We all know the 1989 Draft was special, because it yielded 4 HOFers in the first 5 picks. But look what happened the next 5 years:
1990
1 - IND Jeff George, QB, Illinois
2 - NYJ Blair Thomas, RB, Penn St
3 - SEA Cortez Kennedy, DT, Miami
4 - TB Keith McCants, LB, Alabama
5 - SD Junior Seau, LB, USC
*still solid here, some big misses, but still, 2 HOFers in the top 5 and 5 HOFers overall (like in '89)
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1991
1 - DAL Russell Maryland, DT, Miami
2 - CLE Eric Turner, S, UCLA
3 - ATL Bruce Pickens, CB, Nebraska
4 - DEN Mike Croel, LB, Nebraska
5 - LAR Todd Lyght, CB, Notre Dame
*no HOFers here.....some Pro Bowl players, but two big Husker whiffs. With a top-5 pick, you want more than 1 good year.
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1992
1 - IND Steve Emtman, DT, Washington
2 - IND Quentin Coryatt, LB, Texas A&M
3 - LAR Sean Gilbert, DT, Pitt
4 - WAS Desmond Howard, WR, Michigan
5 - GB Terrell Buckley, CB, Florida St
*the draft with ZERO HOFers....a team with the top 2 picks, missing on both....U-G-L-Y. I will say Coryatt's football cards were sweet, though.
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1993
1 - NE Drew Bledsoe, QB, Washington St
2 - SEA Rick Mirer, QB, Notre Dame
3 - PHX Garrison Hearst, RB, Georgia
4 - NYJ Marvin Jones, LB, Florida St
5 - CIN John Copeland, DE, Alabama
*only Bledsoe shines here....Seattle thought an option QB was a good plan, and the others were good/not great
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1994
1 - CIN Dan Wilkinson, DT, Ohio St
2 - IND Marshall Faulk, RB, San Diego St
3 - WAS Heath Shuler, QB, Tennessee
4 - NE Willie McGinest, LB, USC
5 - IND Trev Alberts, LB, Nebraska
*Faulk was a hit and McGinest was good for a long time....the rest were uneventful
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For me, 1994 was the first time the #1 pick was a 'potential' guy or a 'project.' I didn't understand it. How could I guy I never heard of be the #1 pick?!?
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Anyway, from that 80% shot at a HOFer in 1989 to averaging out at about 1 per year in the next 5 seasons, teams certainly didn't know what they were doing in the draft back then.
Good thing they've all wised up nowadays.
