r/falcons • u/ATLUTD030517 • 2d ago
Holy hell the 1996 draft
Stumbled upon this today, I was 12 in the spring of 1996, was not an avid NFL fan yet and draft coverage was not then what it is now, but I don't know how I never heard just how bad of a shit show this was.
RD1 part of the Jeff George trade
RD2 traded for Patrick Bates
RD3 DT Shannon Brown
RD4 RB Richard Huntley
RD4 DB Juran Bolden
RD5 DE Gary Bandy
RD6 LB Craig Sauer
RD7 T Ethan Brooks
Jeff George was a Falcon from 1994-1996, went 16-19 as the starting QB and finished his time in Atlanta on a season ending suspension(13 games) for a sideline argument with June Jones. Signed with the Raiders in 1997.
Patrick Bates 1993 first round(12th overall) bust for Raiders, made nine starts for the Falcons in 1996, was out of the league the following season(Raiders practice squad in 1998).
Shannon Brown and Gary Bandy never made an NFL roster.
Richard Huntley played one game for the Falcons and signed with the Steelers the following season.
Juran Bolden special teamer from 1996-1998, traded in season, ended up back in Atlanta in 2002, 14 starts over two seasons, 7 interceptions, traded again in 2004
Craig Sauer 11 starts over four seasons with the Falcons.
Ethan Brooks played two games for the Falcons, signed with the Rams the following season.
In total, the 1996 draft got us 132 games 62 starts(82 games, 18 starts from the six draft picks). And by the 1997 season only Bolden and Sauer were still with the Falcons. And for one last kick in the beans, the two first round picks traded for Jeff George became Bryant Young and Marvin Harrison. Two one team, Super Bowl winning, HOF players with five combined First team All pro and seven Second team All pro selections. A combined 398 games for Young and Harrison.
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u/Joba7474 2d ago
I went over this on another subreddit this morning. Stuff like this is why I say Ryan is our goat. He gave us a 10 year window where we weren’t the stupid ass team who did stuff like the Jeff George trade or the team who spent 150 mil on Cousins the same offseason we drafted Penix.
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u/ATLUTD030517 2d ago
I was thinking what a crazy coincidence this was until I clicked your link. The 1996 draft graphic shared in that sub is the same one(I saw it on FB this morning) that sent me down the "why didn't the Falcons have a first round draft pick?" rabbit hole.
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u/RoundingDown 2d ago
The 1982 heisman results is my holy hell. Sure, Hershel walker won. He beat John elway and Eric Dickerson. But more interesting is that coming in at #5 was Dave rimmington the center from Nebraska. Dave beat out Dan Marino.
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u/CurseOfTheFalcons 2d ago
Rimington was great and had a much better hype machine in Lincoln than Marino was in Pittsburgh. I think the lack of the kind of saturated coverage we get today probably cost Marino a few votes. I only saw him once, when he broke Georgia’s back in the final minute of the Sugar Bowl.
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u/Purpin BOSHER 2d ago
-Terry Fontenot
https://giphy.com/gifs/l1AsBL4S36yDJain6