Dan Hampton was a No. 4 pick in the NFL draft and played above it.
Steve Atwater was a No. 20 pick. Lance Alworth was a top-10 pick. The Arkansas football star who gained a higher place on the NFL draft board was Dan Hampton. The elite defensive lineman was the No. 4 pick in the 1979 NFL draft, going to the Chicago Bears.
There is no question that Mike Ditka, the head coach who came to Chicago in 1982 and transformed the Bears into Super Bowl champions and an annual title contender, helped Hampton in his NFL career. However, while Ditka did make the Bears better, the key to Hampton's NFL success -- more than Ditka -- was Buddy Ryan. He was the defensive coordinator for the Bears when Hampton arrived in the Windy City in 1979. When Ditka was hired as head coach, Chicago's defensive players pleaded with the decision-makers to retain Ryan, whom they fully loved and trusted as their defensive mastermind. Ditka and Bears brass honored the players' request. The rest is history.
Hampton made his first NFL Pro Bowl team in 1980, thriving under Ryan before Ditka was hired. Hampton then made the Pro Bowl three more times, including in the 1985 season when the Bears went 15-1 in the regular season and then won three postseason games to win the Super Bowl and finish 18-1. The 1985 Bears have one of the greatest defenses in NFL history, and Dan Hampton was a significant part of it. The Bears had zero weaknesses on that side of the ball. There was no weak point for offenses to attack. They couldn't run the ball against Dan Hampton, which put them in third-and-long situations and placed them at the mercy of a ruthless defense which knew how to produce a consistent pass rush. That 1985 Super Bowl remains the only Vince Lombardi Trophy the Chicago Bears have won.
It's clear that Dan Hampton had high expectations as a No. 4 NFL draft pick. Yet, as lofty as that selection was, Hampton overperformed in his NFL career. He gave the Bears more than they ever could have imagined when they made that pick in 1979.
Steve Atwater made more Pro Bowls and won more Super Bowls. Lance Alworth won both an AFL and NFL championship. Yet, Dan Hampton was the Arkansas NFL draft pick who had a comparatively higher place on the draft board and not only lived up to the billing, but surpassed it. This gives Hampton a very special place in Razorback football history.