Why didn’t Forrest get drafted by the NFL?
He was a dominant all American. Why weren’t any teams scouting him?
shareHe went into the service maybe? Good question.
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MovieChat Forums > Forrest Gump (1994) Discussion > Why didn’t Forrest get drafted by the NF...
I don't think the NFL was drafting players out of college at that time(late 60s-70s).
sharePretty sure the NFL was drafting college players in the 1930s
shareWhere does one purchase this nonsensical knowledge.
shareBoth the NFL and AFL were drafting players during the 1960's. A major reason that the two merged during the 1960's.
shareHe wasn't interested in doing that as a career; He made enough money off Apple stock.
shareUh, that wasn't til way later in the movie. The TC is asking why the NFL didn't draft him after he graduated college. The Apple Stock thing happened years later after he had been dismissed from the army and had started a Shrimp company.
shareDid the book cover this? You're right, being an All American he would have been scouted at the minimum. Maybe momma told Forrest that she didn't want him playing such a dangerous game.
We also don't know if his particular game would translate into the NFL. All we really saw was that he could run fast and scored a bunch of touchdowns. His routes were certainly unusual..
The book has him flunk out of college and then people in authority put him in the army since he has been arrested as a criminal before. By the way in the book he plays football in both highschool and college. And yeah. Forrest getting arrested is a reoccurring thing in the book. Forrest isn't a nice man in the novel. He cusses a lot and makes sexual remarks. The book is inferior and the 2nd half of the book has him doing things like traveling to space, getting stranded on an island full of cannibals and living with them a few years, becoming a wrestler, getting to film a movie scene with Raquelle Welch, and a lot of other silly unbelievable things. It's a miracle the movie was so good.
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Thanks - that clears it up. I was going to read the book at some point but I think I'll pass.
I can understand. I like the book but only cause I find it funny and the silly things I mention are entertaining. I listened to my own Audiobook of it with an Aunt and Uncle a few years ago and once he ended up on the Island full of Cannibals, they turned it off.
shareCould be because running was all he could do well.
The quarterback had to literally shove the ball into his hands and shout, “run.”
That’s not enough for a career in the NFL.
At least with ping-pong, he only needed to watch the ball.
He was drafted to goto nam.
shareThat sounds right. Case closed.
shareThe movie shows an army recruiter talking to him at graduation with momma nearby. Still very iffy that things would have gotten as far as an NFL contract for a guy like Forrest. Had things unfolded differently with Forrest playing pro football then a military draft notice showing up then the military obligation would have taken precedence. Yes, no doubt that arrangements happened for star players in both the AFL and NFL but still questionable that Forrest would have made it as a pro.
shareHis style of play (being fast) was too one dimensional for the NFL. It would also be very apparent to NFL coaches he would have problems following instructions. Tens of thousands of young men played college football but the draft was limited to a few hundred for reasons such as what I mentioned for Forrest.
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