INDIANAPOLIS — “We had a chance to get possibly the best tight end in all of football, and we had to give up a good football player.’’
That quote comes from former Baltimore Colts general manager Joe Thomas.
In 1973, the Colts were looking to add a missing ingredient to their offense, and they were willing to trade defensive end Bubba Smith — the No. 1-overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft — to get it.
That ingredient, Raymond Chester, had played a huge part in revolutionizing the tight end position in the NFL in the early 1970s in his first three seasons with the Oakland Raiders, where the Morgan State product averaged 35 receptions for 525 yards and about eight touchdowns in an era in which tight ends were utilized much more as an extra blocker than as capable receivers.