The Steelers’ options
Once their 1969 season ended on Dec. 21 and Noll was able to turn his attention to the draft, the Steelers focused on three options: 1) Drafting another defensive lineman to team with Greene; or possibly Heisman Trophy winning halfback Steve Owens of Oklahoma; 2) Trading the pick for immediate help, including a veteran quarterback; 3) Taking a quarterback.
After all, the Steelers were members of the well-respected BLESTO-V scouting combine, and four other players had a better BLESTO score than Bradshaw’s 1.3. Notre Dame defensive tackle Mike McCoy and Texas Christian fullback Norm Bulaich received 1.0 grades followed by Utah State defensive tackle Phil Olsen and North Texas State defensive end Cedric Hardman at 1.1.
In the BLESTO grading system, a 0.0 was the best possible grade although the highest score the combine had given anyone up to that time was a 0.4 to Simpson a year earlier.
Dallas player personnel director Gil Brandt (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 21, 1970): “Terry Bradshaw and Mike Phipps are first-round cinches. Then there are Mike McCoy and Phil Olsen of Utah State. Olsen can play tight end, defensive end or guard. He’s fast and big like Bob Lilly. He could go offense or defense. McCoy is strictly defense. Somebody may go for Kenny Burrough, a flanker at Texas Southern. What there is isn’t the top caliber guy like O.J. Simpson, Leroy Keyes, George Kunz or Joe Greene – not that many, I mean.”
Thomas on McCoy and Reid (Miami News, Jan. 16, 1970): “They’re two very different types of football players. … Reid has all that quickness, and you could play him at several positions: defensive end, defensive tackle and maybe middle linebacker. McCoy is a stronger physical specimen. He should really play defensive tackle. I think he’s the finest defensive tackle since Merlin Olsen (in 1962).”
It also was in the Steelers’ DNA from their dismal past to be tempted by any trade offer that included a proven veteran quarterback, all-pro level or not. And, again, they listened.
Dan Rooney, then the Steelers’ vice president, told Pat Livingston of the Pittsburgh Press that they weighed three or four “very firm” offers the night before the draft and were open to more the next morning, but also had been leaning toward taking Bradshaw for at least several weeks.
Dan Rooney (Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 27, 1970): “We more or less considered Bradshaw our first pick after what Chuck had seen of him (at the North-South Shrine Game in Miami and Senior Bowl) after we won the coin flip.”
Art Rooney Jr. (Christl & Langenkamp interview, Nov. 3, 1978): “As far as I was concerned, there was no question that we were going to take (Bradshaw). My dad was very active then, and I told him you might have to wait 20 years to get a shot at a guy like this again. Bradshaw had criticisms – that he wasn’t the most astute player, just a great athlete and that kind of stuff. We had tests on him, and he had a normal IQ. We evaluated that and it didn’t bother us. And I think that’s been borne out. The guy calls his own plays, and we won Super Bowls. … I’ll never forget my dad, though, he said maybe you should trade.”
Dan Rooney on not making a final decision until the night before the draft (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 28, 1970): “We had numerous trade offers for the No. 1 pick but most of them were for a lot of junk. But three or four were legitimate and we considered them carefully.”
The selection of Bradshaw was proof that a new day had dawned in Pittsburgh. Although Bradshaw wasn’t an instant success, he put them on the path to a 5-9 record in 1970, their first-ever playoff victory in 1972 and four Super Bowl titles before the decade was over.
The draft was the stimulus for it all.
In 1971, the Steelers added seven players who would start for four to 12 seasons, including future Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Ham in the second round. In 1972, their first-round choice was future Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris. Their 1974 draft might be unmatched in NFL history. It included four future Hall of Famers in the first five rounds: wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, linebacker Jack Lambert and center Mike Webster.
Will Walls, longtime former Steelers and BLESTO scout (Christl interview, Feb. 12, 1979): “I put the Pittsburgh Steeler team together, but they don’t seem to appreciate it, the b——-. I got them Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris – all of them except Lynn Swann and Lambert. Me and Art Rooney Jr. I used to argue with Noll. I’d tell him about Bradshaw, and he said, ‘No, I want Mike Phipps.’ I’d tell him, ‘The hell with Phipps.'”
Steelers scout Bill Nunn Jr. (“Dan Rooney: My 75 Years With the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL”): “Bradshaw – great talent, no question about it. Great arm, marginal touch on his flair passes that you had to have, particularly in the beginning. Great hands to catch. Would have had a lot of balls intercepted early, but the ball was coming so fast that even the defensive players couldn’t catch it. Great athlete. Physically had a lot of things. … Early on, Bradshaw had the reputation of being an idiot. That wasn’t true. Maybe he wasn’t the smartest quarterback, but he did call his own plays. So, questioning his intelligence did not hold up.”
Art Rooney Jr. (Christl & Langenkamp interview, Nov. 3, 1978): “Phipps was the guy they were comparing to Bradshaw. They were running neck-and-neck and then it was like Secretariat, (Bradshaw) just pulled out in front.”
After Green Bay chose McCoy with the second overall pick obtained from the Bears, the Browns took Phipps third. A day earlier, they traded 27-year-old, three-time Pro Bowl receiver Paul Warfield to Miami for the third pick in the draft.
The Browns admitted they had ranked Bradshaw as the No. 1 quarterback, but still believed Phipps was worth the cost of one of their best and most popular players. As it turned out, Phipps played 12 seasons, seven with the Browns and five with the Bears. But he made only 51 starts for the Browns and their record in those games was 24-25-2.