Giants Draft Rewind: 1969 - Fred Dryer
Famous defensive end's life of stardom began in The Bronx
As the NFL Draft nears, I’ve decided to dust off some old pieces I’ve written over the years about the New York Giants and the NFL in general. Here is a piece I wrote on defensive end Fred Dryer that was published several years ago.
Many remember Fred Dryer as a TV cop, the lead character on NBC’s Hunter, which ran from 1984 through 1991. But many of us older football fans remember Dryer as the talented, impactful defensive end who chased down quarterbacks for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s.
Before Dryer became that TV cop and even before he became a Ram, he was a New York Giant. Selected 13th overall in the 1969 NFL Draft by the Giants out of San Diego State, Dryer would start every game at right defensive end for Big Blue for the next three seasons.
The 6-foot-6, 225-pound Dryer had a knack for getting to the quarterback and recorded an unofficial 29 sacks in his 42 games in Blue. (Sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982).
In 1971, however, Dryer did not sign a contract as a result of the wage-price freeze. He had played out his option and the free-wheeling Southern Californian wanted the Giants to trade him. He had been an outspoken critic of how the Giants’ organization was being run and a trade seemed to be the most sensible solution.
“He said he didn’t want to play here,” Giants head coach Alex Webster said at the time.
“It was all over the papers, and he said it to someone in our organization, although not to me. And that dissatisfaction rubs off on others, especially coming from a good player. But we didn’t go looking to trade him. Five clubs called us and asked about him. When we looked at how the draft was shaping up, and who we thought would be available, we went ahead with the New England offer.”
As a result of playing out his option, Dryer would become a free agent come May 1, so the Giants traded his rights to the Patriots the day before the 1972 NFL Draft (Jan. 31) for three draft picks.
Dryer never played a down for the Patriots. New England couldn’t meet Dryer’s demand to make him the highest-paid defensive lineman in the NFL and traded him to the Rams for a draft choice that would eventually be used to select USC running back Sam “The Bam” Cunningham.
With the picks the Giants received in return for Dryer, they chose Texas A&I defensive back Eldridge Small with the first round pick (No. 17 overall) they got from the Patriots and then traded away the other two picks for players: offensive lineman Dick Enderle and defensive end Jack Gregory.
The net result of the Dryer trade was basically frustrating. Dryer went on to help the Rams become an NFC power for a decade. The Giants got no better. Small played three years and was traded to Cleveland, who cut him. Enderle played four years for the Giants, the first two as a starter. Gregory was the key player in this move. He played very well for Giants, almost at a Pro Bowl level, which helped offset the loss of Dryer.
Dryer, as well as experts and fans, was dumbfounded he wasn’t traded to a contender for established players. It was another misstep by the Giants, the team that had just traded Fran Tarkenton away.
Dryer played in 134 games for the Rams over a ten-year career. In a game versus the Green Bay Packers in 1973, Dryer set an NFL record by recording two safeties in a single game. The next season he led the NFL in sacks with 15 and was named to the Pro Bowl. In a 1979 game versus his old club, the Giants, Dryer sacked rookie quarterback Phil Simms five times, a career-high.
From Ron Borges of Sports Illustrated:
“In his 13 seasons as a relentless pass rusher for first the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, Dryer amassed 104 sacks, a number confirmed but unofficial because the sacking of quarterbacks did not become officially tallied by the league until 1982. That didn’t stop Dryer from pulling down quarterbacks so frequently that 40 years after his retirement he would tank 28th all-time, ahead of a number of Hall-of-Fame pass rushers, including Charles Haley, if his production had been recognized.”
After his retirement from football, Dryer turned to acting. He was considered for the role of Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, a role that eventually went to Ted Danson. Dryer did appear on several episodes of the show as a sportscaster who was an old Red Sox teammate of Sam’s.
In addition his work on Hunter, Dryer appeared in many television shows and movies, including CHiPs, NCIS, Crisis and Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.
But Giant fans will always remember Dryer as one of the great players who got away. Watching the Rams in the playoffs every year in the 1970s with Dryer dressed in blue and gold was a painful reminder to the Giant fan that his team was far away from being a contender.
For more on Dryer, read John Turney’s piece on Pro Football Journal.