THE NFL DRAFT : Agent Steinberg Hits Daily Double : He Lands Cadigan With Jets, Green With Rams in First Round

Sunday, 8:40 a.m., National Football League draft minus-20: Leigh Steinberg, agent, is in the living room of his parents’ home in West Los Angeles.

Until Steinberg got married a few years ago the house doubled as his home and office. On this day it is NFL Draft West, the place where two hot local homegrown clients--USC tackle Dave Cadigan and UCLA running back Gaston Green--will learn their destinies.

Both are expected to be drafted on the first round, but nobody knows by whom.

About 100 people will be there to find out--the Cadigans of Newport Beach, the Greens of South Los Angeles, close friends and some media types, spilling out before TV sets in the kitchen, den and pool-patio area.

Some clues: “These guys could go across the country or across the city,” Steinberg says. “We’re looking at Cadigan to the Jets, Raiders or Giants and Green to the Giants, Dallas, Arizona--skip Philadelphia--or Rams. No matter what (the Rams) say about Ironhead (Heyward), they really like (Green).”

8:58 a.m.: Cadigan, 6-4 and 285, fills the doorway as he arrives with his girlfriend Cristine, parents, sisters and family friends. The couch groans. Steinberg is uneasy.

“I don’t see Gaston yet.”

9:09 a.m.: The Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs have picked before Green walks in with his girlfriend, Charis (pronounced Shar- ee). He sits on the couch on Steinberg’s left, with Cadigan’s father Pat to his left. The four of them face a blaring television, four minicams and a couple of still photographers. Pennants of every NFL team are strung behind the cameras. A phone is directly in front of Steinberg.

“It’s a lot like before the kickoff,” Cadigan says.

9:28 a.m.: The Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals have drafted, and the Raiders take Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown of Notre Dame. The Green Bay Packers pick next.

“What’s Green Bay thinking?” Steinberg is asked.

“I hope they’re not thinking . . . “ Steinberg replies, completing the remark with a nod toward Cadigan.

9:52 a.m.: “C’mon, Green Bay, make up your damn mind,” Steinberg says.

Three minutes later, as the 15-minute time limit runs down, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle appears on camera and says, “The Green Bay Packers select (pause) wide receiver--”

Cheers drown out “Sterling Sharpe of South Carolina,” but nobody cares, as long as it wasn’t a tackle named Cadigan.

9:56 a.m.: The phone rings. Steinberg answers, smiles and hands the phone to Cadigan. Jet personnel director Mike Hickey is telling him they’re about to draft him and what does he think about it, while they can still change their minds?

“All right!” Cadigan says. “Sounds great.”

Coach Joe Walton comes on the line.

“Thanks for choosing me,” Cadigan says. “I’ll help you out, I guarantee you.”

Cadigan hangs up.

“They told me that Coach Walton has written me in at (starting) left tackle,” he says. “I’m excited. There are a lot of good things about New York. Great fans out there. Media capital. I’m looking forward to it.”

Steinberg says, “We have another client, (Jet quarterback) Ken O’Brien, who will be the happiest guy in the world.”

10:14 a.m.: It’s been Cadigan’s party until now. Everyone expected him to be drafted before Green, who has sat silently at the other end of the couch. Most of Cadigan’s people leave the room. Green’s folks drift in. He stares at the television, gnawing on a knuckle.

The Raiders, who don’t need a running back, pick Tennessee cornerback Terry McDaniel, then the Giants and Dallas Cowboys, who could use runners, also pass up Green. The Phoenix Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles are next.

“Now we’re trying not to get drafted,” Steinberg says.

10:30 a.m.: The Cardinals take Cal linebacker Ken Harvey. Steinberg raises his eyebrows.

“My alma mater,” he says. “The first big surprise of the draft.”

10:34 a.m.: The phone rings. It’s Ram personnel director John Math to tell Steinberg they’re interested in Green, if the Eagles don’t take him.

Afterward, Steinberg says, “They might be calling (Stanford’s Brad) Muster and Heyward, too.”

10:39 a.m.: The Eagles take tight end Keith Jackson of Oklahoma. For the first time, Green shows emotion--a big smile--and falls back into his seat.

10:42 a.m.: The phone rings. It’s John Robinson. Green is about to become a Ram. The room explodes in cheers.

Green hangs up and says, “He just told me they were gonna select me. After I heard that I didn’t hear anything. It’s a dream come true.”

Asked if a UCLA player can play for a former USC coach, Green says, “I guess he saw the light.”

Green says he might move back in with his parents in South Los Angeles to be closer to Anaheim.

“It’s OK,” his father says. “He can buy the groceries now.”

As his guests drift away, Steinberg asks one, “You know the definition of an agent’s heaven? Having one guy drafted in New York and the other in Los Angeles.”

And he swears he had no idea it was going to come out that way.

USC and UCLA each had a linebacker selected on the second round: Marcus Cotton by the Atlanta Falcons and Ken Norton Jr. by the Dallas Cowboys, respectively. Each thought he might go higher.

Cotton, 6-3 1/2 and 212, also said he was “really surprised” to go to the NFL’s worst 1987 team, albeit at the top of the round, since the Falcons already had signed Auburn linebacker Aundray Bruce as the draft’s first choice.

“What the heck,” Cotton said by phone from Phoenix, where his agent Jeff Irwin is based. “I guess it’s up to me and my boy Aundray to do something about that.”

The Cowboys chose Norton 13 turns later. Disappointed at not being drafted on the first round, Norton, 6-2 and 236, had left his parents’ home in Laguna Niguel to go for a walk and had to be summoned when the Cowboys called.

“I grew up with the Raiders but I’ve always been a Cowboys fan,” Norton said. “They’re moving me to an outside linebacker spot. I’m pretty athletic so I don’t think it should be too much of a problem. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t go sooner, but I’m with a good organization. My parents didn’t want me to go too far away, so they could come and see me play like they always have.”

Norton’s Bruin teammate, wide receiver Willie (Flipper) Anderson, went to the Rams later in the second round, and on the fourth round UCLA’s 316-pound offensive tackle, Dave Richards, went to the Chargers, for whom he’ll probably play guard.

Also on the fourth round, the Chicago Bears drafted tight end Jim Thornton of Cal State Fullerton, a former quarterback who played in the Hula Bowl after last season.

“I was prepared to go a little lower,” said Thornton, 6-2 and 245. “I’ve always liked the Bears--the mystique, everything about ‘em. I think I can improve a lot, and I’ll work to get better.”

In the fifth round the Raiders drafted Dennis Price, a defensive back from UCLA and the Rams drafted James Washington, also a defensive back from UCLA.