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NFL No. 1 pick QBs and their varied paths to the Super Bowl

By Sayre Bedinger

NFL - Super Bowl; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) with the George Halas Trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
NFL - Super Bowl; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) with the George Halas Trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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NFL, Super Bowl, Eli Manning
On February 3, 2018, Eli Manning with celebrates David Tyree after a touchdown during Super Bowl XLII Sunday.7xl00loj /

Fastest former #1 NFL Draft picks to reach Super Bowl (four-way tie)

These quarterbacks each reached the Super Bowl in their 4th NFL season

T-3rd. John Elway, Denver Broncos

John Elway went from demanding a trade away from the Baltimore Colts to starting a dynasty with the Denver Broncos.

Elway made it to the Super Bowl in his fourth season with the Denver Broncos…and many times after that.

In his first handful of Super Bowl appearances, Elway and the Denver Broncos got their butts kicked. Almost every team in the current NFC East (Giants, Washington, Cowboys) handed Elway his lunch in the Super Bowl before the Broncos finally broke through in the 1997 season against Brett Favre and the Packers.

T-3rd. Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys

Aikman, known by many football fans these days as the voice of the NFL on FOX, was once a highly coveted prospect out of UCLA who became the signal-caller of a dynasty in Dallas.

Just like many Chicago Bulls fans were made in the early 90s, so were many Dallas Cowboys fans because of Aikman and the Cowboys.

Aikman led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins in the 90s and helped establish that franchise as arguably the most successful in league history.

T-3rd. Drew Bledsoe, New England Patriots

Before there was Tom Brady, there was Drew Bledsoe.

Drew Bledsoe was picked first overall by the Patriots back in 1993 out of Washington State. By 1996, the Patriots were in the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers with Bledsoe being selected to his second Pro Bowl.

The Patriots would fall short in that Super Bowl against the Packers, and in the 2001 season, Bledsoe would be replaced after being injured two games into the season by some guy named Tom Brady.

T-3rd. Eli Manning, New York Giants

Did you forget that Eli Manning was a former no. 1 overall pick?

Did you forget that he won two Super Bowls, too?

Manning beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super Bowl not once but twice, and the first time he did it, he did it in dramatic fashion.

Although the majority of the game was a defensive battle, Eli won his first Super Bowl appearance as an NFL quarterback after a pass to David Tyree that will go down in league history as maybe the most impressive single play ever.

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