The 1983 NFL Draft is one that has gone down in history. First and foremost, it’s the draft class that gave us John Elway, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino but it also saw six total quarterbacks get selected in that first round. The Kansas City Chiefs nabbed one of those quarterbacks, but unfortunately, it wasn’t one of the aforementioned three and it was by far the worst quarterback taken out of those six.
For those who have seen the 30 For 30 documentary titled “From Elway to Marino”, you’re probably familiar with the 1983 draft. Elway was the first pick, originally selected by the Baltimore Colts but he threatened to play baseball if the Colts chose him so they ended up trading him to the Denver Broncos, a move that Chiefs fans grew to dislike more and more each year.
The next quarterback wasn’t taken until pick number seven and it just so happened that that pick belonged to the Chiefs. Despite Kelly and Marino both still being on the board, the Chiefs went with Penn State’s Todd Blackledge, in what could very well have been the worst draft pick of their storied history.
While Blackledge certainly wasn’t the worst first-round pick the Chiefs have ever taken, the fact that K.C. could have had Marino, who fell all the way to pick 27, is what made this one hurt so bad. Kelly was also still on the board, eventually landing with Buffalo seven picks later.
Chiefs passed on Dan Marino to land Todd Blackledge and it haunted them for decades
The Chiefs clearly thought Blackledge was the right quarterback for them and it’s not as though they were the only team that had their doubts about Marino. Marino was the sixth and final quarterback taken in this draft with Kelly going 14th to the Bills, Tony Eason going one pick later to the Patriots (and helping lead them to a Super Bowl appearance in 1985), and Division 2 signal-caller Ken O’Brien landing with the Jets with the 24th pick.
Marino might not have won a Super Bowl while he was with the Miami Dolphins, who finally stopped the slide with the 27th pick, but he spent the entirety of his career there and held onto some of the most prestigious passing records for over a decade after he retired in 1999. Meanwhile, the Chiefs struggled to find a franchise quarterback for decades. Knowing they could have had a consistent passer in Marino really makes this pick hurt more, even after all of these years.
While Kelly and Marino both stayed with their respective team for the entirety of their careers, Blackledge only lasted in Kansas City for five years, throwing for more interceptions (32) than touchdowns (26). He did start a playoff game for K.C. in 1986 but that’s about where the praise for him stops.
The Blackledge pick clearly scarred the Chiefs enough that, after 1983, they did not draft a quarterback in the first round until 2017 when they moved up to nab Patrick Mahomes. While that pick has obviously panned out, it took decades for the Chiefs to find their next true franchise quarterback and the Blackledge pick is a big reason why.
