The first pick in the NFL Draft guarantees a college star … and not much else. A look at how the teams did in the first season after they kicked off the selection process. Did they improve, falter, or run in place?
1967: Baltimore Colts: Bubba Smith
The NFL’s expansion team that would start play in 1967, the New Orleans Saints, swapped the No. 1 pick to Baltimore eight days before the draft. The Saints got backup quarterback Gary Cuozzo and Baltimore landed Michigan State defensive end Bubba Smith. The Colts had gone 9-5 in the 1966 season. They followed with an 11-1-2 mark in ’67, the only loss occurring in the final week of the regular season to the Los Angeles Rams.