Steelers Almost Traded Hall of Fame QB

The Pittsburgh Steelers almost got rid of their four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback before his career even started.

Nov 10, 2019; West Point , NY, USA; Fox NFL Sunday analyst Terry Bradshaw throws a football to cadets at the United States Military Academy. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers turned the 14-year career of Terry Bradshaw into four Super Bowls, two Super Bowl MVPs, a league MVP, three Pro Bowls and a Hall of Fame jacket. In their decorated history, he goes down as one of the top two quarterbacks to even play for the franchise. But they almost didn't keep him.

In Steve Massey's new book "Revolution: The Transformation of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL," he reveals that the team nearly ended their run with their Hall of Fame passer before it even begun.

After a one-win season in 1969, the Steelers landed the first overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft. With that pick, they chose Bradshaw, but had plenty of offers to move on from him. One of those offers came from the St. Louis Cardinals, who offered a package of players that included Hall of Fame cornerback Roger Wehrli, according to Massey.

Last month Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw revealed that in the past year he's been treated for two forms of potentially fatal cancer. / Alan Youngblood / USA TODAY NETWORK

Steelers Had an Offer in Mind

Speaking with Steelers Depot, Massey said that the Steelers called St. Louis back and had an offer they wanted. And if a player was still on the board when the Cardinals were draft, Pittsburgh was willing to listen.

"The Steelers sent word back, ‘If Mike Reid is available, we’ll talk,’" Massey said. "The Bengals took him, and they were one pick ahead of the [Cardinals]. That was that and the deal was off.”

Reid went on to make a Pro Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals but left the NFL after just five seasons. The All-American out of Penn State went on to become a country music songwriter, winning Grammys and being selected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Trade That Would've Changed History

The Steelers were willing to have a conversation that could've changed the landscape of the entire NFL for decades. Pittsburgh is known as one of the greatest franchises of all time because of their run in the 1970's, with Terry Bradshaw as their starting quarterback.

Instead, they would've had a player who spent five years with them, and who knows if they would've ever had the success they did. Or if their franchise would be viewed in such historic fashion today.

NFL general managers are always talking, and you never know what crazy trades are close to being made, but this one would've went down as one of the wildest ever. Looking back, it might be one that changed fate in this National Football League more than any other.

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