Raiders Get Gault, Hope to Find Someone Who Can Throw Ball Deep to Him

Al Davis rides again.

In an astounding move, the Raider boss Thursday completed the deal for fleeter-than-fleet wide receiver Willie Gault, sending two draft picks--including next spring’s No. 1--to the Chicago Bears.

How to describe it?

Shocking?

Sensational?

Say what?

It’s difficult to tell if you’re watching Picasso or a kindergarten kid finger-painting on the wall.

The Raiders, already heavily stocked at wide receiver, have a quarterback battle going on among Vince Evans, Steve Beuerlein and Jim Plunkett. They were 5-10 last season, have uncertain prospects in this one, and thus have dealt a potentially high No. 1 pick. Maybe Troy Aikman-high.

Maybe this is just the first act and another deal will follow?

Raider sources say, firmly, no. This deal stands alone. Despite the presence of James Lofton and Tim Brown, not to mention Mervyn Fernandez, Jessie Hester and Chris Woods, they did it because Gault’s speed--a world-class hurdler-sprinter, he ran a 9.95-second 100 meters in college and a 10.1 this summer--stretches a defense.

Thus, Davis seems to be making a couple of tacit declarations:

--Despite the yearnings of the fans and half his own front office for a star quarterback to ride to the rescue, he’s sticking to his old assertion: The team makes the quarterback, not vice versa. Rebuild the team and the quarterback will perform.

Or as Davis said in 1985:

“We don’t think the quarterback is the dominant factor as far as winning the Super Bowl (is concerned). In fact, we think the only team in recent years where the quarterback was the dominant factor was the Steelers with Terry Bradshaw.

“I’m glad the preponderance of thinking in America is that you’ve got to have a great quarterback and you’ve got to have a great running back. I think those are great things if you have them, but I don’t think that’s necessarily what wins Super Bowls.”

--One way or another, Davis is going to get back to his heart’s desire--”striking terror in the hearts of our opponents”--with outside speed. The Raiders haven’t done it since Cliff Branch retired, although James Lofton gave them a fine ’87 season.

--The Raiders think that with their revamped offense, they can get by with these quarterbacks.

Said Coach Mike Shanahan: “We did the thing we thought was best for our football team. We got an explosive receiver. You don’t get a chance to sign a player like Willie every day.

“People have asked, ‘Do you have (another trade) in mind?’ No.

“I feel very good about the quarterbacks we have, the progress we’ve made and the direction we’re headed. I believe the people we have on this football team are going to get the job done.”

Gault arrived in camp Thursday morning, signed a new contract--he is thought to have been asking the Bears for $750,000 a season--and passed his physical. He’s a Raider now.

This is a multi-talented man: sprinter, football player, would-be Olympic bobsledder. He has danced with the Chicago City Ballet and spent the summer taking acting lessons in Los Angeles.

In fact, he has been making his off-season home in Encino. Bear Coach Mike Ditka said that Gault was coming west to take up a dual career, football and acting, a tender spot with the Raiders because Davis has noted in the past, not fondly, that they have been too Hollywooded-up.

“That’s not totally accurate,” Gault said. “ . . . Right now, I want to get into this. This is my main concern.”

It’s still his chief avenue of expression, too. A five-year pro, he has a phenomenal average of 19.8 yards a catch and 27 touchdowns in his 184 receptions.

How many passes he was thrown was an ongoing concern in a Bear offense he thought was conservative. That limited his effectiveness, not to mention his salary aspirations, problems that were solved Thursday.

“Statistically, I led the Bear receivers every year in all categories, and the most passes I caught in a season were 42, 41, 40,” Gault said. “The Bear offense didn’t warrant a receiver being showcased.

“(Playing in Chicago) was a learning experience, a great experience, one I’m thankful for. But life is full of crossroads, where you have to make tough decisions.”

Raider players thought it was a pretty keen acquisition, although one noted, “This’ll shake some people up.”

Those would be the receivers.

Shanahan said the Raiders will keep five, but if the coaches are drooling over the prospect of putting Gault and Tim Brown deep on kickoffs, or sending out a three-receiver set of Gault, Brown and Lofton, someone is looking at less playing time.

Or the possibility of being traded. Lofton, 32 and high-salaried, isn’t highly marketable now, nor is Fernandez or Hester.

But Brown is.

“It’s not for me to think,” he said. “I’ve just got to go ahead and play football. It’s not going to hurt me, it’s not going to help me.

“The way I felt about coming here, I wanted to come here because I thought I could learn from James Lofton. With Willie Gault here, I can’t do anything but learn from him, too.

“Hey, whatever comes out of it, it won’t be bad for me.”

At the Bears’ camp in Platteville, Wis., Ditka forecast glad tidings all around.

“We’re providing another opportunity for a person to do exactly what he wants to do in life,” the Bear coach said. “I think that’s pretty fair of the Bears, I really do.

“The changes might make us a better football team and might make the person a better player somewhere else. It’s going to be almost a new lease on life out there. They throw the ball a little differently than we do. They push it down the field more, which is much more into Willie’s strength. It should make him a much more noticed receiver.”

And Raider management is counting on a good finish this season, which would move that No. 1 choice down the first round.

“That’s right,” Shanahan said. “Last pick.”

Raider Notes

The second draft choice going to the Bears is a 1990 pick, according to the Bears, conditional on the Raiders’ finish and can be anything from a No. 2 to a No. 5. . . . Willie Gault had a sensational practice debut, beating rookie cornerback Dennis Price to catch a bomb from Jim Plunkett, then on his next play getting behind Mike Haynes, who recovered just in time to tip away a Steve Beuerlein bomb. . . . Tim Brown says he has signed his long-term contract, the one that was set aside while he signed a 1-year, $450,000 deal just so he wouldn’t miss the opening of camp. The contract is for 4 years at something like $2.8 million (“It’s around there,” Brown said) or $3.1 million (“It’s around there, too, I guess”).