NFL Notes : Redskins Offer Schroeder as Trade Bait; Raiders Have Choices to Deal

First the Washington Redskins leak stories about the availability of quarterback Jay Schroeder. Then they say they’d want a king’s ransom for Schroeder. Now, with what looks like the most unpredictable draft in years upon us, Schroeder is back on the market.

The most likely buyers are the Raiders, who crave a quarterback like Schroeder--a big, strong, long-distance thrower who fits their style. And the Raiders are desperate. Al Davis is said to have told several people that they can’t go into the 1988 season as they are and remain competitive.

One reason Schroeder is on the market is the feeling that his demotion to second-string behind Doug Williams has made him a negative influence in the Washington locker room. That’s something that never bothered the Raiders, who have a history of taking on other people’s problems.

By dealing Sean Jones to Houston for one of their two first-round picks, they now have something to deal the Redskins--the sixth and ninth choices in the draft.

And while highly placed Raider sources insist there is no deal for Schroeder, the Redskins, whose first pick now is the 57th in the draft, have been working out players who are likely to be taken fifth to 15th. The only thing that can mean is that they think they have a shot at one.

One scenario has the Raiders taking Brad Muster or Craig (Ironhead) Heyward, the heavy-duty running back Washington wants, then trading him to the Redskins for Schroeder. A less likely one has them trading one or both picks to Washington who would then pass one of them on to Atlanta for Gerald Riggs.

The problem for the Redskins would be entering a season with 33-year-old Doug Williams, who has a history of knee problems, backed up only by Mark Rypien, who has spent his first two seasons as an injured-reserve red shirt. One possibility: that the Raiders throw in Marc Wilson as a backup for Williams.

Washington is also very high on talented, but raw, Stan Humphries of Northeast Louisiana. But so are a lot of other teams in a quarterback-poor draft, so there’s no guarantee they can get him.

The Redskins, however, have done this before. In 1985, they entered the season with 36-year-old Joe Theismann at quarterback, backed up by a guy who had played just one game in college and, like Rypien now, had never thrown an NFL pass in anger.

His name?

Jay Schroeder.

The Phoenix Cardinals, six weeks removed from St. Louis, have an unlisted telephone number.

“They’re a little sensitive about it,” says a league official.

The main reason is the squabbling over tickets that has broken out--season ticket holders from the old USFL Arizona Outlaws and Arizona State season ticket holders are getting the first crack at Cardinal tickets. That hasn’t endeared Bill Bidwill and Co. to their new fans.

Al Davis of the Raiders, Bobby Beathard of the Redskins, Jim Finks of the Bears and now the Saints, George Young of the Giants and several others have long since proven that the key to building a franchise lies in the front office.

Now Jerry Vainisi, who helped build the Super Bowl Bears, has shown why Detroit may finally be on the way up--if not immediately, then in the near future.

Vainisi, holding the second pick in the draft, added an extra second-rounder without losing a thing. He simply swapped places with Kansas City so that the Chiefs could select Smith, whom the Lions didn’t want anyway.

That leaves the Detroit to take the player they wanted--probably Miami safety Benny Blades--plus the 29th pick in the draft and three picks in the top 32.

The Chiefs were trying to keep the Raiders from dealing up for Smith, leaving some Raiders’ officials chortling. Their position--all they did was throw a feint Kansas City’s way and the Chiefs bit.

So now Kansas City goes from having two picks in the top 29 to one in the top 60. Smith could turn out to be an All-Pro, but there are questions about his learning ability and he is rated no higher than half-a-dozen others.

George Young, the New York Giants’ rotund general manager, on why he’s not totally sold on Heyward, whose weight has fluctuated between 250 and 290 pounds:

“I’m a fat guy, so I don’t like fat guys. I didn’t play fat and I know how much you have to work to get down. If you play heavy it puts a lot of pressure on your knees and you tend to have troubles.”

On pundits predicting what he’s liable to do in the draft:

“If anyone says the Giants have decided to do something, they’re in confusion. I have no idea who we’re going to take.”