Buffalo Bills: 5 best draft picks all-time
By John Buhler
Jim Kelly. 5. player. 16. . Quarterback. Miami Hurricanes
Former starting quarterback Jim Kelly (1986-1996) is not only the best passer in Bills history, but was enshrined in Canton, Ohio’s Pro Football Hall of Fame back in 2002 as one of the best quarterbacks of his time.
Kelly is the only Bills player to have his number retired (No. 12) and owns virtually every passing record in franchise history. In 11 seasons with the Bills, Kelly threw for more yards (35,467), more touchdowns (237), and won more games than any Bill ever (101).
While Kelly is the only quarterback in NFL history to have led his team to four straight Super Bowls, there is a reason that he is No. 5 on the all-time best draft picks in Bills history list: he initially spurned the team in 1983 to play for the USFL’s Houston Gamblers.
Kelly was the No. 14 overall draft pick in 1983, the same year that John Elway finagled his way to the Denver Broncos instead of the then Baltimore Colts and Dan Marino found his perfect mentor in head coach Don Shula with the Miami Dolphins.
While Kelly is now universally beloved by all the Bills faithful, that initial two years of extreme reluctance to play in cold-weathered Buffalo keeps Kelly from being higher up on this list. Regardless of his two years with the Gamblers, Kelly remains one of the five best quarterbacks to have never won a Super Bowl and nobody moved the ball better aerially for the Bills than did Kelly in the K-Gun offense in the mid-1990s.
Next: 4. Thurman Thomas, 1988, No. 40 overall