What is your favorite serendipitous draft story?

[Old Coot]

22 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

Maybe I'm just getting old but I'm pretty sure most football fans are well aware of Ditka giving up all his picks to draft Ricky Willams

We are old that was a quarter-century ago.

[Doc Brown]

33 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

We are old that was a quarter-century ago.

So is 9/11 (almost) but even kids have heard of that date in history.  I hope at least.

[Nihilarian]

In 1979, under then-HC Chuck Knox, the Buffalo Bills drafted Linebacker Tom Cousineau from Ohio St with the number one overall draft pick. The Bills acquired the pick as part of a package of five draft picks from the San Francisco 49ers in a 1978 trade for OJ Simpson. (great trade) (My take is Chuck Knox was responsible for this, as he had a huge part as de facto GM)

 

At that time, the Buffalo Bills named GM was ex-Buffalo AFL player Stew Barber, who, after the draft, called Tom Cousineau and invited him to dinner in Buffalo to discuss his salary as a Buffalo Bill. Stew Barber never showed up, never called, nothing!  Needless to say, Cousineau was upset, and the CFL Montreal Alouettes doubled what the Bills had offered Cousineau, so ole Tom left for the North County. 

 

Cousineau was a star in Canada. Now, in 1982, Tom wanted to return to the NFL (even though he had never played a down in the NFL so far). The Houston Oilers attempted to sign him, but the Buffalo Bills, who still held his NFL rights, matched the offer.

 

The Cleveland Brown's owner at that time was Art Modell, who had long wanted to acquire Cousineau for obvious reasons. The Buffalo Bills then traded Cousineau to the Cleveland Browns for their first-round draft choice in the 1983 NFL draft, plus a second and third in later years. 

 

That first round pick from the Browns in 1983 just happened to be future Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly!!!!!  That right there seems like some pretty serendipitous she it. 

 

 

Now, Cousineau signed a five-year contract for $2.5 million, the highest contract ever at the time by the Browns. Tom played four seasons for the Browns and never made the Pro Bowl. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

On 4/15/2025 at 4:35 PM, MarkyMannn said:

2002 I get tickets from work to attend the draft in the Jim Kelly suite. We draft Mike Williams and 20 minutes later trade for Drew Bledsoe.  The mood there is Super Bowl!!! 

 

Years later I realize I had a front row seat to one of the darker moments of the Bills history

You'll be sorry when they unveil the 'Hall of Bills Heroes' in the new stadium.  The statue of Bledsoe WILL  be Bledsoe. 😁

[MarkyMannn]

17 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

You'll be sorry when they unveil the 'Hall of Bills Heroes' in the new stadium.  The statue of Bledsoe WILL  be Bledsoe. 😁

LOL that one almost went over my head

[Doc Brown]

6 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

Now, Cousineau signed a five-year contract for $2.5 million, the highest contract ever at the time by the Browns. Tom played four seasons for the Browns and never made the Pro Bowl. 

So, nothing's changed in Cleveland.

[Mark Vader]

On 4/15/2025 at 10:08 AM, Logic said:

I don't know about serendipity, but Minnesota letting the clock run out on their pick in 2003 always made me laugh.

Like...how does that HAPPEN?!

That was a wild moment to witness. The fans at Madison Square Garden were laughing and going crazy as the first round picks started flying off the board in no time.

[Livinginthepast]

7 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

In 1979, under then-HC Chuck Knox, the Buffalo Bills drafted Linebacker Tom Cousineau from Ohio St with the number one overall draft pick. The Bills acquired the pick as part of a package of five draft picks from the San Francisco 49ers in a 1978 trade for OJ Simpson. (great trade) (My take is Chuck Knox was responsible for this, as he had a huge part as de facto GM)

 

At that time, the Buffalo Bills named GM was ex-Buffalo AFL player Stew Barber, who, after the draft, called Tom Cousineau and invited him to dinner in Buffalo to discuss his salary as a Buffalo Bill. Stew Barber never showed up, never called, nothing!  Needless to say, Cousineau was upset, and the CFL Montreal Alouettes doubled what the Bills had offered Cousineau, so ole Tom left for the North County. 

 

Cousineau was a star in Canada. Now, in 1982, Tom wanted to return to the NFL (even though he had never played a down in the NFL so far). The Houston Oilers attempted to sign him, but the Buffalo Bills, who still held his NFL rights, matched the offer.

 

The Cleveland Brown's owner at that time was Art Modell, who had long wanted to acquire Cousineau for obvious reasons. The Buffalo Bills then traded Cousineau to the Cleveland Browns for their first-round draft choice in the 1983 NFL draft, plus a second and third in later years. 

 

That first round pick from the Browns in 1983 just happened to be future Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly!!!!!  That right there seems like some pretty serendipitous she it. 

 

 

Now, Cousineau signed a five-year contract for $2.5 million, the highest contract ever at the time by the Browns. Tom played four seasons for the Browns and never made the Pro Bowl. 

This was the tail end of an era where CFL salaries were comparable to NFL ones. It wasnt long after that the TV money for the NFL and consequently the salary money exploded and left the CFL in the dust. NFL players overall had relatively modest salaries before the 80s even though they were the best of the best.  Cousineau was a great player for Montreal and its easy to see why the Browns wanted him badly enough to overpay with picks and money.  Funny how they are still doing that 40 years later!!

[stuvian]

The Herschel Walker trade gave the Cowboys the ammo for three Superbowls. Jimmy Johnson is the greatest football mind ever

[without a drought]

I guess it easy to look up serendipitous, but not so easy to use a correct example.