Cal Bears By The Numbers in the NFL Draft
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Since the inception of the draft in 1936, 166 quarterbacks have been taken in the first round. Five colleges have had at least five first-round quarterbacks drafted. One of those five schools is Cal. They are joined by two other California-based schools, Stanford (six) and USC (eight) , as well as Oregon (five) and Notre Dame (nine).
Along with the aforementioned first overall pick Steve Bartkowski, Craig Morton was picked by the Dallas Cowboys in 1965 as the fifth overall pick. Morton was the Cowboys’ full-time starter for just three seasons, as he began his Dallas career sitting behind “Dandy” Don Meredith, and ended it sitting behind Roger Staubach. He spent the last eight and a half years of his career with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, starting 97 of 106 games. Morton is in the Broncos’ Ring of Honor.
The Green Bay Packers have taken two Cal quarterbacks in the first round of the draft: Rich Campbell sixth overall in 1981, and Aaron Rodgers, who famously slipped to 24th overall in 2005. Campbell spent four seasons in Green Bay, but played in just seven games, not starting a single one. In 68 pass attempts, he completed 31 and threw a whooping nine interceptions. After the Campbell experience, the Packers would abstain from drafting a quarterback in the first round for 24 years, until 2005.
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Rodgers experienced much more success with the Packers, winning MVP Awards in 2011 and 2014, and leading Green Bay to a world championship win in Super Bowl XLV. He is the Packers’ all-time leader in completion percentage (65.1 percent) and interception rate (1.6 percent), and is second to the great Brett Favre is just about every other category including completions, attempts, yards, and touchdowns.
In 2003, the Baltimore Ravens picked Kyle Boller 19th overall. Boller was supposed to become the Ravens’ quarterback of the future, but it didn’t work out that way. In six seasons with Baltimore, Boller started 42 games and collected a 20-22 record. He threw 45 touchdowns and 44 interceptions while completing 56.9 percent of his passes. He spent all of 2008 on injured reserve, and wasn’t resigned following that season. Boller spent his last three years with the St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders, but was winless in all five of his starts over those three years. Surprisingly enough, because of the Ravens’ short history, Boller is second on the team’s all-time list in quarterback wins, completions, attempts, and yards, and is third in touchdowns.
Next: Kenny Lawler Entering NFL Draft
The Bears are quite likely to add another quarterback to this list in 2016, with junior Jared Goff, a projected first-round pick, entering the NFL draft.