Answers in Search of a Question: And With the 310th Pick, the Broncos Choose . . .

"We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself." -- Lloyd Alexander.

    Name this player:  This player was the 310th overall pick, in the 12th round, by the Broncos in his year.  He was the 39th player at his position chosen.  Only one of the players at that position picked ahead of him went on to have a noteworthy career.  This player helped the Broncos to 3 AFC titles, and he was selected as an All-Pro 5 consecutive years in his career.  More hints as we go on.

    Every NFL General Manager and Head Coach dream of finding the next great player in the draft.  This had led to a fair amount of debate in various posts here at MHR as to whether or not the draft should simply be viewed as a crap shoot.  Some folks like to point to great early round picks like Elway or Manning as evidence that early round players are the best.  Others use the examples of Davis and Brady as signs that diamonds in the rough can be discovered in the later rounds.  There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding the Broncos successes or failures in the draft.  There has been speculation in regards to McDaniels' draft strategy.  All of this discussion led to my being curious about just how well the Broncos have done with their late round draft choices.  Over the next several ASQ articles we will be looking at Denver's late round draft choices.

More After the Fold

Player Hint #1: This player was a linebacker.

    In this article we will be looking at Denver's late round draft choices from 1961 to 1969.  "Late round" is being defined for the purposes of this article as being the 5th round or later.  While most of us are used to the seven rounds of the modern draft, it is important to remember that in the 1960s there were significantly more rounds in the 60s.  1961-63 each had 30 rounds, 1964 had 26, 1965-66 had 20, 1967-69 had 17.  These longer drafts were the result of the AFL attempting to get itself off the ground.  By way of comparison, the competing NFL league ran a 20 round draft in 1960 and 1961. 

    Overall, in the 1960s, the Broncos drafted 161 players in the later rounds.  Of those 161, 81 failed to make the team, and have no record of having played anywhere else in the AFL or NFL (source: pro-football-reference.com).  We will not be taking a look at those players.  We will concern ourselves with the ones who did establish AFL/NFL careers, however long or short those might have been. 


1961 -- 4 Players (+21 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

Only two of the 25 players drafted went on to establish pro careers with the AFL Broncos.  Two more went on to careers with NFL teams.  The two Broncos players played a combined 17 games.  Not exactly notable careers.


1962 -- 8 Players (+14 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

Only 3 players out of 8 that went on to NFL careers built their career by playing for the Broncos.  None of them played for more than 4 years.


1963 -- 16 Players (+11 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

Only 5 out of the 16 players with NFL careers spent time playing for the Broncos.


Player Hint #2: This player was drafted in 1983


1964 -- 14 Players (+6 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

The best draft class of the early 60s with 6 players actually opting to play for the Broncos.


1965 -- 11 Players (+5 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

Five of the eleven players selected chose to play for the Broncos.  Halfway through the decade, the young AFL continued to struggle with players preferring to play for the more established NFL teams.


1966 -- 8 Players (+8 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

In terms of percentage of players signed to play, this was the best draft class of the first 6 years of the Broncos' drafts.


1967 -- 9 Players (+4 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

This was the first draft in which all of the late round draft picks were signed by the Broncos. 


1968 -- 3 Players (+6 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

This draft class was small, but all three players made the team. 


1969 -- 6 Players (+7 that did not make the team, nor any other team)

Another class in which all draft picks were signed to play.   

Player Hint #3: Was called "The Albino Rhino"


Some Observations

1)From 1961 to 1969, the Broncos drafted 161 players in round 5 or later.

2)Of those 161 players, 82 failed to make the Broncos or any other AFL or NFL team.

3)Of the 79 that were drafted and became pro football players, only 45 began their careers with the Broncos.

4)The average Broncos career for these 45 players was 2.7 years.

5)Broncos fans can only dream of what might have been:  In 1964, the AFL Broncos drafted both Hall of Fame DB Paul Krause, and HOF Split End Bob Hayes, only
to lose both players to more established NFL franchises -- Krause to the Washington Redskins, Hayes to the Dallas Cowboys.

6)The drafts of the 1960s are reflective of the attempts of a novice team in a fledgling league attempting to compete with established and respected NFL teams for the talent pool of college players.  So, it is not particularly surprising to see that the majority of the late round players washed out and did not catch on with any team, that many players -- when drafted by both an AFL and an NFL team -- opted to join the ranks of the NFL teams, and that many who did make it on an AFL team like the Broncos did not experience lengthy careers.

Next time: The late round picks from the 1970s.



Player Answer: Karl Mecklenburg,