Monday is the 50th anniversary of when pro football changed dramatically.
It was on March 27, 1967 that the first NFL-AFL Draft was held in New York. One of a series of events that came about as a result of the merger between the two leagues that would be completed in 1970, it ended the bidding war between the two leagues when they held their own drafts and were picking the same players.
It was a very good draft for the Browns, with seven of the players being with the club for at least four seasons.
Don Cockroft, part of the lineage of great Cleveland kickers and the man given the tough task of following Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou Groza, was taken in the third round. He began playing with the Browns in 1968 and doubled as a punter for the first nine seasons of his 13-year career with them.
Sixth-rounder John Demarie was a starter for all of his nine seasons with the Browns – seven at guard and two at center.
Outside linebacker Billy Andrews, who didn’t arrive until the 13th round, played eight years in Cleveland, mostly at least as a part-time starter. But he’s remembered so much more for what he did on Sept. 21, 1970, when, at Cleveland Stadium against the New York Jets in the first Monday Night Football game, he became the longtime series’ first of many little-known heroes when he intercepted a Joe Namath pass and returned it 25 yards for the clinching touchdown with just over a minute left in a 31-21 win before a Browns’ record home crowd of 85,703.
Taken in the 17th – and final – round was cornerback Ben Davis. The brother of well-known social activist Angela Davis, he played six seasons. He led the NFL first with a 12.7 punt return average as a rookie and then with 162 interception return yards in 1968 when he had a team-leading eight picks. He finished his Browns career with 17 interceptions.
This was not only a good Browns draft, but, interestingly enough, one that was built in large part on players from small schools – Davis from Defiance (Ohio), Andrews from Southeast Louisiana and Cockroft from Adams State.
And the first-round pick? That was linebacker Bob Matheson from Duke, taken at No. 18 overall. He did some good things in four years with the Browns, but it was after being traded to the Miami Dolphins following the 1970 season that he really made his name known. His jersey number, 53, became the name of a new 3-4 type of defense that Miami used to get to three straight Super Bowls, winning the last two of them.
