NFL Teams Facing Many Problems as They Open Their Training Camps

The NFL’s problems are stacking up like so many Chicago Bear defenders on an obvious passing down.

As NFL training camps open throughout July from Thousand Oaks, Calif., to Carlisle, Pa., the usual image of sweating athletes, eager rookies and yelling coaches has been replaced by drug problems, rookie contract hassles and the lingering antitrust battle against the U.S. Football League.

The NFL, just a few years ago a juggernaut, is looking its age as it wheezes toward its 67th season. Full squads will be reporting to various camps between July 13-27.

“The thing that offsets our problems in the NFL is great leadership from (Commissioner Pete) Rozelle and the strength of our owners and coaches,” said Gil Brandt, the Cowboys’ vice president.

Rozelle has taken steps to try to curtail drug use by installing a program that includes two unannounced mandatory urine tests that will search for among other things cocaine, marijuana and heroin. The NFL Players Assn. is fighting the legality of the plan since the collective bargaining agreement between players and teams runs through 1986.

There is a fact that can’t be argued by either side though. The NFL’s offseason was rocked by two major drug revelations.

Just after the Super Bowl, it was reported six New England Patriots had admitted to management that they had used drugs.

In late June, Cleveland Browns star defensive back Don Rogers died of a cocaine-induced cardiac arrest.

Despite Rogers’ death and the cocaine-triggered death of basketball star Len Bias a week before, most players sided with their union against Rozelle’s program. A possibility of a strike was threatened.

However, some players did think the time for change was at hand.

“I’m dead against the union stance,” said Buccaneer tackle Ron Heller. “They are trying to protect some players and not open a can of worms. I think it’s about time the NFL took a stand one way or the other. It gives someone who’s clean a chance to prove his innocence. Maybe it’s a chance for a majority of NFL players to say we’re not all drug addicts.”

The majority of draft picks were finding it hard to come to terms with teams. As of July 9, more than two months after the draft, only 43 of 333 drafted players had signed. Defensive back Rod Jones, the 25th player selected overall, was the lone first-round choice to come to terms and just three players from the first three rounds had signed.

By July 10 last year, 82 draft choices had signed but similiar drawn-out negotiating policies were evident. Owners claim it is a return to fiscal sanity while agents and players have said the Management Council, the NFL’s negotiating arm, has worked in collusion to drive salaries down.

“Friday the 13th Part I was playing at NFL theaters last year,” said agent Leigh Steinberg of negotiations. “And Friday the 13th Part II has come this year. I expect the largest non-reporting in the history of the NFL. These are not holdouts, these are freezeouts, players are just not getting offers and they can’t report.”

Cleveland Browns’ owner Art Modell said: “What we are endeavoring to do is get our salaries back to a reasonable level so we can remain viable.”

The NFL’s fiscal viability also hinges on what a jury of one man and five women decide in U.S. District Court in Manhattan later this month. A USFL victory in its $1.5 billion antitrust suit can dramatically alter the NFL, forcing it to pay damages, try again in a higher court or accept some form of merger.

Other problems have surfaced in the NFL’s offseason of discontent.

Oft-troubled Irving Fryar, implicated in the Patroits’ drug problems, was alleged to have gambled on league games. The wide receiver denied the charges and the NFL is investigating.

For the fourth straight year, the Heisman Trophy decided against the NFL, but unlike Herschel Walker, Mike Rozier and Doug Flutie before him, Bo Jackson chose baseball and the Kansas City Royals over the Buccaneers.

The NFL also must deal with questions of watered-down talent and few talented teams.

“I don’t think you have to be as good these days to get to the playoffs,” Cowboys coach Tom Landry said. “Teams that have won the Super Bowl have had some gimmicks. Washington had the single-back offense and the Bears had the 46 defense. They had the right ingredients at the right time to get to the Super Bowl. We used to have a number of teams at that level, but we don’t any more. It’s hard to say this year who will be that team.”

The Bears are likely to be favored to be repeat as Super Bowl champions, but they face a training camp for the first time since 1978 without Buddy Ryan as their defensive coordinator. Ryan has taken his glib remarks and his magic touch with defenses to Philadelphia where he now is the Eagles as head coach.