The astounding, incredible fact about Anthony Munoz at the 1980 NFL draft
Yes, it’s true that Anthony Munoz had multiple knee injuries in his playing career at USC. Munoz did not play full seasons for a majority of his collegiate career, missing multiple games against Notre Dame and also missing the Rose Bowl Game before finally playing in the Granddaddy in his Trojan finale in 1980 against Ohio State. It was reasonable for NFL teams to worry about Munoz and have reservations about his status as an NFL prospect heading into the 1980 NFL draft. There’s nothing wrong with that.
However, if any NFL team had reservations about Munoz’s health and durability, wasn’t the obvious solution to work out the offensive lineman and directly see what he was — and wasn’t — capable of?
Munoz shared some amazing stories with Tim Prangley and Rick Anaya at Trojan Conquest Live in early June. Munoz participated in a workout conducted by the Cincinnati Bengals and head coach Forrest Gregg, who was himself an all-time-great offensive lineman and therefore someone who knew what Munoz could do for the Bengals if he was physically up to the task.
The Bengals were smart enough to work out Munoz.
Guess what? No other NFL team did.
That’s right: Not one other NFL team held a workout for Anthony Munoz, to see up close if his body was ready for the rigors of the NFL.
The New York Jets picked at No. 2 in the 1980 NFL draft. They took a receiver from Texas, Lam Jones, who never made even one Pro Bowl and was a complete bust. Imagine if the Jets had worked out Anthony Munoz and saw what the Bengals saw. They might have picked Munoz at No. 2 instead of allowing him to fall to No. 3, where Cincinnati stepped in and took him.
That’s why the Jets are the Jets … and that’s why the Bengals, with Munoz, made two Super Bowls in the 1980s.
