It is kind of wild to think about now, but there was once a time when professional scouts looked at Joe Montana and basically shrugged. We are talking about a guy who eventually became the personification of "clutch," a four-time Super Bowl champion who didn't throw a single interception in any of those title games. Yet, during the spring of 1979, he was just another name on a draft board that most teams were happy to ignore for hours.
If you’ve ever wondered when was joe montana drafted, the answer is a bit of a gut punch for the 27 other NFL teams that existed at the time. Montana was selected in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft, falling all the way to the 82nd overall pick.
Eighty-one players.
Eighty-one guys were deemed more "pro-ready" or physically gifted than the man who would later be known as "Joe Cool." Honestly, it’s one of the greatest scouting blunders in the history of North American sports.
The 1979 Draft Context: Why Did He Slide?
To understand why Montana lasted until the third round, you have to look at how scouts viewed him coming out of Notre Dame. He wasn't the "can't-miss" prospect that John Elway or Peyton Manning would eventually be.
Scouts back then were obsessed with "measurables." Montana was roughly 6'2" and 200 pounds, which was fine, but he didn't have the "cannon" arm that NFL GMs craved in the late 70s. The prevailing scouting report on him was that he was "scrawny," had average arm strength, and was a bit of a system product.
Even though he had led the Irish to a National Championship in 1977 and staged a legendary comeback in the 1979 Cotton Bowl (often called the "Chicken Soup Game" because he was fighting the flu), the NFL remained skeptical. They saw the "Comeback Kid" heroics as more of a college fluke than a translatable pro skill.
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The Quarterbacks Taken Before Him
There were actually three quarterbacks selected before Montana in 1979. While one of them had a very respectable career, the other two became footnotes in history compared to what Joe accomplished in San Francisco.
- Jack Thompson (No. 3 overall, Cincinnati Bengals): Known as the "Throwin' Samoan," Thompson had all the physical tools. He was big and had a massive arm. However, he struggled with interceptions and never quite found his footing, eventually losing his job to Steve DeBerg (ironically, the same guy Montana would eventually replace in San Francisco).
- Phil Simms (No. 7 overall, New York Giants): This was the "hit" of the early QB class. Simms was a small-school prospect from Morehead State who went on to have a great career, winning two Super Bowls and becoming a Giants legend.
- Steve Fuller (No. 23 overall, Kansas City Chiefs): Fuller had a decent run but was largely a journeyman backup for much of his career, notably backing up Jim McMahon during the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl run.
Then came pick 82.
Bill Walsh and the "West Coast" Vision
The 49ers weren't exactly a powerhouse in 1979. They were coming off a miserable 2-14 season. They had a new head coach, Bill Walsh, who was an offensive eccentric often called "The Genius."
Walsh didn't care about the "cannon" arm that everyone else was looking for. He wanted a quarterback who was mobile, had "touch," and—most importantly—could process information quickly to deliver the ball accurately on short, timing-based routes. This was the birth of the West Coast Offense.
Montana fit that mold perfectly.
Interestingly, the 49ers didn't even have a first-round pick that year because they had traded it away to the Buffalo Bills for an aging O.J. Simpson. That trade is often cited as one of the worst in franchise history, but in a weird twist of fate, it forced Walsh to look for value in the later rounds.
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The Draft Day Tension
Joe Montana was actually getting pretty anxious as the draft rolled on. He was sitting in a house in Los Angeles, watching the names go by. He had been told he might go as high as the first or second round. When the second round ended and his name hadn't been called, he started to worry.
The 49ers eventually pulled the trigger in the third round. It wasn't an immediate "he's the starter" situation, either. Montana spent most of his rookie year holding a clipboard and watching Steve DeBerg. But Walsh was coaching him hard behind the scenes, refining those footwork details that would eventually make Montana the most efficient passer of his era.
Why 1979 Changed the NFL Forever
The 1979 NFL Draft wasn't just about Montana. It was the draft that fundamentally shifted how teams evaluated the quarterback position.
Before Montana, the ideal QB was a pocket statue with a rocket arm. After Montana, teams began to value "anticipation" and "accuracy" over raw power. You can draw a direct line from Montana's 82nd overall selection to the way teams later evaluated players like Drew Brees or even Brock Purdy (another late-round 49ers find).
It's also worth noting how many other teams almost took him. The Dallas Cowboys—the 49ers' biggest rivals in the 80s—actually had Montana at the very top of their draft board when their third-round pick came up. They had a scouting system that generally told them to "take the highest-rated player," but they broke their own rule to draft a tight end named Doug Cosbie instead.
Imagine a world where Joe Montana spent the 80s wearing a star on his helmet. 49ers fans probably don't even want to think about it.
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Montana’s Draft Legacy by the Numbers
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Round | 3rd |
| Overall Pick | 82nd |
| Team | San Francisco 49ers |
| College | Notre Dame |
| QBs Drafted Ahead | 3 (Thompson, Simms, Fuller) |
Common Misconceptions About Montana's Draft
One thing people often get wrong is the idea that Montana was a "nobody" in college. He won a National Championship! He was a famous player. The "slide" in the draft wasn't because people didn't know who he was; it was because they thought they knew exactly what he wasn't.
They thought he was a "clutch college kid" who lacked the physical tools to survive an NFL pass rush. They were wrong. He wasn't just lucky; he was precise.
What You Should Take Away From Joe's Story
If you’re a student of the game or just a fan of sports history, the story of when was joe montana drafted serves as the ultimate reminder that scouting is an inexact science.
- System Fit Matters: Montana might not have been a Hall of Famer if he had been drafted by a team that wanted to run a vertical, long-bomb offense. He needed Bill Walsh, and Bill Walsh needed him.
- The "It" Factor is Real: You can't measure heart or composure on a stopwatch. Montana’s ability to stay calm when the world was on fire (think: "The Catch" or the drive in Super Bowl XXIII) was his greatest weapon.
- Draft Position Doesn't Dictate Destiny: Whether you're picked 1st or 199th (like Tom Brady) or 82nd, the draft is just the entry fee. What you do with the playbook afterward is what defines you.
If you want to dig deeper into this era of football, I’d highly recommend looking into Bill Walsh’s book The Score Takes Care of Itself. It gives an incredible look into the mindset he had when he decided to take a chance on a "scrawny" kid from Notre Dame when the rest of the league was looking the other way.
Next Steps for You:
Check out the 1979 NFL Draft highlights on YouTube to see the contrast between the "big-arm" prospects and Montana's style. You should also look up "The Montana Three"—the specific quarterbacks taken before him—to see how their careers compared in the long run. It’s a fascinating exercise in "what if" history.