The Cowboys of the 1992-95 period that won three Super Bowls in four years had 15 different offensive linemen on their roster. Here were the places where they played college ball (roughly in order of the school's reputation for its NCAA football program):
UCLA
Washington
Pittsburgh
North Carolina State
Boston College
Temple
UNLV
Tulane
Nevada
Florida A&M
Hawaii
East Texas State
Sacramento State
Sonoma State
Central State (Ohio)
Those are some pretty obscure schools there, for sure. I never even heard of the last four on that list.
I honestly think the days of the obscure superstar are largely over - with obvious exceptions like Antonio Brown floating around out there.
Back in the 70s, the smart teams - like the Steelers and Cowboys - knew where to find obscure talent (generally at the HBCUs).
That still existed somewhat in the 90s.
Today, every college and pro coach in the country knows the names of the top 1,000 high school sophomores in the country and has film of all of them on their Ipad.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to fall through the cracks. You almost have to work at it - which Antonio Brown kind of did. He basically ran away from home at 17, couldn’t qualify academically for college, and played QB of all things at a JuCo.
I honestly think the only thing that team’s can really control in the NFL right now is some level of continuity. That means smartly managing your cap so you can have controlled chaos on your roster and not massive turnover. That means finding a QB and keeping a coaching staff and front office in place for more than a year.
I don’t think Mike Tomlin is a master strategist by any means. But his players like him and generally know what he wants to do. Add in a good QB, and you can compete in the NFL.
Hell, the Bengals stumbled into some kind of respectability simply because they are too cheap to ever fire Marvin Lewis.