Kiper ranks the best first 10 picks ever. He’s wrong, but it’s splitting hairs. I don’t think Elway qualifies because he immediately got traded.
Greatest No. 1 Pick: John Elway, 1983
Runners-up: Peyton Manning, Earl Campbell, Bruce Smith, Troy Aikman, O.J. Simpson
You can list the plaudits — five Super Bowls, nine Pro Bowls, a league MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, over 51,475 yards — but Elway really doesn’t get enough credit for what he did in simply getting the Broncos to those first three Super Bowls. Those were mediocre teams and he flat-out willed them to the Super Bowl. “The Drive” was good theatre but also indicative of what he meant to those teams. He was literally the difference between a win and a loss in so many games. He finally won his rings when the Broncos defense became a more formidable unit, and when the team could actually run the ball, but Elway was just a brilliant competitor throughout. Incidentally, he’s also a part of the most lopsided deal in NFL history. Denver got him for Chris Hinton, Mark Herrmann and a third-round pick that became Ron Solt. You could argue for any of the others, but Elway is my pick.
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