Despite winning a record-tying six Super Bowls, the New England Patriots have also made quite a few questionable decisions over the course of their six-decade history. Among those was passing on Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning in the 1971 NFL Draft.
In fact, according to Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab, this makes Manning the organization’s “one that got away.”
New England Patriots: Passing on Archie Manning for Jim Plunkett, then trading Plunkett
The Patriots had a big choice at the top of the 1971 NFL Draft. They took Stanford’s Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jim Plunkett over Ole Miss legend Archie Manning.