Playing the "What If" Game (1 Viewer)

[David Yudkin]

Back in the day, the 49ers were coming off a sterling 18-1 record and their second Super Bowl title in 1984. The Patriots were a borderline contender coming off a 9-7 season.

On draft day, the two teams brokered a last minute trade that changed the fortunes for both teams. New England gave up their first round pick (16th overall) and their 3rd round pick (75th pick). In return, SF gave up their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks (28th, 56th and 84th picks that year).

New England wound up with C Trevor Matich, DE Ben Thomas, and DB Audray McMillian. San Francisco selected WR Jerry Rice and RB Ricky Moore.

The Patriots went to the Super Bowl that year, losing to the Super Bowl Shuffle Bears and had several decent seasons thereafter. The Pats had a solid nucleus on offense with Tony Eason, Craig James, Stanley Morgan, and Irving Fryar.

Now comes the WHAT IF part. If the Pats had kept their pick and used it to draft Jerry Rice, what would have changed vs. what actually happened, both for the players and teams involved?

 

[The Man with the Plan]

Still need a qb to get Rice the ball. The Patriots didn't have that. Compared to Montana anyway.

 

[shredhead]

Back in the day, the 49ers were coming off a sterling 18-1 record and their second Super Bowl title in 1984. The Patriots were a borderline contender coming off a 9-7 season.On draft day, the two teams brokered a last minute trade that changed the fortunes for both teams. New England gave up their first round pick (16th overall) and their 3rd round pick (75th pick). In return, SF gave up their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks (28th, 56th and 84th picks that year).New England wound up with C Trevor Matich, DE Ben Thomas, and DB Audray McMillian. San Francisco selected WR Jerry Rice and RB Ricky Moore.The Patriots went to the Super Bowl that year, losing to the Super Bowl Shuffle Bears and had several decent seasons thereafter. The Pats had a solid nucleus on offense with Tony Eason, Craig James, Stanley Morgan, and Irving Fryar.Now comes the WHAT IF part. If the Pats had kept their pick and used it to draft Jerry Rice, what would have changed vs. what actually happened, both for the players and teams involved?

Rice refuses to play for New England and holds out. New England trades the rights to Denver, and Elway and Rice lead the Broncos to 15 Superbowl victories in a row. Elway and Montana basically trade places as far as what their legacies are right now.edit: On a serious note, Rice still has a tremendous career, he was too talented and had too good of a work ethic to not have a great career.Bump up for Eason, Rice makes Eason much better.Bump down for Montana as he is known as a decent, but unspectacular QB

 

[harryhood]

....And the Dancing with The Stars history books are forever changed as we know them.

 

[shredhead]

....And the Dancing with The Stars history books are forever changed as we know them.

What's this have to do with Emmit Smith?

 

[Don Quixote]

Isn't the story that the Cowboys were going to take Rice with the next pick? So, result is that Cowboys don't rebuild (i.e., don't trade Herschel Walker), and Vikings go on to win 5 Super Bowls.

 

[The Kansas Comet]

The Bears have more than one Super Bowl victory in the 80's.

 

[Sammy Traveller]

Montana led the KC Chiefs to the playoffs in his final season sans Rice.

Montana would still have been a great quarterback even if SF did not draft Rice.

Rice, on the other hand, would probably be like Andre Johnson -- a great WR playing on a mediocre team.

 

[editor47]

was jerry rice clearly going to be picked at that point? or was that the 49ers seeing something and moving in to get him?

 

[Sammy Traveller]

was jerry rice clearly going to be picked at that point? or was that the 49ers seeing something and moving in to get him?

i think so. the 49ers had no big WR then. Dwight Clark was very good, but not a marquee WR.

 

[Twilight]

Back in the day, the 49ers were coming off a sterling 18-1 record and their second Super Bowl title in 1984. The Patriots were a borderline contender coming off a 9-7 season.

On draft day, the two teams brokered a last minute trade that changed the fortunes for both teams. New England gave up their first round pick (16th overall) and their 3rd round pick (75th pick). In return, SF gave up their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks (28th, 56th and 84th picks that year).

New England wound up with C Trevor Matich, DE Ben Thomas, and DB Audray McMillian. San Francisco selected WR Jerry Rice and RB Ricky Moore.

The Patriots went to the Super Bowl that year, losing to the Super Bowl Shuffle Bears and had several decent seasons thereafter. The Pats had a solid nucleus on offense with Tony Eason, Craig James, Stanley Morgan, and Irving Fryar.

Now comes the WHAT IF part. If the Pats had kept their pick and used it to draft Jerry Rice, what would have changed vs. what actually happened, both for the players and teams involved?

Rice refuses to play for New England and holds out. New England trades the rights to Denver, and Elway and Rice lead the Broncos to 15 Superbowl victories in a row. Elway and Montana basically trade places as far as what their legacies are right now.

edit: On a serious note, Rice still has a tremendous career, he was too talented and had too good of a work ethic to not have a great career.

Bump up for Eason, Rice makes Eason much better.

Bump down for Montana as he is known as a decent, but unspectacular QB

Montana already had 2 Super Bowl MVPs and wins at that point. I think Montana's rep would be fine sans Rice.And I agree that Rice is still a HOFer starting in NE.

As for the fortunes of the 2 teams overall, 1 player, even Rice, isn't enough to change their fortunes that much. The trade-down in '86 that netted so many starters is at least as important as this trade up to the future success of the Niners.

 

[Billy Costigan Jr]

was jerry rice clearly going to be picked at that point? or was that the 49ers seeing something and moving in to get him?

i think so. the 49ers had no big WR then. Dwight Clark was very good, but not a marquee WR.

1984 Rec Yard Leaders: WR1 Clark, WR2 Solomon and FB Craig:http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/1984.htm

1985 Rec Yard Leaders: FB Craig, WR1 Rice, WR2 Clark:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/1985.htm

 

[gianmarco]

A more fun "what if" game would be if Eli and Rivers weren't swapped. Some big implications there. Do the NYG win the SB? Does SD falter like they do? Does Brees still end up in New Orleans? Do any of the NO guys do what they do without Brees?

 

[On The Rocks]

Isn't the story that the Cowboys were going to take Rice with the next pick? So, result is that Cowboys don't rebuild (i.e., don't trade Herschel Walker), and Vikings go on to win 5 Super Bowls.

With Jerry Burns as the Head Coach? Really?

 

[PatsFanCT]

With Fryer and Morgan, I doubt the Pats would have drafted Rice anyway, so either they pass on him and end up worse, or they find another team to trade with and end up in the same basic situation.

 

[Buckna]

was jerry rice clearly going to be picked at that point? or was that the 49ers seeing something and moving in to get him?

Gil Brandt (who was with Dallas at the time) has been quoted as saying that it was almost a certainty that Dallas was going to take Rice at 17. It was highly unlikely the Pats would have taken Rice since they drafted Irving Fryar the year before.There was an interesting article sometime in the last year or two where a guy from SF's scouting office at the time had been instructed to collect as many different local newspapers with mock drafts as possible to try and figure out how far up SF needed to trade up so they could get Rice. (Ahh the days before the internet and before everyone did a mock draft.) I'll try and see if I can find it.

Edit: Here it is. Interesting that they had Al Toon & Eddie Brown ahead of Rice.

 

[Don Quixote]

Isn't the story that the Cowboys were going to take Rice with the next pick? So, result is that Cowboys don't rebuild (i.e., don't trade Herschel Walker), and Vikings go on to win 5 Super Bowls.

With Jerry Burns as the Head Coach? Really?

More in the Dennis Green era.The Walker trade gave rise to the Cowboys 90s dynasty, and if the Cowboys had Rice, they are probably competitive enough that they don't blow up the team and make that trade. The Vikings had a lot of strong teams in the early to mid 90s (had double digit wins a few years). Five is hyperbole, but I don't think it's crazy to say that if they don't make the most lopsided trade in NFL history, they could have won some Super Bowls.