The Oakland Raiders of Al Davis went into the 1967 draft looking for an offensive lineman with a specific task: give the Raiders an answer to Buck Buchanan and Ernie Ladd, the massive defensive tackles of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders found Gene Upshaw, a Hall of Fame anchor at left guard to an offensive line on which Upshaw became the first player in NFL history to play in Super Bowls in three different decades.
When the Bears drafted Kyle Long, it wasn’t specifically to handle Ndamukong Suh, the Detroit Lions’ interior scourge of the NFC North.