NFL DRAFT / THE DAY AFTER : Raiders : Buczkowski Could Be Another Coup for Davis

Once more, Al Davis trotted out a No. 1 draft choice--Pitt defensive tackle Bob Buczkowski--that shocked his peers, the press and anyone else who had devoted 30 seconds’ thought to it.

Anywhere else, it would be assumed that the owner had dropped by and asked that someone be drafted from a college whose colors didn’t clash with the wallpaper in the owner’s box.

Since it was Davis, there was a different assumption.

His peers started wondering what they had missed.

Said an AFC personnel director, assured the protection of anonymity: “You’re not going to get me to second-guess anything the Raiders do. All I know is they’ve done this same thing before and it’s always seemed to work out. They take these defensive linemen that other people thought couldn’t play, or who haven’t done too much, get them in their system and they play pretty good. What they know that we don’t, I don’t know.”

And an NFC personnel director: “We felt the young man they drafted is a good football player. We think he’s a very, very good athlete.”

A question persists: Why would Davis, who values offensive linemen above any position, take any defensive tackle in a draft that was supposed to be so deep in offensive linemen, when his own tackles are 34, 34 and 30?

Or as Mr. AFC said of the Raider tackles: “They’re on the down side of their careers. (Henry) Lawrence is not the Lawrence of old. He’s smart and experienced but he doesn’t do the things athletically he used to do. Bruce Davis and Shelby Jordan are obviously on the back sides of their careers. They don’t resemble the players they were, and that’s easy to see. Put a young, quick defensive end on them and they struggle.”

Said a Raider official: “I think we say this so often you guys don’t hear it anymore, but in the position we draft in, you can’t afford to be selective. You’ve got to take the best player.”

That official says the Raiders aren’t too concerned about their tackles, who closed impressively last season. They didn’t think anything available to them, after the selections of Jim Dombrowski, Brian Jozwiak, James FitzPatrick, John Rienstra, Will Wolford and Mike Schad in the first 23 picks, was much of an improvement over their own young players, Kevin Belcher and Randy Van Divier, both of whom were on injured reserve last season.

Indeed, two other tackles, Texas A&M;’s Doug Williams and Auburn’s Steve Wallace, both projected as first-rounders in several mock drafts and both of whom the Raiders passed on, drew less praise Wednesday.

Mr. AFC said: “Williams has potential, but he’s not a competitive person. Wallace just didn’t belong that high.”

The New York Jets took Williams in the second round. Wallace went to the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth, after the Raiders had taken a defensive back and another defensive lineman.

A canvass of the league suggests several other things:

--The Raiders were not, as widely rumored, trying mightily to trade up for Houston’s pick so they could draft Jim Everett, even if they did like Everett. The Oilers, who selected the Purdue quarterback, are said to have received bids only from the San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions.

--The Raiders are thought to have made a late try for the Philadelphia Eagles’ No. 1 pick.

--The Raiders also talked to the Eagles one last time about Marc Wilson. A Raider official said the Eagles called them, which seems likely. Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan said he had both the Raiders and 49ers on the phone just before making his second-round pick. Ryan took Matt Cavanaugh, because the 49ers were asking less--a No. 3 pick Tuesday and a No. 2 next season.

--Buczkowski might be a surprise, but not in the Raider scheme.

Mr. AFC: “We didn’t have this guy rated that high, but you could say the same for Sean Jones. Bill Pickel, everybody shied away because he had a bad back. I know he hasn’t missed a play out there. Howie Long had a lot of ability, but he wasn’t a dominating player at Villanova.

“Before the draft, the Raiders were indicating that they’d take the best player, regardless of position, and that they were going to stick with their choice (rather than try to trade up). If the best man available was an offensive lineman, they’d take him, just like the year they took Don Mosebar. It wasn’t that they were particularly looking for an offensive lineman, but Mosebar was just the best guy.”