In 1987, the Raiders took a seventh-round flier on Bo Jackson. It paid off. Eight years later, in 1995, the Raiders took a similar chance with a sixth-round pick. It didn’t pan out.
In researching potential selections for Friday’s PFT Live draft regarding the biggest “holy crap” moments in draft history, I stumbled across an item from Jordan Heck of SportingNews.com regarding a selection that was made 26 years ago today.
Former BYU tackle Eli Herring, projected to go no later than round three, told all teams before the draft that he won’t play in the NFL because he doesn’t want to work on Sundays, for religious reasons. The Raiders drafted him anyway. Herring rejected a three-year, $1.5 million deal that was offered to him by Bruce Allen.
“Not that I would not have liked to have been in the NFL, but Sunday is a church day,” Herring said at the time. “One of our guiding principles as Christians is the Ten Commandants and the Lord has told us there and in the scriptures to ‘keep the Sabbath holy.’ The Lord has said that those who do enjoy certain promises, and I just decided that I would be better off in the long run if I obeyed His desires. . . . Though a couple of hundred thousand dollars sure would have been nice.”
While I respect Herring’s position, as someone who works on Sundays throughout the year, I’m concerned. If he’s right, I’m going to hell, just like David Puddy and Elaine.
Then again, I already may be headed there, for plenty of other reasons.