Dallas Didn’t Alter Its Game Plan : Landry Stuck With Long-Range Blueprint in the Draft

As the Dallas Cowboys were breaking training camp last summer in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a club representative received a phone call from the Raiders, who were offering wide receiver Calvin Muhammad in a trade.

Because the Raiders had a surplus of receivers, they were willing to deal Muhammad in return for a fifth- or sixth-round draft choice. Tom Landry was informed of the offer, but no serious thought was given to Muhammad.

About a month later, Muhammad was traded to the Washington Redskins, for whom he caught 42 passes in 10 games, including an 82-yard play that went for a touchdown against Dallas at RFK Stadium.

“At the time we heard from the Raiders, we thought we could get through the season with Doug Donley,” Landry said. “We couldn’t project what Muhammad would do with the Redskins.”

While the Cowboys’ main competitors, such teams as San Francisco and Washington, continue to make important trades, Dallas has been content to stand pat with a team that finished 9-7 last season. San Francisco, a team of deal-makers, survived Wall Street pressure on draft day and landed blue chip wide receiver Jerry Rice in the first round.

A week earlier, Washington mended a wound by trading first-, fifth- and 10th-round choices for George Rogers. As with the Muhammad deal, the Redskins didn’t have to sell the ranch to play Let’s Make a Deal.

As the draft began early Tuesday morning, Landry still was reluctant to dangle the Cowboys’ second-round choice in front of any team willing to trade the rights to wide receiver Eddie Brown. Landry said he did not dangle quarterback Danny White, or any other player, for the rights to Brown.

Nine teams were contacted by Dallas, and the Cowboys thought they were close to a deal at least twice.

Unlike some members of the Cowboys’ front office and personnel department, Landry was not despondent about the failure to get Brown. Although the Cowboys needed an offensive impact player in the first round, Landry didn’t particularly like the idea of forfeiting the chance to draft linebacker Jesse Penn in the second round.

Although Penn was an obscure name at Virginia Tech, the Cowboys considered him the best outside linebacker in the draft.

Despite the problems that loom for Dallas in 1985, Landry is not reaching for the panic button. The Cowboys have lived by the same patient philosophy for the last 25 years, and Landry is not yet ready to drop a bundle for the Eddie Browns of the college world.

Those who believe the Cowboys are going to swing a blockbuster trade to salvage the 1985 season just don’t know Landry. The blueprints will not change after 25 years.

Asked if the Cowboys have been painted into a corner by a shortage of offensive talent, Landry said, “Not necessarily. You can do a lot with offense. We didn’t do a lot last year. But we had a tough situation with our quarterback competition and our injuries. If we can get those same guys out there we had last year and they get to going well, we will move the football and we will score touchdowns.”

Did Landry wake up Tuesday morning thinking he would get Eddie Brown?

“No,” he said. “I knew we were going to try to trade with a lot of teams. But you can’t depend on it. Sometimes you don’t pick the right spot at the right time.”

Voices in the Cowboys’ organization have tried to encourage Landry to make trades to salvage the 1985 season. It has been almost two months since Landry revealed that Dallas is willing to make player-for-player trades and that only two players, Tony Dorsett and Randy White, are safe from the trading block.

But Landry rarely listens to those voices. He prefers to run a one-man show, a one-man football operation and does not often seek advice. He considers assistant coaches to be loyal sergeants, not sounding boards.

That is why the blueprint didn’t change on draft day.

Landry and Co. considered putting more chips on the table to get Brown, but it was too late.

As it stands, the Cowboys’ starting wide receivers going into training camp are Tony Hill and Mike Renfro. Hill has not finished a season without an injury since 1979 and Renfro, despite having a strong heart, is better suited to be a third receiver coming off the bench.

So if Landry truly is interested in making player-for-player trades, the time is now. Will another Calvin Muhammad come along again? Will the Cowboys have a chance to add a blue chip receiver before training camp?.

On draft day, Landry was content to select Michigan end Kevin Brooks and Penn in the first two rounds. They are players for the future.

It became apparent after the draft that Landry plans to coach the Cowboys for a long time. There seems to be no sense of urgency.

Instead of putting a Band-Aid on the wound, Landry, as always, is taking his time with the patient.