National Football League historians will point to the 1983 draft as the richest in quarterback prospects. How could it not be given six were taken in the first round and three are currently in the Hall of Fame.

That year, the draft opened with John Elway the first pick, not, you might know, by the Denver Broncos but rather the Baltimore Colts. Elway announced before the draft he would not play for Jim Irsay, the Colts owner, and after Baltimore selected him, he threatened to play his professional career in baseball with the New York Yankees.

The threat, real enough given the Yankees wanted the multi-talented Elway, coerced the Colts into trading Elway to the Broncos before the 1983 season. Elway played his entire career in Denver, led the Broncos to four Super Bowls and ended his career with back-to-back wins in the final leg for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The sixth quarterback taken in the first round in 1983 was Dan Marino, who was the target of drug suspicions that with some level of evidence were planted by the Dolphins to dissuade other teams from taking the Pittsburgh alum. If that was indeed a ploy, it worked while four other teams selected other signal callers with their first pick before Miami grabbed Marino with the 27th overall selection.

Todd Blackledge went to the Kansas City Chiefs with the seventh pick and the Buffalo Bills made future Hall of Fame entrant who led Buffalo to four consecutive Super Bowls the 14th pick, Jim Kelly. Tony Eason, who was on the New England Patriots team that lost to the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX, was the 15th pick and the New York Jets took Ken O’Brien three choices in front of the Dolphins tabbing Marino.

Okay, six quarterbacks in the first round and three that are enshrined in Canton. Can you top that?