Chargers Use Bluff to Deal for O’Neal in NFL Liars’ Poker

Leslie O’Neal flunked the Chargers’ physical.

At least, that’s what several curious callers from other teams apparently were told in the days preceding the National Football League draft.

He didn’t, of course. The Chargers’ team physician, Dr. Gary Losse, conducted a thorough examination of O’Neal 10 days ago and concluded that his body in general and his right knee in particular were fit.

The Chargers, however, did nothing to discourage--and may have even encouraged-- the rumor that O’Neal’s leg was damaged, according to a source in the Chargers’ front office.

The deception that is such an integral part of the Chargers’ offense is matched by the bluffing, posturing and misleading information disseminated in the draft process.

The brotherhood of NFL coaches, general managers and scouts is a gossipy, inbred network along which the truth sometimes gets stretched.

“You know you’re going to hear some real whoppers,” said Ron Nay, the team’s director of scouting. “There’s a lot of posing by various teams before the draft.”

The focus of the fibbing and intrigue was O’Neal, one of the three most desired pass rushers among the ranks of college seniors, and as such, one of the most valuable commodities in the draft.

As happens annually with the premier talents, O’Neal generated a complex and somewhat unseemly scramble that climaxed with the Chargers’ completing a trade with five seconds to spare.

The deal to land O’Neal required only a brief telephone exchange between San Diego General Manager Johnny Sanders and his counterpart with the Minnesota Vikings, Mike Lynn. But a lot of groundwork had gone into the transaction, not to mention a lot of misinformation concerning the player’s physical health.

The details of the trade illustrate the speed with which an eventful decision can be made after a lengthy and expensive amount of research and gamesmanship. But beyond that, a look at the drafting of O’Neal is none too flattering as a case study of borderline ethics in this entertainment field.

“People in this business talk too much,” said a member of the Chargers’ front office who requested anonymity. “Not a day passes when I don’t hear some of our people talking to people from other teams, and giving away secrets. You have to be an idiot to give away secret recipes. . . . But this is such a transient business, you want people to think you know a lot in case you get fired. It certainly can be distasteful.”

Some of the loose talk is impulsive, but some of it is calculated to deceive.

The Chargers had several reasons for encouraging the perception that O’Neal was less than 100% healthy. Obviously, they hoped other teams would shy away from him, increasing their chances of drafting him. Further, when questioned by rivals, they were reluctant to give away the fruits of their research when others were trying to “mooch information,” as a San Diego executive put it.

The Chargers invested a significant sum in flying about 20 of the top prospects to San Diego for workouts and physicals. They uncovered one player, Oklahoma linebacker Kevin Murphy, whom they decided was too big a health risk even though they had tentatively planned to take him on the second round.

Calculating these risks is iffy business.

The Vikings examined O’Neal and decided he was too risky, according to Lynn.

“He’ll probably play 15 years and be all-pro for seven of them,” the Minnesota general manager said, “but our doctor had him rated very risky because of his knee. Of course, I can think of other players we’ve drafted whom we considered very risky--specifically, Matt Blair, who is entering his 13th season.”

Minnesota’s hesitation worked to San Diego’s advantage, as it developed. If the Vikings had coveted the Oklahoma State defensive end, the Chargers might not have been able to execute the trade to put them in position to draft him.

More pivotal, from a Minnesota standpoint, was the desire of the new coach, Jerry Burns, to procure a young, but proven offensive lineman.

The Vikings’ interest in New York Giants lineman Gary Zimmerman worked heavily to San Diego’s advantage. To get Zimmerman, the Vikings had to have two second-round picks, and the Chargers were willing to part with one.

Ironically, Charger owner Alex Spanos had been pursuing the rights to Zimmerman, a former USFL star, for the past year. Although he secured such USFL players as Gary Anderson and Tim Spencer, Spanos had been thwarted in his bid for Zimmerman.

But back to the O’Neal saga.

“Our No. 1 need,” said Lynn, “was for an offensive tackle, but we didn’t want to draft one. We wanted a young, proven guy who could step right in and start this year. And Zimmerman was the player we wanted.”

Lynn said the Vikings would have swung a trade for Zimmerman even if they hadn’t billed O’Neal as a physical risk.

Evidence for this assertion is provided by the series of phone calls between Lynn and Sanders over the past few weeks.

The rival general managers had laid the foundation for the trade that came about only five minutes before the Vikings were to make their selection, the eighth of the first round on Tuesday.

To get Zimmerman from the Giants, Lynn knew he needed a couple of second-round picks to satisfy New York General Manager George Young. He had one of those seconds--his own--but he didn’t get the other until he talked with Sanders Tuesday morning.

Sanders had been exploring other trades as well. He woke up Tuesday with a gut feeling a deal would materialize, but he didn’t know if it would be with Kansas City, New Orleans, Houston or Minnesota.

“When I talked to (Houston’s) Ladd Herzeg, he told me they had decided to draft Jim Everett,” Sanders said.

“Then I heard from Jim Finks in New Orleans, and he said they were going to draft Jim Dombrowski, and weren’t interested in a trade. Kansas City still seemed open-minded, but then they decided to take Brian Jozwiak, which meant we were getting pretty anxious to see if we were going to have a shot at O’Neal.”

Spanos, Sanders and Nay decided to make a final pitch to the Vikings. Minnesota was seeking a second-round pick from the Chargers as the price for trading places in the draft. The Chargers hesitated . . . until Sanders suggested that the Vikings throw in their third-round pick.

“Johnny came up with that idea, and we decided to give it a whirl,” Nay said. “We would have done the trade without getting the third, but we didn’t want the Vikings to know it.”

Lynn, at the same time he was conversing with Sanders, had Young on another extension. The Giants wanted to make sure they didn’t get stuck with a low second-round pick, but Young was satisfied with the Chargers’ selection, which was the 16th of the second round.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. A team can deliberate 15 minutes on a first-round selection. There were 30 seconds left when Lynn and Young resolved their part of the deal. There were five seconds left when the Chargers closed the deal and passed the word to draft central in New York.

Making a deadline was nothing new to Sanders. In conjunction with former owner Gene Klein, he had swung a draft-day deal for Kellen Winslow with three seconds to spare in 1979.

“You have to do your homework, then step up to the plate and get it done,” said Lynn, mixing metaphors, but conveying his point.

Spanos, who had desperately been seeking a trade to move up in the draft and get a defensive lineman, didn’t think it was going to happen. But, afterward, he was exultant.

“God, what an outstanding draft,” Spanos said. “Hey, I can’t tell you how happy we are. We feel at least half the players we took could make our club, and we’ve got to be a better team if they do.

“Even with the schedule we’re facing, there’s no reason we shouldn’t get to the playoffs this year. I know that’s a broad statement, but I believe it. And, like I’ve said in the past, we’re not through yet. We’re not going to seek any trades until we evaluate our rookies, but we’ll certainly sit back and listen.”

That seems an uncharacteristically tame stance for Spanos, but it’s justified by the quality of the draft, according to assistant head coach Al Saunders.

“We have some good bodies to fill the holes in our team, and that thrills us immensely, “ Saunders said. “It’s not every draft that you find the right players at the right positions.”

In addition to O’Neal, the Chargers came up with three other projected starters, including offensive tackle James FitzPatrick of USC, guard Jeff Walker of Memphis State and defensive lineman Terry Unrein of Colorado State. A fifth player, linebacker Ty Allert of Texas, could also become a starter.

Nay seemed even more pleased by the results of the draft.

“Darn right, I feel good,” he said. “We were hoping we could trade up and get Jon Hand (the top-rated pass rusher in the draft), but if not, O’Neal was the guy we wanted. Getting him made our draft. It’s so difficult to get a player like him.

“Of the San Diego drafts I’ve been associated with (nine), this one helps us the most at a critical time. We’ve done our rebuilding. Now it’s time to start winning.”

Never mind that it required more than a few false starts, fakes and fancy footwork.

“We were completely confident in what we were doing,” Nay said. “We knew exactly where we were going; we were convinced Leslie O’Neal was OK physically. People may think you’re telling them a whopper before the draft, but when it gets down to the last 15 minutes and you’ve done your homework, all the hassling can pay off.”