Pondering football's past, I took another look at the 1961 NFL and AFL Drafts. The young, renegade AFL was pushing the old NFL for college talent. So much so that the two leagues were drafting players before the college bowl games were even played. The AFL conducted the first six rounds of their 1961 draft on November 23, 1960, by phone. The draft was completed on December 5th and 6th. The NFL held their 1961 draft December 27 and 28, 1960. That's about six months earlier than the ridiculously late starting 2014 NFL Draft. The 1961 AFL Draft went for thirty rounds. The 1961 NFL Draft went twenty rounds. With six fewer teams, the AFL selected 240 players to the NFL's 280. As this draft was the first draft of the Minnesota Vikings, I was taking another look at the draft that started it all. I'm always thrilled when I find little nuggets of football history that I've never noticed before. I found one while I was looking through the 1961 drafts of the rival professional football leagues.
Here's the top of the Minnesota Vikings 1961 NFL Draft:
1. Tommy Mason RB Tulane
2. Rip Hawkins LB North Carolina
3. Fran Tarkenton QB Georgia
Here's the top of the Boston Patriots 1961 AFL Draft:
1. Tommy Mason RB Tulane
2. Rip Hawkins LB North Carolina
3. Dan LaRose T Missouri
4. Mike Zeno G Virginia Tech
5. Fran Tarkenton QB Georgia
Well, something looks a little fishy there. The Vikings top three selections were three of the Patriots top five selections. They were also taken in the same order. The AFL Draft came first, so the Patriots selected Tommy Mason, Rip Hawkins, and Fran Tarkenton over a month before the Vikings did the same. The Vikings, as an expansion team, had the first pick in the NFL Draft. The Patriots had the second pick in the AFL Draft. Mason was widely considered the top senior back in college football so his selection by teams with one of the top two picks in a draft isn't a surprise. There's just too many variables to even imagine that the Patriots will select three of the same players in the first 34 picks of their draft as the Vikings select in the first 29 picks of their draft. It's as if the two teams had the exact same scouting reports and rankings. Mason selected #1 by the Vikings and #2 by the Patriots. Hawkins selected #15 by the Vikings and #10 by the Patriots. Tarkenton selected #29 by the Vikings and #34 by the Patriots. I guess that the Patriots decided that they could wait a little bit, take care of their offensive line, and grab Tarkenton in the fifth round of their draft.
The threat of losing college players to the AFL was very real for NFL teams. The Houston Oilers, Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers, and Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs dominated the early years of the new league. The Buffalo Bills came on a couple of years later. The Boston Patriots were 5-9, last in the AFL's Eastern Conference in 1960. Maybe the Vikings, despite being an expansion team, didn't see the Patriots as much of a threat to sign players that they drafted. The Vikings saw that the Patriots drafted players that they liked and drafted them with the confidence that they could sign them. It turns out that they were right as the Vikings were able to sign all three players. Each made an impact with the new team. Tommy Mason had a fine career in Minnesota with some Pro Bowl appearances. Rip Hawkins was a prominent member of a defense that would become dominant by the end of the decade. Fran Tarkenton is in the Hall of Fame so he was pretty good.
This little draft nugget is fascinating. There's too many variables for it to be just a coincidence. There's a reason for it. The ability to sign the players may have played a role but there's something more. There's something sinister here.
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