Recently I did a blog about how far the draft has come in evolving into such a big part of the year for pro football fans. And I described how that first draft was conducted by the Denver Broncos.

Of course, that was the American Football League draft in 1960, and it led to the first star draftee in Broncos history—but not in the manner one would presume.

There is always a lot of trade activity involving teams moving up or down and trading draft slots to acquire different ones, to get just the player they desire at a given time.

Fans are all familiar with that. One of the things that very seldom happens, however, is the trade of draft choices already made, from one team to another.

Draft mania has officially capture the minds of National Football League fans everywhere, and your Denver Broncos web site is doing a great job of presenting many of the new players.

I am trying to take a slightly different look at how and where we get players, so that everyone can hopefully get a somewhat more balanced perspective.

The Broncos’ first draft was of course the American Football League draft in 1960.

At that time, in an effort to limit the bargaining position of the drafted players, the draftees were announced in alphabetical order, instead of the order in which they had been chosen. I know, I know, it sounds crazy and is crazy, but that is how it happened.

Every team has a list of players they passed on in the draft who went on to be big stars elsewhere, so no one team can moan about players whom they did not choose.

After all, we get to our pick, and we choose. We get to select whomever we want, so no beefing about the guys we do not select.

However, in the early years of the American Football League, which began with the Denver Broncos as one of the eight charter members in 1960, the AFL competed with the well-established National Football League for players.

So there were two drafts from 1960 through 1966. The top players got drafted by both leagues and had a chance to listen to sales pitches on both sides.

Some of the AFL teams in better financial situations that Denver—which was every one, except Oakland—signed some real stars.

Draft mania continues in the NFL among the millions of fans, with countless stories being produced by local and national press.

I thought we might take a slightly different perspective on the draft today.

Most of the attention centers, rightly so, on the first, second and third rounds of the NFL draft, since that is where the best known players are most often selected.

But I was thinking, who are the greatest late round draft choices in Broncos history?

Following is my perspective on this topic. Thanks again for reading.

The talk of the National Football League world at this time of year is the annual player draft, coming up later this month.

Nowhere can you read more about the draft here in Denver than in the Denver Broncos website, which does a great job previewing star and wannabe stars from around the country.

But after all the bodies are measured and the stats are studied, sometimes a player still can come from relative obscurity.

Perhaps the greatest example in Broncos team history of a player coming from a really small school and going on to make it big was the late Lyle Alzado.

How he came to be a Bronco is a short story worth telling, and thanks in advance for reading it.