he was picked in the 9th round of the NFL draft. There are only 7 rounds today, so he would be a UFA in today's NFL.

He was a Heisman winner and two-time consensus All-American. What did the NFL scouts know? Sometimes scouts screw up because of a lack of data (look at Purdy and Brady). But, in Detmer's case, they had plenty of data and he still fell to the 9th round.

As was posted above, he was in the NFL for 14 years, but he did not play in 6 of those seasons. Detmer knew football and how to read defenses as good as anyone. This is likely because of his upbringing as a coach's son and the time he spent at pass-happy BYU. Detmer was smart, confident and had good enough skills to set 59 NCAA records. In the end that does not mean you will have a great NFL career. Detmer is NOT the only Heisman winner to not have major success in the NFL.