April 7, 1999

ESPN The Magazine’s latest edition previews the upcoming NFL Draft in its cover story, "QBallers: They’re bringing a whole new game to the NFL." The cover features Cade McNown of UCLA, Akili Smith of Oregon, Daunte Culpepper of Central Florida, and Donovan McNabb of Syracuse.

Three black quarterbacks expected to be picked in the first round of this draft -- Culpepper, McNabb and Smith -- will equal the total chosen in all first rounds in NFL history. The skills made requisite by San Francisco’s Steve Young, Green Bay’s Brett Favre and Denver’s John Elway have begotten the rookies who are all destined to be first-rounders, according to ESPN The Magazine.

These three, says ESPN The Magazine, are part of a revolutionary class of quarterbacks who, regardless of race, have in common a distinct style of play: the ability to throw and think on the run, to avoid tacklers, to get outside the pocket and apply pressure by creating something that couldn’t possibly have been diagrammed on the sideline or predetermined in the huddle. ESPN The Magazine says they’re the best collection of quarterbacks since the Class of ’83 (Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, John Elway & Co.).