Wednesday, April 15. 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
THE NFL DRAFT
NFL draft not an exact science
By Dave Goldberg The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Seven years later, the names Dan McGwire, Todd Marinovich and Brett Favre stand out of the 1991 NFL draft, one of the quirkiest ever.
Yes, that Brett Favre, taken 33rd overall, the sixth pick in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons and the third quarterback selected. Taken before him was McGwire, by the Seahawks, and Marinovich, who went to the Raiders.
McGwire is out of football now, free to watch brother Mark hit home runs, and so is Marinovich, a gamble by owner Al Davis that failed.
They're not the only ones
With the class of 1991 at its maturity, nine of the 27 players taken in the first round are no longer in the league, while others struggle to hang on.
"About a third of the first-rounders every year turn out to be what you think they'll be and a third turn out to be outright busts," said Bill Polian, new president of the Indianapolis Colts and the man who built Super Bowl teams in Buffalo and an instant contender in expansion Carolina. "We're all fallible."
John Butter, Buffalo's general manager, called drafts a cran shoot.
"You try to do your best, but you rarely can make an absolute out-and projection of how a player will turn out," said Butler, who did well in '91 with defensive back Henry Jones in the first round and defensive end Phil Hansen in the second.
The lower rounds in 191 produced many Pro-Bowl players, led by Favre, the three-time MVP.
Others include: running back Ricky Watters by San Francisco (42nd overall); Aeneas Williams (59, Cardinals); linebacker Mo Lewis (62, Jets); wide receiver Jake Reed (68, Minnesota); and tackle Erkli Williams (70, Dallas), who looked like a Hall of Famer until he tore his knee in an auto accident.
Oilers); William Thomas (104, Eagles); and Bryan Cox (113, Dolphins). Plus Merton Hanks (122, 48ers), perhaps the NFL's best free safety; tight end Ben Coates (124, Patriots); wide receiver Michael Jackson (131, Cleveland); defensive linemen Michael Sinclair (153, Seattle) and Leon Lett (173, Dallas); and wide receiver Keenan McCardell (326, Washington), in the 12th and final round.
And more: Marcus Robertson (102).
None of this is unusual.
"Sometimes it just takes time," said Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, who was Minnesota's defensive coordinator when the Vikings drafted Reed. "I can remember after his second year, he hadn't done much, and we wondered if he had a future."
Besides producing great players from lower rounds, the draft stands out because of Marinovich, McGwire and Favre.
Ron Wolf, now Green Bay's general manager, was the personnel director for the New York Jets that year and loved Favre. But the Jets had used their first pick to take Rob Moore in the previous summer's supplemental draft and failed to move up the one pick in the second round they needed to get him.
Wolf's revenge?
The next year he moved to Green Bay and pried Favre away from the Falcons, who didn't like the quarterback's lifestyle.
In fact, that 1991 draft reflects why the Falcons often have been in the lower half of the NFL standings.
Atlanta's first pick, third overall,
was Bruce Pickens, a cornerback from
Nebraska, who ended up playing five seasons in the NFL with four
different teams and intercepting just
two passes. But Atlanta was not the
only team to make a mistake. The
Pittsburgh Steelers, whose recent
draft have been outstanding, used
the 15th pick of the first round on
Huey Richardson, a defensive
line/backer from Florida.
games with the Redskins and Jets in 1992. Then he was gone, a classic workout warrior who was lost in games.
Richardson played five games with the Steelers, was cut and played 11
It was a strange draft from the start. Rocket Ismail of Notre Dame was the consensus No.1 pick, but he went to Canada. First overall was Russell Maryland, taken by Dallas. He's been solid — but not a star.
The best pick? Probably No. 10, Herman Moore, by Detroit, one of the top three or four receivers in the NFL.
But for every Moore, there was a Stan Thomas, an offensive lineman from Texas taken 20th overall by the Bears. He played four seasons but lasted that long only because he was a first-round pick — teams often figure that there must be something there if he went so high.
"I'll always pick up someone else's first-rounder who flopped," Davis said.
The team that does that the most is the Raiders.
In 1991, Davis picked the flop — Marinovich, whose father Marv played for the Raiders in 1965, became a scout and assistant coach for the team, then began raising his son from age 4 to play quarterback in the NFL.
No other team would have wasted a first-round pick on Marinovich, who came out of Southern Cal already burdened with drug problems. He lasted two seasons, completing 104 of 205 passes for 1,345 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions before quitting - a burnout at 23.
As for Favre, he sat for a year in Atlanta.
When Wolf joined the Packers late in 1991, he approached Ken Herok, then the Falcons' general manager. Herock brought in Jerry Glanville, then the head coach, and June Jones, then offensive coordinator.
The vote was 2-1 to trade Favre for a No. 1 in 1992 that Atlanta turned into offensive tackle Bob Whitfield. Whitfield's a nice player, but Favre is ... Brett Favre.
Yes, the draft is an inexact science.
First-round picks of the 1991 NFL draft, plus later-round picks who turned into solid players or STARS
1991 NFL DRAFT PICK
First Round
1, Dallas (from New England), Russell Maryland, d Miami, Florida, 2, Cleveland, Eric Turner, s California, Los Angeles, 3, Atlanta, Bruce Pickens, cb, Nebraska, 4, Denver, Mike Croel, lb, Nebraska, 5, Los Angeles Rams, Todd Light, cb, Natre Dame, 6, Phoenix, Eric Swann, dl, no college, 7, Tampa Bay, Charles McRae at Tennessee.
8, Philadelphia (from Green Bay), Antone Davis, at, Tennessee, 9, San Diego, Stanley Richard, cb, Texas. 10, Detroit, Herman Moore, wr, Virginia. 11, New England (from Minnesota through Dallas), Pat Harlow, ot, Southern C, 12, Dalton, Alvin Harper, wr, Tennessee. 13, Atlanta (from Indianapolis), Mike Pritchard, wr, colorado. 14, New England (from New Orleans through Dallas), Leonard Russell,rb, Arizona State. 15, Pittsburgh, Huey Richardson, ib, Florida. 16, Seattle, Dan McGwire, qb, San Diego State. 17, Washington (from Houston through New England and Dallas), Bobby Wilson, dt, Michigan State. 18, Cincinnati, Alfred Williams, lb, Colorado. 19, Green Bay (from Philadelphia), Vincent Clark, db, Ohio State. 20, Dallas (from Washington), Kelvin Pritchett, dt, Mississippi. 21, Kansas City, Harvey Williams, rb, Louisiana State.
22, Chicago, Stan Thomas, ot,
Texas. 23, Miami, Randal Hill, wr,
Miami (Fla.) 24, Los Angeles Raiders,
Todd Marinovich, qb, Southern California,
25, San Francisco, Ted Washington,
dl, Louisville. 26, Buffalo,
Henry Jones, s, Illinois. 27, New York Giants, Jarrod Bunch, fb, Michigan.
Second Round
31, Los Angeles Rams, Roman Phifer, lb, California Los Angeles
33, Atlanta, BRETT FAVRE, qb,
Southern Mississippi, 37, Dallas
(from Detroit). Dixon Edwards, lb,
Michigan State. 38, Houston (from
Minnesota through Dallas). Darryl
Lewis, db, Arizona. 39, San Diego
(from Tampa Bay), Eric Bieniomy,rb,
Colorado. Houston, John Flannery,
c, Syracuse. 45, San Francisco (from
Cincinnati). RICKY WATTERS,rb,
Notre Dame. 46, Pittsburgh, Jeff
Graham, wr, Ohio State. Buffalo;
PHIL HANSEN, de, North Dakota
State.
Third Round
57. Cleveland, James Jones, nt,
Northern Iowa. 59. Phoenix,
AENEAS WILIAMS, db. Southern.
60. Miami (from Atlanta), Aaron
Craver, b, Fresno State. 61. Denver,
Keith Traylor, lb, Central Oklahoma
State. 62. New York Jets (from Green
Bay). MO LEWIS lb, Georgia. 68.
Minnesota (from Dallas). JAKE REED,
wr, Grambling State. 69. Indianapolis,
Dallas (from New Orleans). ERIK
WILIAMS, t, Central State. Ohio.
79. Houston (from Miami). Kevin
Donnelly, t, North Carolina. B3.
New York Giants, Ed McCaffrey, wr,
Stanford.
Fourth Round
90, San Diego, YANCEY THIGPEN,
wr, Winston-Salem, 89, Seattle (from
New Orleans through Los Angeles
Raiders), John Kasay, k, Georgia.
102, Houston, Marcus Robertson,
db, Iowa State. 104, Philadelphia,
WILLIAM THOMAS, lb, Texas A&M.
Fifth Round
113, Miami (from Cleveland),
BRIAN COX, lb, Western Illinois.
122, San Francisco (from Green
Bay), MERTON HANKS, db, Iowa.
124, New England (from Dallas
through Los Angeles Raiders), BEN
COATES, te, Livingstone. 131,
Philadelphia, Craig Erickson, qb,
Miami (Fla.) 133, Kansas City,
Charles Mincv, cb, Washinaton.
Sixth Round 141, Cleveland, Michael Jackson,
Sixth Round
wr, Southern Mississippi, 145,
Atlanta, Eric Pegram, rb, North
Texas, 146, Los Angeles Raiders
(from Minnesota), Nolan Harrison,
dt, Indiana. Tampa Bay, Rhett Hall,
dt, California, 155, Seattle,
California SINCLAIR, dE, Eastern
New Mexico, 156, Philadelphia
(from Houston), Harmondb, db.
Kent. 164, Green Bay 167, New
York Giants, Corey Miller, lb, South
Carolina.
Seventh Round
Eighth Round
Seventh Round
173, Dallas (from Denver), LEON
LETT, dt, Emporia State. 190,
Chicago, Paul Justin, qb, Arizona
State.
196, New England, Harry Colon,
db, Missouri. 197, Tampa Bay,
Mary Carter, db, Middle Tennessee
State. 214, Houston, Gary Brown,
rb, Penn State.
Ninth Round
Ninth Round
240, Houston, Shawn Jefferson, wr,
Central Florida. 249, Buffalo, Mark
Daddo, Ib, Northern Michigan.
10th Round
Tom Round
274, Los Angeles Raiders, Andrew
Glover, te, Grambling State.
11th Round
1TH Round
292, Indianapolis, Jerry Crafts, t.
Louisville. 306, New York Giants,
Ted Popson, te. Portland State.
12th Round
323, Pittsburgh, Jeff Brad, Ib, Kentucky. 326, Washington, KEENAN MCARDELL, wr, Nevada-Las Vegas.
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GRADUATION
ATTENTION GRADUATE STUDENTS
**positions available**
GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
If you have a genuine interest in improving the quality of graduate student life across the University, The Graduate and Professional Students Association (GPA) has 3 staff positions you should consider:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Duties include serving as liaison between the GPA and other University offices, including the Chancellor, Provost, and Deans, as well as Student Senate. Incumbent must be willing to actively advocate for a variety of graduate student concerns. Knowledge of University governance and campus programs helpful. Experience in directing meetings preferred.
FINANCIAL DIRECTOR
Duties include managing the GPA budget and handling all disbursements for the organization. Also, processing spending allocation requests for 40 graduate student organizations (GSOs). Must plan and deliver training workshop for GSO Treasurers. Must have budgeting/accounting experience. Familiarity with State Purchasing rules desirable.
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
Duties include compiling and editing the Graduate News Paper (GNP), maintaining the GPA homepage on the WWW, taking and distributing meeting minutes, maintaining e-mail distribution lists for various graduate student constituencies, and sending electronic and surface mail communiques. Layout experience required, as well as knowledge of PageMaker and HTML.
ALL POSITIONS REQUIRE EXCELLENT VERBAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS,
AS WELL AS THE ABILITY TO WORK WITH DIVERSE GROUPS OF PEOPLE
ACROSS A VARIETY OF CONTEXTS. ALL POSITIONS ARE 12 MONTH (7/1/98-6/30/99),
50% APPOINTMENTS WITH STAFF RATES. EOF
Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter plus three letters of recommendation to Bill Stuart, Position Search Chair, Graduate Executive Committee, 400 Kansas Union, Lawrence, KS 66045. Deadline for applications is 5pm, Friday, April 24, 1998. If you have any questions about the application process, call 785-864-9895, or inquire via e-mail at bstuart@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
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