by Thomas Edens

Created on: February 21, 2010   Last Updated: February 22, 2010

An NFL draft class is likely to produce a variety of talent at every position.  A typical class usually has a few star players, but those players are spread out over every position.  It’s rare to have multiple stars at one position and even more rare to have it occur at the quarterback position, but it does happen.  When you take that into consideration, you can eliminate most draft classes regardless of how good the top quarterback turns out to be. 

There have only been a few draft classes that included multiple star quarterbacks and I could only think of two that included at least three.  Those were the class of 1983 and the class of 2004.  I have excluded the class of 2008 and 2009 because it’s too early to tell if those players will have long and enduring careers and other classes have produced two stars, but not a third. 

The class of 2004 included 17 drafted quarterbacks.  The 1st round included Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, and JP Losman.  In the 3rd round, Matt Schaub was chosen.  Of those four, only JP Losman failed and is out of the league.  Manning and Roethlisberger have combined to win three Super Bowls, and Rivers and Schaub have been among the leagues most productive passers.  The quarterbacks of the class of 2004 have been selected to five pro bowls and are likely to play in many more.  All four of the young stars are secure starters on good teams with promising careers ahead of them. 

The class of 1983 has an advantage in this discussion because their respected careers are over and well chronicled.  The class of 1983 included 16 drafted quarterbacks. Commonly known as “the Year of the Quarterback”, a record 6 passers were drafted in the 1st round.  Less commonly known, all were drafted by AFC teams and in one division, the AFC East, every team drafted a quarterback in the 1st round.  In order, those chosen were John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O’Brien, and Dan Marino. 

Five of those passers had varying levels of success with only Blackledge being looked upon as a draft bust.  Because all five were in the AFC, the overall level of success was somewhat stifled, but the group managed to win two Super Bowls, both of which belong to Elway.  From 1983 to 1999, this group represented the AFC in the Super Bowl eleven times.  Starting in 1985, these quarterbacks won the AFC nine of ten years.  Often, their seasons would end in the playoffs at the hands of one another. 

The quarterbacks of the class of 1983 were selected to 24 pro bowls.  Elway, Marino, and Kelly are in the Hall of Fame, and that is what separates this class from all others.  Time will tell if the class of 2004 will hear such an extensive “hall call”, and the four established players from that draft have an opportunity to eclipse the great class of 1983, but there is much work to be done.  They have along way to go if they want to be the best quarterback class ever.     

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