Piece by Alex Christ
From 1960-1966, the American Football League and the National Football League competed for college athletes before both leagues merged in the 1967 NFL Draft. Over the course of these seven years, the AFL and NFL teams selected many Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and Hall of Fame players, but each player had the option to play in either league.
In this countdown of each AFL/NFL team in existence during this seven year stretch, we will take a look at some of the greatest players selected in these drafts and how their careers would have been the same or different if they chose to play for the other team they were drafted by in the AFL or NFL.
1963: The Case of George Saimes (6th round pick (AFL), 6th round pick (NFL))
After graduating from Lincoln High School in Canton, Ohio in the spring of 1959, George Saimes received a scholarship from future Hall of Fame head coach Duffy Daugherty to play at Michigan State, where Daugherty had led the Spartans to a victory in the 1956 Rose Bowl against UCLA.
But, at the same time, the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams were coming off a promising 1958 campaign under their Hall of Fame head coach, Sid Gillman, while the AFL’s Buffalo Bills were laying the groundwork for their franchise under their Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson.
During his three years
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