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.
They did draft him, of course -- a decision that resonates to this day.
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.
Keyshawn Johnson remains the last wide receiver to be picked first overall in the NFL Draft.pic.twitter.com/M69bP2gux1
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.
Hollywood, meet Broadway.
"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.