USC football established itself as an NFL draft heavyweight over many decades. The Trojans rank in the top tier of college football programs in professional players created, Super Bowl players produced, Hall of Famers created, and various other statistical categories. Rod Martin of the Oakland Raiders is one of USC’s more unlikely NFL draft success stories, as we noted in 2020:
“Imagine a player being picked at No. 317 in any draft — that’s 118 whole spots below Tom Brady — and amounting to anything in the NFL. Then imagine that No. 317 pick becoming an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler, and a core member of two separate Super Bowl-winning teams. Today, Rod Martin would not have been drafted. He wouldn’t even have been Mr. Irrelevant, the last player picked. He would have had to negotiate with a team and fight for table scraps.
“Rod Martin played 12 seasons in the NFL. He won two Super Bowls with the Raiders — one in Oakland, one in Los Angeles. He played in multiple Pro Bowls and made multiple All-Pro teams. He intercepted three passes in a Super Bowl, ruining Ron Jaworski’s only Super Bowl appearance with the Philadelphia Eagles. Martin’s game-wrecking masterpiece in Super Bowl XV in 1981 carried the Raiders to a blowout win over the Eagles. By winning the grand finale of the NFL’s 1980 season, Oakland became the first wild card team to ever win the Super Bowl. The wild card game was introduced to the NFL just two seasons earlier, in 1978 (with the playoffs concluding in January of 1979).”
Few players picked outside the top 300 of the NFL draft have made as big an impact as Rod Martin did. It’s a one-of-a-kind USC football success story.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Rod Martin is one of USC’s greatest NFL draft success stories
Reporting by Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
