1983 NFL Draft
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The 1983 NFL draft was the procedure by which
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
teams selected amateur
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The
draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
was held April 26–27,
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, at the New York Sheraton Hotel in
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, New York. No teams elected to claim any players in the supplemental draft that year. The draft is frequently referred to as the quarterback class of 1983, because six quarterbacks were taken in the first round — John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly,
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, Ken O'Brien, and Dan Marino — tied with the 2024 draft for the highest number taken. Of these quarterbacks, Elway, Kelly, Eason, and Marino played in the
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...
, Elway, Kelly, O'Brien, and Marino were selected to play in the
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...
, and Elway, Kelly, and Marino have been inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...
. All six quarterbacks were drafted by
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(AFC) teams, with every member of the five-team AFC East (the
Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...
,
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
,
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
,
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
, and
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
) selecting a quarterback. In eleven of the sixteen years following this draft, the AFC was represented in the Super Bowl by a team led by one of these quarterbacks: five with the
Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...
and Elway, four with the Bills and Kelly, one with the Dolphins and Marino, and one with the Patriots and Eason. They met with little success in the Super Bowl, however, compiling a 2–9 record among them, with an 0–9 record for their first 14 years in the league. The only two wins were by Elway in XXXII and XXXIII during his final two seasons in 1997 and 1998. Three of the most lopsided Super Bowl losses in history also came at the hands of quarterbacks from the Class of '83: Elway, a 55–10 loss to the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
in XXIV; Eason, a 46–10 loss to the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
in XX; and Kelly, a 52–17 loss to the
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in XXVII. Marino would only reach the Super Bowl once in a 38–16 loss to San Francisco in XIX following the end of his second season, when he won league MVP. Kelly and the Bills would appear in the Super Bowl for a record four consecutive years, from 1990 to 1993, but lost all four. Of the six first round quarterbacks drafted, Hall of Famers Elway and Kelly did not sign with the teams that selected them for the 1983 season. Elway, who had made his antipathy towards the Colts and coach Frank Kush, a harsh disciplinarian, known long before the draft, was also a promising
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player in the
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organization. With Yankees owner
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aggressively pursuing a commitment from Elway to play baseball full-time, Elway and his agent, Marvin Demoff, successfully leveraged the threat of Elway abandoning football altogether to compel the Colts to trade Elway to the Broncos a few days after selecting him with the first overall pick of the draft. Kelly, the other holdout, instead signed with the Houston Gamblers of the
United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
(USFL), where he led the springtime circuit in passing in both 1984 and 1985. Kelly was set to play for the New Jersey Generals when the USFL planned to switch to a fall season in 1986, but when the USFL won only $1 (tripled to $3) from its antitrust lawsuit vs. the NFL on July 29, 1986, Kelly finally signed with the Bills three weeks later. Including the aforementioned Elway, Kelly, and Marino, a total of seven players drafted in the first round have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is the most by any first round class, and a total of eight players overall have been inducted. Each round of this draft also contained at least one player who was later selected to play in the Pro Bowl. Several websites, including
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and Athlon Sports, have called the class of 1983 the greatest of all time.


Player selections


Hall of Fame inductees

* Eric Dickerson, running back from Southern Methodist, taken 1st round 2nd overall by Los Angeles Rams :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 1999.List of 1990s Hall of Fame Inductee's at profootballhof.com * Jim Kelly, quarterback from Miami, taken 1st round 14th overall by Buffalo Bills :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2002.List of 2000s Hall of Fame Inductee's at profootballhof.com * John Elway, quarterback from Stanford, taken 1st round 1st overall by Baltimore Colts :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2004. * Dan Marino, quarterback from Pittsburgh, taken 1st round 27th overall by Miami Dolphins :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2005. * Bruce Matthews, Southern California center, taken 1st round 9th overall by Houston Oilers :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2007. * Darrell Green, cornerback from Texas A&I, taken 1st round 28th overall by Washington Redskins :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2008. * Richard Dent, defensive end from Tennessee State, taken 8th round 203rd overall by Chicago Bears :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2011. * Jim Covert, offensive tackle from Pittsburgh, taken 1st round 6th overall by Chicago Bears :Inducted: Professional Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.


Notable undrafted players


References


External links


NFL.com – 1983 Draft
*
Pro Football Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:1983 Nfl Draft NFL draft
Draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...
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