The 1986 National Football League (NFL) Draft is one of the most fascinating events in NFL history. While the draft did produce a multitude of Pro Bowlers, it was only able to bear one Hall of Famer, Charles Haley, drafted 96th overall out of James Madison University by the San Francisco 49ers. This is well below the 1980s decade average of 4.1 Hall of Famers per draft class in a decade that had legendary draft classes like 1981 and 1983, which produced 7 and 8 Hall of Famers, respectively. On top of that was the 1989 draft class, where 4 of the first 5 picks were Hall of Famers, including Barry Sanders, arguably the greatest running back of all time, and Deion Sanders, who is generally recognized as the greatest cornerback ever. 1986 was not just bad; it was generationally bad, as it was the first draft class in 27 years to produce only 1 Hall of Famer, and it would take another 14 years for the next single Hall of Famer-producing class to come around.
This draft class does have one saving grace, and that would be Bo Jackson, who was taken first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jackson is widely recognized as one of, if not the greatest, athletes of all time. Not only did he go number 1 overall in the NFL draft, but he was also drafted into Major League Baseball (MLB) 3 times, eventually landing as a member of the Kansas City Royals, and would play in MLB for parts of 8 seasons. He also played 4 seasons in the NFL as a member of the Oakland Raiders, where he became one of the most iconic players in history due to his combination of speed and athleticism. Now I know that you are probably thinking that there is a typo because I said he was drafted by the Buccaneers, it is not, though. Bo Jackson was indeed selected first overall by the Buccaneers in 1986, but he refused to play a game for them because he believed they tried to sabotage his baseball career by making him ineligible to finish out his final season of baseball at Auburn University after inviting him for a visit to their team facilities. Jackson ended up sitting out the entire 1986 NFL season, electing to instead focus full-time on baseball.
That is not where his football career ends, though. The very next year, the Oakland Raiders took a flyer on Bo and drafted him in the 7th round, 183rd overall. This was one of the greatest decisions the franchise ever made. While Bo is not in the Hall of Fame, he was one of the most athletically dominant players, and for 4 years, he terrorized opposing defenses. There is a reason he is synonymous with Tecmo Bowl– he was just that good.
The 1986 draft was certainly a spectacle with many theatrics to make up for the lack of star talent. I definitely think there is a possibility that in the Buccaneers management’s head, corrupted by dysfunction, they thought that they could sabotage Bo’s baseball career and just have him be cool with it. I don’t really think you even need the benefit of hindsight to realize that that was a bad idea. The people who were paid to run an actual NFL franchise thought that manipulating one of their potential players into playing for them was the best course of action. Mindblowing.
