Rich CiminiApr 12, 2026, 06:15 AM ETCloseRich Cimini is a staff writer who covers the New York Jets and the NFL at ESPN. Rich has covered the Jets for over 30 years, joining ESPN in 2010. Rich also hosts the Flight Deck podcast. He previously was a beat writer for the New York Daily News and is a graduate of Syracuse University.Follow on XMultiple Authors
ON THE MORNING of the 1996 NFL draft, the New York Jets dispatched a front office official to a Manhattan hotel for an eleventh-hour meeting with Keyshawn Johnson and his agent. With the draft set to begin at noon a few blocks away at Madison Square Garden, the Jets’ objective was to leverage their position, hoping to convince the former USC star to sign a contract before they were on the clock with the No. 1 pick.
Johnson was standing on a stool in his hotel room, modeling his custom-made beige suit for his personal tailor as agent Jerome Stanley and the Jets’ Pat Kirwan haggled over the contract. Johnson deemed the offer below market — this was 15 years before the NFL’s rookie wage scale went into effect — and told the Jets through Stanley, “Don’t draft me!” He fired off a few expletives as well.
Thirty years later, Johnson remains an outlier — the last wide receiver to be selected with the top pick in the draft. While the position has grown in stature and value — the salary of the highest-paid receiver has increased by more than 600% since 1996 — it hasn’t loosened the quarterback stranglehold on the top spot.
It took a perfect storm, so to speak, for the Jets to make such an unconventional move. It was a historically poor quarterback draft, so there was no temptation to go in that direction. They longed for a charismatic star, and Johnson, one of the most recognizable names in college football, was a spotlight-loving athlete from Los Angeles.
“I think [the Jets] were looking for somebody to change the identity of the organization, bringing a snap, crackle, pop — a pizzazz. But also playmaking ability,” Johnson told ESPN, reflecting on the experience.
Johnson’s time in New York was eventful. There was the draft-day staredown with team officials, the acrimonious contract dispute that followed and the bitter divorce when he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2000. But on the field, he produced at a high level — the second-most receiving yards in a four-year span (4,108) in Jets history.
He and Irving Fryar (New England Patriots, 1984) are the only two wide receivers chosen first overall in the common-draft era (since 1967). According to experts, it might never happen again.
IT’S NOT UNCOMMON for a receiver to be picked in the top 10. In fact, it has happened 43 times in the last 30 drafts, starting with Johnson and Terry Glenn (seventh, Patriots) in 1996. Move closer to the tippy top, though, and the air becomes rarefied.
Johnson went No. 1. Only three have been picked at No. 2 — Charles Rogers (Detroit Lions, 2003), Calvin Johnson (Lions, 2007) and Travis Hunter (Jacksonville Jaguars, 2025), who doubled as a cornerback in his rookie season.
“It’s not a surprise to me just because of what the draft has become,” ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said. “It’s quarterback over pass rusher, and maybe an occasional left tackle — the three most important positions in football.
The numbers confirm it: In the common-draft era, 29 quarterbacks have been chosen No. 1 overall, followed by defensive linemen (15), running backs (seven), offensive tackles (four), wide receivers (two) and linebackers (two). Oh, and the last running back picked first overall? Ki-Jana Carter, one year before Johnson in 1995.
Because of supply and demand, teams overdraft quarterbacks, letting desperation cloud their evaluations. In 2007, Calvin Johnson was widely regarded as the best overall prospect, but the Oakland Raiders owned the No. 1 pick and owner Al Davis was smitten with JaMarcus Russell’s powerful arm.
Russell, a colossal disappointment, was out of the league in four years. Johnson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
“There’s an example of the quarterback getting the bump over the wide receiver even though the quarterback didn’t have as high a grade,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. “At the end of the day, [it’s] quarterbacks and pass rushers.”
The receiver position has evolved over the past 30 years. The passing game explosion, from the NFL to the high school level, has yielded a new generation of highly skilled pass catchers. They benefit from 7-on-7 summer leagues and wide-open college offenses. Likewise, the NFL has shifted away from base personnel, using three- and four-wide packages.
“Now they’re a dime a dozen, and I don’t think you feel near the stress to have to take one at the very top of the draft,” said former Cleveland Browns general manager and longtime executive Phil Savage, now a consultant in the Los Angeles Rams’ personnel department. “We still see some go in the top 10, but for the most part, you can find receivers through the whole draft now.
“There’s been a proliferation as the game has changed,” Savage added. “I don’t know that we’ll ever see a wide receiver go No. 1 again because it’s harder to find a tackle, a defensive end and a quarterback than a wide receiver.”
In Keyshawn Johnson’s rookie year (1996), the highest-paid receiver was the incomparable Jerry Rice, who made $5.8 million per year, according to Over the Cap. The current highest paid is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who recently signed an extension that pays him $42.2 million per year.
When Johnson received his draft call from the Jets, the first voice he heard belonged to octogenarian owner Leon Hess, who told him, “Well, son, I guess we’ve got to go to the bank. You’re our guy.”
The upcoming draft will include anywhere from three to five receivers in the first round, according to talent evaluators. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the presumptive No. 1 pick, so Johnson’s streak is safe for another year. It would be a surprise if a receiver cracks the top 5.
Next year should be interesting. Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, one of the highest-rated receivers in recent memory, is eligible for the 2027 draft. In two seasons, he has produced mind-blowing numbers — 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns. Scouts are awed by his physical tools. If there’s a receiver worthy of the top pick, it’s him.
And it probably won’t, because a handful of top quarterbacks, including Oregon’s Dante Moore and Texas’ Arch Manning, will be eligible. And we all know the NFL’s unwritten rule: Quarterbacks trump everyone else.
The Jets were coming off a three-win season with a second-year coach (Rich Kotite) who had previous ties to the organization — eerily similar to the current situation with coach Aaron Glenn. Glenn played on that ’96 team, along with recently hired offensive coordinator Frank Reich.
Kotite & Co. went into that offseason looking for a starting quarterback, opting for free agency because the draft was devoid of top prospects. In fact, the first quarterback wasn’t chosen until the second round (No. 42 overall): Tony Banks, St. Louis Rams.
The 1996 draft is infamous for that reason; every draft since then has produced at least one first-round quarterback.
After signing former Pittsburgh Steelers starter Neil O’Donnell for $25 million over five years — big money in those days — the Jets had to make a decision with the top pick.
No team below them wanted to trade up, so the choice came down to Johnson and UCLA left tackle Jonathan Ogden, according to team officials. They had just lured Jumbo Elliott away from the New York Giants with a five-year, $15 million contract, so left tackle wasn’t a need.
“Keyshawn was a star player; he was all the things we wanted,” recalled Kirwan, the Jets’ director of player administration at the time and now a SiriusXM host. “We had a lot of good, quiet players. We had spent a lot of money in free agency and we thought this young star is what we needed in New York. The Giants owned New York and we were trying to be relevant to that.”
Three decades earlier, the Jets, an original AFL team, were armed with similar motivation when they drafted and outbid the rival NFL for the rights to Joe Namath. There was a show-business element to that decision, as then-owner Sonny Werblin — an entertainment industry executive — knew the importance of having star power in Gotham.
Like Namath, Johnson brought his star power to New York, making headlines with his brash personality and delivering on the field. He was an integral part of the team’s turnaround in 1997, when Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells arrived and led the Jets to within one game of the Super Bowl in the 1998 season.
“Shack Harris, along with Dick Haley, felt I was a difference-maker,” said Johnson, crediting the Jets’ top personnel men for drafting him. “I was a safe bet, as opposed to some of the other guys in the draft. A difference-maker and a safe bet. They bet and they won. We didn’t win a championship, but everything started to turn.”
It didn’t happen overnight. Johnson’s rookie year was a 1-15 disaster, providing plenty of juicy fodder for his explosive autobiography: “Just Give Me the Damn Ball.” It was released in the spring of 1997, just as Parcells was settling into his new job.
“It’s easy to look back in the rearview mirror and say we just should’ve taken Ogden,” he said. “I get it, and I would readily admit that, but that’s not to cast a negative light on Keyshawn. We wanted a star guy. We thought he was going to be one.”
Ogden lasted until the fourth pick, chosen by the Baltimore Ravens after linebacker Kevin Hardy went second to the Jacksonville Jaguars and defensive end Simeon Rice went third to the Arizona Cardinals — much to Baltimore’s relief.
Savage, the Ravens’ director of college scouting, said the Ravens were prepared to pivot to running back Lawrence Phillips. Ogden, one of the most decorated left tackles in history, went on to a Hall of Fame career. Phillips, picked sixth by the St. Louis Rams, was a major washout.