THE NFL DRAFT : Analysis : Sunday Football Is Back--in New Form

Shortly after Pete Rozelle was named pro football commissioner 28 years ago, he asked the television networks to consider a Monday night series, but nothing came of it.

Not until 1970, when ABC wanted to join CBS and NBC in showing National Football League games, did the series finally begin. “So this is an idea whose time has come,” Rozelle said that first Monday night in Cleveland.

Today’s draft of college players, the first draft to be held on a Sunday, is another NFL idea that has been a long time germinating. It will finally happen when, beginning at 9 a.m., PDT, the 28 pro clubs will divvy up the talent during seven hours of live made-for-TV programing on ESPN.

The four-hour first round will be followed by three or four more rounds today and the rest Monday as the pros tell Tim Brown, Keith Jackson, Gaston Green, Brad Muster, Ironhead Heyward and more than 300 other college men where they will be working this fall.

After 52 years of weekday drafting, the pros have changed to a Sunday--their normal fall game day--as a public relations maneuver.

“The draft has become a national event,” Rozelle said last week.

And there’s some evidence that it has.

A record 546,000 football fans saw the first day of drafting on cable TV last year, Nielsen’s surveyors reported, and that was on a Tuesday, when many of those watching should have been working, presumably, or studying.

“Teachers tell us that kids have been cutting class to see it,” Rozelle said. “I guess we don’t need that.”

ESPN expects three times as many viewers today because, to the followers of both college and pro football, the draft tends to be a stimulating, if sometimes traumatic, activity. An average 200 of the 300-odd players selected win pro jobs each year, moving up--or down--from college teams all over the country.

Like the game itself, though, the 53-year-old draft has evolved. Until the late 1950s, the coaching staffs and general managers representing the various NFL teams all made their draft selections from adjacent tables in the same room in Philadelphia or New York.

One year in that era when the San Francisco 49ers’ turn came in the first round, their coach, Red Strader, got up from his table and disappeared. There were no time limits in those days, so Strader wasn’t missed for 15 or 20 minutes. But after 30, his restless peers, by now angry and eager to get on with the draft, started looking for him.

They found him another half hour later at a public telephone, where he was still desperately trying to determine whether Colorado halfback Carroll Hardy would play baseball or football.

“That did it,” said Rozelle. “The other teams decided they’d rather stay home for the draft, and just send messengers (to New York) to disclose their selections.”

And that’s the way it is today. The nervous decision makers--coaches, scouts and owners--will be in their home offices with their tapes, notebooks and telephone hookups. Their messengers will be sitting comfortably in the spotlight at 28 tables at draft headquarters, the Broadway Ballroom of New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

There will also be a podium, scoreboard, timing board, press, radio and TV areas and two bleacher sections for 400 draftniks, some of whom spent Saturday night sleeping in the doorway. Draft day seating is in short supply.

Joe Theismann will make his ESPN debut, joining a dozen veteran draft announcers, some of them at six remote locations. TV crews have been sent to Stillwater, Okla., where Oklahoma State halfback Thurman Thomas played his college football, and to Phoenix, where player agent Bruce Allen has brought together his 11 new clients and their families. Other crews are with the Rams and other teams.

At noon, New York time, Rozelle will step to the podium and pronounce the NFL equivalent of, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” and the show will be on.

As usual, most NFL sources are calling it a mediocre draft year. This sends a grave signal to the club owners--”don’t expect too much”--and to the players’ agents: “don’t ask for too much.” But eventually, the rookies will turn out to be marvelous after all, or at least helpful. They usually are.

Question time. What will happen to:

--Tim Brown?

As probably the most talented prospect in this year’s class, the Notre Dame kick returner and wide receiver will go to some lucky team, now that the Atlanta Falcons, coached by defensive journeyman Marion Campbell, have taken a defensive player with the draft’s top choice.

--The Falcons?

Their defense could be marginally better with the man they took first, Auburn linebacker Aundray Bruce, who might have been the seventh- or eighth-best athlete available, and who has already signed--snapping up $4.1 million for the next five years. But the real need of the Falcons, who have lived in the cellar for the last five years, is a new owner.

--Keith Jackson?

As probably one of the two best players in the draft, the Oklahoma tight end will go to another lucky team since the top six or seven haven’t shown any interest in him.

--Ironhead Heyward?

If he has the speed, the Pittsburgh tailback could emerge as one of the top three or four players available this year. His weight and deportment problems seem to have been overdrawn, but at 4.75 seconds for 40 yards he may not be swift enough to be an NFL impact player.

--Gaston Green?

As the fastest runner on the board this year--4.4 in the 40--the UCLA back would go first or second with more durability. Every prominent new running back has a blemish. Stanford’s Brad Muster may not have the speed, 4.7, or durability. Oklahoma State’s Thurman Thomas may not have the size, he’s 190 pounds, or durability. Michigan State’s Lorenzo White, 4.7, walks in and out of football games like Bo Jackson. John Stephens of Northwestern State in Louisiana, and Elbert (Ickey) Woods of Nevada Las Vegas don’t really have track records.

--Don McPherson?

The quarterback from Syracuse can have a long career as an NFL starter if he’s lucky enough to land on one of the solidly coached teams. There are only a few in this league, and even fewer have gifted quarterback coaches. Several other potentially productive quarterbacks are available, too.

--The Rams?

No one knows with what skill this team will function today. The Rams’ recent draft record is spotty, to give them the best of it. But the talent they need is out there. They can theoretically draft five starters today--two for this year and three who will be ready next year--with their two first choices and three seconds.

--The Raiders?

The kind of quarterback this club has historically preferred isn’t available today, perhaps. But until they repair this position, it doesn’t much matter what else the Raiders do--or whom they draft.

--Sterling Sharpe?

The South Carolina wide receiver may even be drafted ahead of Tim Brown. But in a country that’s full of wide receivers, there isn’t much point in drafting any of them in the first round unless, like Irving Fryar and Tim Brown, they also run back kicks or do something else.

--Bennie Blades?

The Miami (Fla.) defensive back ranks higher than Oklahoma’s Rickey Dixon, but any high first-round defensive back is a chancy pick. You don’t have to hit or cover with NFL skills to perform distinctively in a college secondary.

NFL Notes

Carroll Hardy played one season for the 49ers. . . . The telecast today will end at 4 p.m. and no round will start after 6. . . . Some scouts and agents are suggesting that the Sunday draft will set up a new caste system in pro football. Fans and players alike will perceive, they say, that there is a sharp difference between those selected Sunday and Monday. For instance, considerably larger bonuses will go to the Sunday draftees. Several years hence, the question won’t be, “What round were you drafted in?” but “What day were you drafted?.”

USC lineman Dave Cadigan is expected to be the first local player picked. . . . The other high-ranking blocker is Wisconsin’s Paul Gruber. . . . Other local players who figure to be drafted today include wide receiver Willie Anderson and linebacker Ken Norton of UCLA and linebacker Marcus Cotton of USC. . . . Each club will get 15 minutes to think up a first-round choice, if needed, and 10 minutes to consider second-round choices. The time limit for later picks is 5 minutes.

Ironhead Heyward says that UCLA’s Troy Aikman and others who could have entered the draft are playing Russian roulette by going back to college instead. “Injuries kill you in football,” Heyward said. “One of my best friends, (Miami running back) Melvin Bratton, would have been a first-round choice this year if he hadn’t torn up a knee in the Orange Bowl. My advice is to (turn pro) as soon as you’re eligible. I took my own advice.”

Other local players who have drawn the attention of NFL scouts: UCLA backs Mel Farr and James Primus and USC back Ryan Knight; wide receivers Todd White of Cal State Fullerton, Ken Henry of USC and Paco Craig of UCLA; tight end Jim Thornton of Fullerton; offensive linemen David Richards, Doug Wassel and Russ Warnick of UCLA; defensive linemen Dester Stowers and Steve Dominic of Cal State Northridge and Terry Tumey of UCLA; linebackers Keith Davis and Bill Stokes of USC and Ben Hummell of UCLA; defensive backs Greg Coauette of USC and Dennis Price and James Washington of UCLA.

Only 27 names will be listed in the first round. Seattle Coach Chuck Knox’s first choice was invested in linebacker Brian Bosworth in the supplemental draft last summer. Knox still thinks the Boz was worth it. Nobody has yet declared for a supplemental draft this year.