This was January, 1990. Dick Steinberg, just hired to resurrect the New York Jets, was in Mobile, Alabama, to scout the Senior Bowl. He owned the No. 2 pick in the draft, and he had just watched his targeted player -- running back Blair Thomas -- win MVP honors with a brilliant performance.
"Even my grandmother could tell you he was the best player on the field," the new general manager told me in the press box that day.
Grandma wouldn't have made it as a draftnik.
Thomas never came close to reaching expectations, and three players picked after him in the first round -- Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau and Emmitt Smith -- went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.