I don’t think anyone can beat the 1974 Steelers, who picked Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster (all Hall of Famers) within the first five rounds (in addition to Jimmy Allen, who eventually started as a DB for the Lions) of their draft, for greatest draft class ever.
But who do you vote for? The data can be found here.
Alternatively, what was the best draft class for your favorite team? As a diehard Dolphin fan (“suck for [Andrew]Luck!”), I like 1983. Not only did the Phins get Marino, they picked his favorite receiver, Mark Clayton, along with a perennial pro bowl punter in Reggie Roby. They also picked up Anthony Carter, who eventually made it with the Vikings.
The 1974 Steelers, as mentioned, wrap this one up in the first post. It’s no contest. Did you know that they also got Donnie Shell, a possible but not quite Hall of Famer and an outstanding strong safety, as an undrafted free agent that year? Wow.
The next-best draft class, if we go by Hall of Famers, was 1970, also Pittsburgh: Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blount.
Needless to say, Pittsburgh did really well in the early 1970s in the draft (Jack Ham, Mean Joe Greene, and LC Greenwood are other notable picks).
1989 - Dallas hit a home run with their first 3 picks. QB Troy Aikman, G Steve Wisniewski and C Mark Stepnoski. That’s 19 Pro Bowls between those 3 guys. Then DE Tony Tolbert, their 4th pick was a one time Pro Bowler.
The 1981 Redskins was quite a draft. The Skins drafts in the late seventies and early eighties are hard to fault, but they had tremendous depth in the 1981 draft:
Mark May
Russ Grimm
Dexter Manley
Charlie Brown
Darryl Grant
Clint Didier
As I remember the story they only got Didier when they went to watch Neil Lomax throw some balls with thoughts of drafting him. The scouts weren’t terribly impressed with Lomax, but they took note of the guy who caught everything Lomax was throwing.
It didn’t hurt that they had picked up Art Monk the year before of course.