I would certainly not argue if John Hadl was in the HOF.
He joined the American Football League's San Diego Chargers in 1962. He shared quarterbacking duties until 1966, when he became San Diego's starting quarterback, and averaged over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns per (14-game) season for the next four years.
He was the American Football League's leading passer in both 1965 and 1968, and was a four-time AFL All-Star. In 1969, he was selected as the AFL All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player. The other half of the Chargers' potent passing/receiving tandem was Lance Alworth, the first American Football League player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Many observers believe that Hadl, who threw most of the passes that Alworth received, also belongs in the Hall, and based on these numbers, he would be. Unfortunately, he spent most of the rest of his career being shuttled from one poorly run franchise to another; first as the solution to, then as the cause of, each team's given predicament.
Before the 1973 season, Hadl was traded to the Los Angeles Rams for defensive end Coy Bacon and running back Bob Thomas. Leading the Rams to the playoffs that year, he was named the National Football Conference Player of the Year. In the following season, after he was beaten out for the starting quarterback position by James Harris, he became the pivotal piece of a trade which is generally recognized as one of the worst in NFL history.[1] The Green Bay Packers, on the insistence of then Head Coach and General Manager Dan Devine, sent the Rams five draft picks; first and second round picks for 1975 and 1976, as well as a third round pick in 1975; for the services of Hadl, a rapidly aging 13 year veteran. He played a total of 22 games with the Packers and threw for 9 touchdowns and 29 interceptions behind a porous offensive line; the team posted a 7-15 record over this span. The trade caused irreparable harm to Hadl's legacy and hastened a decades long fall from glory for the Packer franchise. At the same time, it helped the Rams build a contender, culminating in their defeat by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. In later years, when asked for his thoughts on the infamous deal, Hadl himself expressed the surprise he felt, in 1974, at being sent to Green Bay: "I really didn't believe it... I didn't think anyone would be that desperate."
Despite his unfortunate tenure with Green Bay, and the sad conclusion to his career with an abysmal Houston franchise, Hadl finished with a starting record of 82–76–9 in his professional career. He holds the NFL record for the most tied games (9) by a starting quarterback. Hadl wore #21 for nearly his entire NFL career, aside from his first season with Green Bay when he briefly wore #12. He was the last regular starting quarterback to wear a uniform number greater than #19 before the NFL adopted a rigid uniform numbering system in 1973.
