The 2022 NFL Draft, which will take place over three days, April 28-30, at Caesars Forum in Paradise, Nevada, is fast approaching, and we will find out which talented college players are joining teams around the league looking to become stars.
However, players have not always agreed to play for the team that selects them in the draft, and some NFL legends have even turned down the franchise that selected them, preferring to play for other teams.
Currently, each of the league’s 32 teams receive one pick in each of the seven rounds of the draft. The order of selection is determined by the final ranking order from the previous season and, barring negotiations between clubs, each round begins with the team that had the worst record and ends with the Super Bowl champions.
Which NFL stars refused to play for the team that picked them?
John Elway
The first high-profile prospect to say “NO” to the team that selected him in the draft was Elway, who declined to sign a contract in 1983 with the Baltimore Colts, who selected him as the first overall pick that year.
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The Stanford University graduate did not want to play for either the Colts or coach Frank Kush and threatened to quit the NFL altogether and play in the MLB with the New York Yankees. In the end, Baltimore traded him to the Denver Broncos, a team with which he became a legend and won two Super Bowls.
Bo Jackson
Auburn graduate Bo Jackson was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the first overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft, but declined to sign with the team, preferring instead to play one season with the MLB’s Kansas City Royals.
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As time went on, the Buccaneers eventually gave up their selection and Jackson played for the Los Angeles Raiders, becoming the only athlete to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football.
Eli Manning
Peyton Manning’s brother and Archie Manning’s son did not want to play for the San Diego Chargers, nor was his father sure he could succeed in the league if he joined a team with as many problems as that one.
In the end, the Chargers struck a deal with the New York Giants and traded Manning for the Giants’ fourth first-round pick, Philip Rivers. With New York, Eli won two Super Bowl rings and retired in 2019.
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Marca
