When you play for a two-time National Champion in college like Don’t’a Hightower did at Alabama, how sweet is it to get drafted to another power like the New England Patriots?

After the Chicago Bears drafted Jim Lee Hunt in the 16^thRound, he elected to sign instead with the Boston Patriots for the inaugural season of the American Football League.  As it would turn out, Hunt would become one of a handful of players to play in all ten years of the league’s existence, all of which were with the Patriots.

Leon Gray was a Third Round Pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1973, but Gray did not make the team, and he was waived.  Miami might have been loaded at the Offensive Line, but the New England Patriots were not, and they claimed the former Jackson State star.   It was a win-win for both parties.

It took until the 19^thRound in 1965 before the Boston Patriots before Jim Nance was drafted, and the former two-sport star at Syracuse had to have a chip on his shoulder considering his collegiate accomplishments.