The 1975 NFL Draft was the first draft that I can recall following. It started on a Tuesday. It wasn't televised. It was actually a little hard to follow. It was very hard to follow for a young Minnesota Vikings fan living in California. Until ESPN televised the draft for the first time in 1980, it was always hard to follow. Newspaper coverage was pretty much the only coverage and that wasn't until the next day. I was somewhat aware of the 1973 and 1974 NFL Drafts but that was more after the fact. I knew that the Minnesota Vikings didn't have running back Chuck Foreman in 1972 and then they had him in 1973. He was something called a "rookie" and he hadn't played professional football before. Perhaps because of Foreman I had to find out about this thing called the NFL Draft.

The 1975 NFL Draft was unique in that it was the first time that a player from Cal was selected with the first overall pick. The Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski with that pick. He was a decent quarterback on a sh*tty team. He might have been a great quarterback on a better team. I quickly learned that’s the purpose of the draft. Access to the great players is supposed to help the sh*tty teams get better. It doesn’t always work that way as many of the sh*tty teams can’t get away from being sh*tty. As for 1975, Randy White and Walter Payton turned out to be the stars of this draft. White was selected second by the Dallas Cowboys. Payton was selected fourth by the Chicago Bears. Each was among the best players of their generation and earned well-deserved busts in the Pro Football Hall Fame. Robert Brazile and Fred Dean also played their way into Canton. Brazile was selected sixth by the Houston Oilers. Dean was selected in the second round by the San Diego Chargers. Eleven of the 26 players taken in the first round received Pro Bowl recognition at some point in their careers. Not bad. Besides Payton, White, Dean, and Brazile, some of the prominent NFL players from the 1975 NFL Draft were Gary Johnson, Dennis Harrah, Russ Francis, Louis Wright, Doug France, Monte Jackson, Louis Kelcher, Doug English, Cleveland Elam, Rick Upchurch, and Pat Haden.

Highlighted by Walter Payton and Robert Brazile, the 1975 draft was a banner draft for Jackson State. Payton and Brazile were selected early. Running back Rickey Young, linebacker John Tate, and defensive back Charles James were selected later. Nowhere near the heights of Payton and Brazile, Young had a very productive, nine-year NFL career. After three years with the Chargers, he was a very good, pass-catching back for the Vikings for six seasons. In 1975, itty-bitty Jackson State was the rival of the big schools for football talent. 

As for the Vikings, the 1975 NFL Draft can be best described as disappointing. No player made a Chuck Foreman-like impact. The Vikings selected Colorado St. defensive end Mark Mullaney in the first round. Mullaney had some moments, actually some pretty good moments, in his NFL career. Those moments didn't happen often enough. This was a bad time to come to Minnesota if you were a defensive lineman. With Alan Page, Carl Eller, and Jim Marshall, the Vikings defensive line was one of the best in league history. Marshall and Eller were tough to follow for a defensive end. Unfortunately for Mullaney, he was drafted to do so. The Vikings didn’t get much from the 1975 NFL Draft.

1. Mark Mullaney, DE, Colorado State
2. Art Riley, DT, USC
4. Champ Henson, RB, Ohio State
4. Bruce Adams, WR, Kansas
5. Robert Miller, RB, Kansas
6. Bubba Broussard, LB, Houston
7. Henry Greene, RB, Southern
8. Joe Hollimon, DB, Arkansas State
9. John Passananti, G, Western Illinois
10. Neil Clabo, P, Tennessee
11. Ike Spencer, RB, Utah
12. Autry Beamon, DB, East Texas State
13. Mike Hurd, WR, Michigan State
14. Mike Strickland, RB, Eastern Michigan
15. Ollie Bakken, LB, Minnesota
16. Tom Goedjen, K, Iowa State
17. Adolph Bellizeare, RB, Pennsylvania

Only Mark Mullaney, Robert Miller, Neil Clabo, and Autry Beamon earned a spot on the Vikings 1975 roster. Clabo had the biggest immediate impact. He was the team’s punter for three seasons. Miller and Beamon provided depth and saw some playing time. That was about it from a draft that brought in 17 players. Six of the 17 players played running back. It was a very different time. People would be fired if a team selected six running backs today.

The 1975 NFL Draft didn't do much for the Minnesota Vikings but it was the beginning of my growing interest in the draft. Fortunately, the 1976 NFL Draft was more fun and much better for the Vikings.