McNair was chosen 3rd overall by the Houston Oilers and the rest, as they say, is history. But McNair was such a tremendous athlete, his could have ended up playing baseball."In early 1995, the Carolina Panthers had yet to play a real NFL game but were feverishly preparing for their first NFL draft. They held the No.1 pick. The Panthers eventually narrowed their choices that April to a field of three: McNair, Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter and Penn State quarterback Kerry Collins.
To hedge their bets, the Panthers sent mock jerseys of all three to New York for the NFL draft. But then on draft day, they traded down from the No.1 to the No.5 pick, where they would select Collins. Cincinnati traded with Carolina to get the top pick, picked Carter No.1 and suffered for years after the running back became an injury-riddled bust."
Yesterday, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times recalled an article he wrote after the Titans narrowly lost Super Bowl XXXIV to the St. Louis Rams, where the Seattle Mariners had drafted McNair in the 35th round of the 1991 draft and offered him $10,000 to sign, but McNair opted to accept the scholarship offer from Alcorn State.
"Mariner scouting director Roger Jongewaard recalled that McNair graded out to a 50 as a high-schooler, which corresponds to major-league average. But the Mariners believed that McNair could have developed into a Dave Winfield-type player, or even a top-flight pitcher."
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