I wish that NFL Films, NFL Network, ESPN's 30 for 30, somebody would take a closer look at the events surrounding University of Miami quarterback prior to the 1985 NFL Draft. It was fascinating. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, grown tired of Tommy Kramer's string of injuries, I watched from afar as the drama of those April days unfolded. Without the round-the-clock bombardment of NFL news that we see today, without twitter, I was thirsty for news. I wanted to know if the Vikings would be allowed to draft Bernie Kosar. It's not often that a college kid holds the NFL in his hands. Making the league cater to him. Red Grange did it sixty years before Kosar. Not many had in between. Two teams rally wanted Bernie Kosar to be their franchise quarterback. Usually, the teams decide where a player plays. In 1985, Kosar held all the cards. The decision was his.
The only thing certain about the 1985 NFL Draft was that the Buffalo Bills wanted Virginia Tech defensive end Bruce Smith with the first pick. Who could blame them? After Smith? The Houston Oilers had the second pick. The Minnesota Vikings had the third. Many expected that Miami's terrific quarterback Bernie Kosar would fall in there somewhere but no one knew for sure if he'd even be in the draft. He still had two years of college eligibility remaining but he was due to graduate that June. The league had to know by April 15th if he intended to enter the April 30th draft. The Vikings traded their first and second round picks to the Houston Oilers on April 9th to insure that Bernie Kosar would be their new quarterback, if he was in the draft. They had even hired his quarterback coach at Miami, Marc Trestman to ease his transition into the NFL. The Vikings weren't the only team that wanted Kosar as their new quarterback. The Cleveland Browns wanted him too. Kosar grew up in Boardman, Ohio, a town 65 miles from Cleveland. The Browns had that going for them. He wanted to play in Cleveland. Instead of going to where the NFL told him to go, Kosar decided to take advantage of the unique opportunity that he had to go where he wanted to go. After the Vikings had made the trade with the Oilers, the Browns made a trade with the Buffalo Bills. The Browns traded draft picks to the Bills for the first pick in the 1985 Supplemental Draft. If the league, Pete Rozelle, decided that the Supplemental Draft was truly an option for him, Kosar would be a Brown. The sticking point to the whole thing was whether Bernie Kosar was still considered an amateur at the time of the regular NFL Draft. He still had those two years of college eligibility. He was still a college student. If he graduated, as he was on schedule to do so, between the regular NFL Draft and the Supplemental Draft, he would be cleared for that later draft. But, the real problem was with his advisors. He was being advised by his father, Bernie Kosar, Sr., and Dr. John Geletka, a dentist from nearby Austintown, Ohio. Getting advice from his father wasn't in question. Getting advice from his dentist was the real question. I haven't heard of many dentists that arrange for a loan on a leased sports car for a top NFL quarterback prospect. Geletka did just that for Kosar. Shortly before the 1985 NFL Draft, Rozelle ruled that Geletka was an advisor, and not an agent. So, Bernie Kosar was still technically an amateur. He was free to go about his business as a soon-to-graduating college student. He would skip the 1985 NFL Draft. He would enter the 1985 Supplemental Draft. He would not be selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the second pick of the regular draft. He would be selected by the Cleveland Browns with the first pick of that later draft.
Bernie Kosar became a good to terrific quarterback for the Browns. If not for some John Elway heroics, football history might shine a brighter light on his career. All was not lost for the Vikings in that 1985 NFL Draft. Missing out on their quarterback, the Vikings made a trade with the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons selected Pitt guard Bill Fralic with the second pick. The Vikings dropped to fourth and selected Fralic's college teammate, defensive end/linebacker Chris Doleman. Not bad. Doleman went on to become one of the best pass rushers of his generation. He's now honored in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Bernie Kosar beat the NFL in 1985. That doesn't happen very often.
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