The Steelers were set on drafting Jerry Rice, until the 49ers moved up and snatched up one of the greatest players in NFL history.

Two years after missing out on Dan Marino, Pittsburgh wasn't going to make the same mistake, and were going to draft the player that would eventually become the greatest receiver in NFL history. That was until the team of the 80s made a move that made kept the team of the 70s at bay.

If you talk about the Steelers' great teams of the 70s, you can't do so without mentioning the late Bill Nunn, a former Pittsburgh sports writer that Pittsburgh hired on as a scout in the late 60s. Leaning on Nunn's expertise, the team acquired many players from small, historically black colleges that would help Pittsburgh win four Super Bowls in the 1970s. Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell and John Stallworth were just a few of the players Nunn helped bring to the Steel City while helping make the Steelers a football factory during the decade.

In 1985, Dunn was looking to do it again. He liked what he saw from Rice, the former Mississippi State receiver who broke nearly every NCAA receiving record. According to Steelers.com's Bob Labriola, Nunn had advised Pittsburgh coach Chuck Noll to draft Rice with the team's 20th pick in the draft, something that Noll and the team planned to do as the team looked for Stallworth's eventual successor and someone that could play alongside second year receiver, Louis Lipps.

Unfortunately for the Steelers, the 49ers, who had won the previous season's Super Bowl over Marino's Dolphins (who defeated the Steelers in the 1984 AFC Championship Game), also wanted Rice, and traded up for him with the 16th pick in the draft. Surely disappointed, Pittsburgh settled on Wisconsin defensive end Darryl Sims, who had just three sacks in two seasons with the Steelers before fizzling out after two seasons in Cleveland.

While Pittsburgh faltered over the next several seasons, not posting another winning season until 1989, San Francisco soared to new heights with Rice, who caught a record 22 touchdowns in just 13 games in 1987. The next season, Rice was Super Bowl XXIII's Most Valuable Player, and would help the 49ers win back-to-back Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1989 season.

Looking back, the Steelers could have had both Dan Marino and Jerry Rice guide them through the years that saw the team transition away from the 1970s teams. But unfortunately, the team didn't end up with either player, an example of how significant the NFL draft can be to a franchise and to the balance of power in the NFL.