those guys if i had an opportunity to play in the nfl ironically ward now makes a living with the sport that's burned him two decades ago uh well i'm currently coaching you know high school football i got a quarterback okay that's uh he has potential okay good there you go some soft spoken man you're a legend seven quarterbacks were taken on the second day of the draft instead of charlie ward jay walker had a 100 completion percentage in his career he was two for two jim miller started 26 games for the bears and led them to a 13-3 record in 2001 glenn foley threw for 415 yards and three touchdowns against steve young in san francisco but in a losing effort one two three rivers let me hear that qualification of a big buck big play what you got to say pure entertainment to date marshall falk and larry allen are the only two hall of fame players to come out of the 1994 draft but there was no shortage of hall of fame talkers he didn't want to catch that he didn't want to catch it they want to catch it they want to catch it just like you you don't want to catch it you ain't tackling nobody yet scrubs don't quote me on that now coincidentally many of the head talkers from that draft became the talking heads who cover the draft today they can keep building this offensive line and protect that quarterback if you wanted to draft the best talker available you would have had to think long and hard about who you wanted to take first you had kurt warner in that draft you had trent dilfer you had rodney harrison you had willie mcginnis you had marshall faulk i mean that's a mount rushmore of gab football really started to grow in the you know the early to mid 90s and watching guys like tom jackson i was like i want to do this i want to interview players and be around the game that i love but when it comes to the draft at least one former player turned broadcaster doesn't get all the fuss if i didn't work it i wouldn't watch it i my boss brought me up i just i'm being honest if there's anything i am on tv it's honest i wouldn't watch it because i'm a player and i know how many of those guys that we're going to talk about so much are going to end up on the streets and how many guys you don't even hear draft day are going to be the guys that win you a game in the fourth quarter with four minutes left and the fact that the audience sits there and consumes it all i i struggle with it and i do it but it's not even close to an exact science a case in point is jamal anderson one of 1994's big talkers and a seventh round steal for the atlanta falcons oh i like it now you know i got you that last play number one i was a tweener a fullback tailback so it was like what position is he gonna play and look at jamal anderson bust through the line a fine run for the big guy and number two i messed my ankle up at the end of my college career so that might have got me more than anything else up till the time he got hurt after the time he got hurt he was a roaring jesse and he got hurt but he's got the power coupled with all the other things i thought kansas city was going to be the team it came down to me and another guy donnell bennett from university of miami and they selected bennett i did not ever forget that anderson didn't forget the other 22 either i'm almost positive there were 23 running backs selected before me air grid had a couple good years chuck levy arizona charlie garner was outstanding mario bates nice guy but that didn't work out donnell bennett jeff cothran tony vincent wow he ended up coming to atlanta and he was one of my backups in the end of the day i think there's only one guy on here who put a better number than me actually two but who's counting while most of the others faded into obscurity anderson created the dirty bird and soared into the super bowl touchdown falcons jamal anderson out of the backfield and here is the dirty bird dance to be a big part of that coming from where i came from i mean i wanted everybody who didn't draft me to pay the best thing ever happened to kansas city chiefs was me going to the nfc i can assure you that kansas city chiefs all right now in regard to the free agent scenario it may be a shot in the dark but if there is a priority a high priority guy here you need to be there on the doorstep as part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement the draft shrunk to seven rounds in 1994 creating another pool of free agents among undrafted rookies a lot of teams after round seven all ran for the phones to call the guys to try and sign free agents the guys you would have drafted in rounds eight nine ten let them know that you know if you're not drafted we're really interested in you if we can't squeeze you on board we're gonna come knocking on your door what we're trying to do is create a situation where we're saying our guys there we've got the contract this is the deal sign it and let's go that part of the draft was really more frantic than the regular draft because every team is planning the same thing so in other words we're gonna we're gonna have to eliminate the guys that we think are gonna get drafted and have the best chance of being someplace where where there will be a legitimate free agent so what i have to do is look forward the draft if i can if i can get espn2 on whatever there were a lot of guys that would have been drafted that weren't but in a seven round draft they fell through the cracks 1994 remains the best undrafted class in nfl history including kurt warner jeff garcia demarco farm tony richardson and rod smith the broncos all-time leader in receptions yards and touchdowns i probably won those guys they looked at say he's too slow and and really kind of didn't give me a chance but i didn't get drafted and i'm still upset by that i don't think you ever get over you know your name not being called on draft day when you get a sack in the nfl and you start doing a sac dance and pointing to people you are pointing out every face from the combine from the bowl games all those coaches and scouts everyone that missed on you that's the people you're yelling at you just don't know where terrell davis is going to come from where tom brady is going to come from where jamal anderson is going to come from you like to think you have some great idea about the top picks but sometimes ryan leaf happens you know the seventh pick in the draft was traded by the rams to san francisco no draft pick in nfl history has been traded more than the seventh pick in the 94 draft number seven started with the falcons who traded it to the colts for quarterback jeff george the colts packaged the pick with a third round selection to move up to the ram slot at number five to select trev alberts los angeles traded the pick to the 49ers and kept trading down netting multiple draft picks san francisco the final resting spot of the seventh overall pick used it to select defensive tackle bryant young young started every game as a rookie and contributed to the 49ers super bowl victory the san francisco 49ers are the first team to win five super bowl championships bryant young was just the beginning of san francisco's draft success in 1994 the 49ers started four rookies on their super bowl winning team the 94 draft was huge for us brian young was one of the great 49ers of all time believe what i was a great contributor doug bryan was a contributor so guys contributed right away that was a big deal for us because we needed every ounce of whatever we could possibly get dives into the end zone touchdown 49ers the 94 draft helped san francisco win super bowl 29 the same draft aided the rams in winning super bowl 34 starting with the selection of their eventual all-time leading receiver the broadcast is getting ready to transfer from espn to espn2 and i hear chris berman saying you know goodbye to everybody who's been watching for those of you that have watched us on espn we thank you for joining us but in the background you have the guy doing the announcement of the guys who are being picked the indianapolis colts second round choice is eric mollum center from california and i hear this guy go uh with the 33rd pick the los angeles rams select isaac bruce he is and the type of guy that can bring some havoc that'll be interesting to see how he fits because you know bill parcells will unleash him there and i was like did he call my name to my agent he was like no i don't think he called you i think he called isaac davis from arkansas many many others of course in tampa bay i'm just watching now i'm watching the screen because the screen goes current selection los angeles rams select isaac bruce and i just went bonkers in his house i was like i told you they called me isaac bruce wasn't the only starter from the rams super bowl team selected in 94. the rams drafted free safety keith lyle in the third round and landed defensive tackle demarco far as an undrafted free agent the second pick of 94 marshall faulk was acquired by a trade from indianapolis in 99. really all those guys were drafted in 94. [Music] the man many consider to be the greatest undrafted free agent of all time kurt warner was also from the class of 94. kurt warner was one of them he was 94 i didn't know he was 94. warner began his nfl journey as an undrafted free agent in packers camp he had a little trouble being comfortable with our system and that that eventually got him cut that was just stupidity on our part the future two-time nfl mvp earned his shot in the nfl through a stint in the arena league and a tour in nfl europe now kurt did get a lot better once he went to the arena league and once he got some worldly experience and i think getting cut from green bay lit a fire in him but he did some good stuff in college too and somebody should have been able to see the traits that he had that you could develop this quarterback doesn't look bad jimmy what he if there is one thing that warner's story proved it is that the nfl draft can be a crapshoot well it tells me some guys just copy off other guys reports i mean some of the scouts when you miss a guy like demarco when you missed a guy like kurt warner i mean someone should lose their job crap shoot or not the draft of 94 was just the beginning of the nfl's rise to a year-round sport it was becoming a bigger event nationally it wasn't just about espn putting on the two days of the draft talk radio was talking about it especially the newspapers were covering it like a major event the magazines were covering it like a major event you were hearing trade rumors the cowboys they hoped they would have a deal with the rams trading alvin harbor and dallas moving into that five spot when that stuff starts to foment and build up you know that you are riding a pretty good wave and that wave has not crested i mean it has just gone higher and higher and higher at the nfl draft the marriott marquee there is very little down time for nfl fans the way this thing is played out welcome back my friends to the show that never [Music] ends

Channel: NFL Films

Views: 362,090

Keywords: NFL, Football, NFL Films, American Football

Id: tOJbuKyAqOw

Length: 43min 36sec (2616 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021