49ers legend Jerry Rice recalls wild draft story in 1985: "Thought I was going to be Dallas Cowboy"

Jerry Rice revealed that even though he played for the San Francisco 49ers with great distinction, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to get him in the draft. He said that as someone playing for Mississippi Valley State University, a small Historically Black University, he was not originally on their radar.

But it so happened that the San Francisco 49ers head coach was in New Orleans flocking the channels, when he noticed Jerry Rice. Bill Walsh was immediately struck by how good of a player he was and asked the scouting department of his franchise to keep tabs on him.

The legendary wide receiver said:

"It was a Saturday, he [Bill Walsh] was flicking the channels. And he noticed me running across the television screen, running away from everybody catching the ball. He goes back to the scouting department here in San Francisco, saying, "We need to look at this guy named Jerry Rice at Mississippi Valley State University."

Jerry Rice reveals that he is eternally grateful to 49ers head coach Bill Walsh for taking a chance on him

There are few who will argue that Jerry Rice is not the greatest wide receiver of all time. And now he has revealed that one of the reasons he played with such high distinction is because of the faith his head coach had in him. Bill Walsh took a chance on him, as he acknowledged after he had slipped the notice of many others coming from a small college.

He recounted how he thought that the Dallas Cowboys were going to get him but the San Francisco 49ers took him with the No. 16 pick. Jerry Rice said:

"So that's really how I got drafted. And Bill Walsh, he took a big chance on me. And it was just no way I was gonna let him down... They traded with the New England Patriots to get down to that 16 spot. I thought I was going to be a Dallas Cowboy. But I, you know, got picked up by the greatest franchise ever. The San Francisco 49ers."

The wide receiver's assertion that the San Francisco 49ers are the greatest franchise of all time is sure to rub fans of the Cowboys the wrong way. But what is likely to hurt them even more is that they could have had the chance of drafting him and let it slip. During the 1990s, when Dallas was building its dynasty, having him play with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith would probably have got them even more Super Bowl wins.