Walker, Others Cleared to Talk to NFL : Trump Says He’ll Also Give Kelly and Flutie Chance to Negotiate

Indications that some United States Football League players will be joining National Football League teams this season surfaced Wednesday when Donald Trump, owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, said he will give Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly and Doug Flutie permission to talk with NFL teams.

The three players, who have a combined salary of more than $3 million a year, are among the approximately 400 players whose football futures became uncertain this week after the USFL decided not to play the 1986 season.

Another player, Kelvin Bryant, a running back who led the Baltimore Stars to consecutive USFL titles, is sure to play for the NFL’s Washington Redskins this season, the owner of the Stars told the Washington Post.

“We can’t deny Kelvin Bryant’s right to play football,” Stephen Ross, the owner, said. “We’ll negotiate with him. We have a lot of money tied up in him. But the end result is he’ll play for Washington this season.”

The statements by Trump and Ross came a day before representatives of the USFL Players Assn. were to meet in Washington with a committee set up by the league to decide what to do with the players.

Management reportedly appears ready to offer players the option of buying out their contracts with USFL clubs, allowing the players to become free agents who can negotiate with NFL teams. Most of the players have only marginal shots at the NFL and have been seeking to have their 1986 salaries paid by the USFL.

Walker, who has a news conference scheduled in New York today, and Kelly are among the dozen or so USFL players who NFL scouts think could step right in and play. Flutie, the 5-9 quarterback who won the 1984 Heisman Trophy at Boston College, is considered more of a question mark.

Walker’s NFL rights belong to the Dallas Cowboys, Kelly’s to the Buffalo Bills and Flutie’s to the Rams.

Walker, the running back who left the University of Georgia in 1982 after winning the Heisman Trophy as a junior, is coveted by the Cowboys. Dallas Coach Tom Landry envisions a backfield of Walker and Tony Dorsett, with Walker, 24, continuing after Dorsett retires.

Walker is also said to be considering a chance to sell real estate for Trump instead of playing this season.

The Buffalo Bills, badly in need of a quarterback, would like to sign Kelly, but Kelly’s agents have said the quarterback wants a minimum of $1 million a year. Kelly is guaranteed $800,000 from the Generals if he does not play this year.

Trump, speaking in New York about his three top players, said: “On a moral basis, I think I’m going to let Herschel, Doug and Jim Kelly go to the NFL. . . . While I have a legal right to their services, I don’t think I have a moral right to stand in the way of their careers.”

Flutie, reached in Boston, suggested that he wanted to be sure the $7-million, five-year personal-services contract he signed with Trump would be honored.

“As it stands, if I just drop my contract with Donald Trump to sign in the NFL, chances are I’d lose out on a lot of money,” he said. “So that’s a major concern of mine, as well as playing.”