NFL fans think of 1983 NFL Draft as “the Year of the Quarterback.”
The quarterback talent pool that year was very deep. In a draft that included Dan Marino of Pittsburgh, Jim Kelly of Miami, Ken O’Brien of UC-Davis and Todd Blackledge of Penn State, it was widely believed that Stanford product John Elway would be the first overall selection.
Before the draft, Elway (and his father) had made it clear that he would never play for the then-Baltimore Colts, which held that first pick. But the Colts selected Elway anyway — and then traded him to the Denver Broncos for reserve quarterback Mark Herrmann, offensive lineman Chris Hinton (whom the Broncos had taken with the fourth overall pick) and their first-round pick in 1984.