NFL DRAFT : Raiders : Davis Shuffles, Deals to Get an Ace

What Al Davis’ draft lacks in depth, it made up for in intrigue.

Depth? The Rams drafted half a football team Sunday. The Raiders got Steve Wisniewski. If Raider fans were hoping against hope, and the odds, for a big name, at least they got a long one.

Wisniewski, a 6-3 1/2, 266-pound guard (listed) or a 6-4, 290-pounder (his figures) from Penn State, was a projected first rounder in several mock drafts. He went on the first pick of the second round . . . to the Dallas Cowboys, who then traded him to the Raiders for the few remaining high picks in silver and blackdom.

A Raider official was detailed to call Wisniewski and tell him he’d just become a Raider.

Wisniewski wouldn’t believe him.

“Well, I tell you,” Wisniewski said from University Park, Pa., “I was picked by Dallas and I celebrated for 10 minutes. I was on the air down in Dallas. They had a hookup with my parents in Houston. They were celebrating that I was coming home and I was very happy about that.

“Then someone in the Raider organization called. I didn’t believe him at first. I thought one of my friends was fooling around.

“It took a little while to get used to it. It hasn’t sunk in yet but I’m very happy to be a Raider. I took off that nasty Dallas cap, threw it on the floor and put on a Raider shirt. It says, ‘Real Men Wear Black.’ So, obviously, I’m adjusting easily enough.”

Thus did the Raiders acquire what amounts to a first-round choice, after all. They also have Jay Schroeder, Willie Gault and last spring’s three promising No. 1 picks to show for their past two drafts.

This, of course, has taken a whirlwind of wheeling and dealing.

A year ago, Davis traded John Clay and his Nos. 3 and 4 picks to the San Diego Chargers for Jim Lachey. He traded his 1989 No. 1 and a ’90 pick to the Chicago Bears for Gault. He traded Lachey and his ’89 No. 3 (or Nos. 4 and 5, at his option) to the Washington Redskins for Schroeder. He traded Jesse Hester to the Atlanta Falcons for a No. 5. Then he got the Chargers to accept Napoleon McCallum, who was then still at sea, for the No. 3 and 4 picks they were owed.

This still left the Raiders drafting only Nos. 2 and 3 or 2, 4 and 5 Sunday.

They targeted several players they hoped might fall off the first round, including Wisniewski and Arkansas safety Steve Atwater.

A Raider official says they had Wisniewski ranked in a group with their top offensive linemen, Notre Dame’s Andy Heck and Boston College’s Joe Wolf . . . who went 15th and 17th on the first round to the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.

The Raiders figured they were running out of the money. But the New York Giants, who were thought to be interested in Wisniewski, took 300-pound Brian Williams of Minnesota, instead, with the 18th pick.

The Houston Oilers, choosing 23rd, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, selecting 25th, took two other offensive linemen, Florida’s David Williams and Pitt’s Tom Ricketts. The Raiders, figuring they were back in the race, phoned Dallas and asked to exchange places on the second round, the Cowboys then owning the first pick, the Raiders the 11th.

For a No. 3 and Atlanta’s No. 5, the Cowboys said yes.

The Raiders then had them draft Wisniewski, since time was running out.

The Raiders then sent their No. 4 and 5 picks to the Redskins to complete the Schroeder deal.

The price of all this? Since only the top rounds of the draft were completed Sunday, Wisniewski was not only the top Raider choice Sunday, he was their only choice. It’s a heavy burden he has to shoulder, but he’s still going off at better odds than Bob Buczkowski.