NFL DRAFT : Why the NFL Kept Peete Hanging On : Heisman Runner-Up Still Can’t Believe He’s a Sixth-Rounder

Rodney Peete said that he had difficulty getting to sleep Sunday night, wondering why he wasn’t selected through the first five rounds of the National Football League draft.

His anxiety ended at 6:30 a.m. Monday when he was informed by the Detroit Lions that he was the club’s choice on the sixth round.

Nonetheless, eight quarterbacks were selected before him even though he was the runner-up to Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in the Heisman Trophy voting and led USC into the Rose Bowl the past two years, setting virtually every school passing record in the process.

Questions still persist, though. Why was he left twisting in the wind? Did NFL clubs question his arm strength, his height (he’s 6-1), or believe that a shoulder injury he suffered in a January Hula Bowl game damaged his passing arm?

Or, did NFL teams pass him up because he’s a black quarterback?

Peete doesn’t have the answer to any of those questions, but he addressed them Monday.

“I hope they (NFL clubs) think it’s my arm strength because I can definitely prove them wrong on that,” Peete said.

“I only bruised my shoulder and there was no separation. I went to the scouting combine in Indianapolis two weeks after the Hula Bowl and my arm felt fine.

“I threw the ball real good at the combine and did the things they wanted me to do.”

Peete doesn’t believe there is any racial bias against him as there might have been in the past when NFL teams would draft black quarterbacks, only to convert them to another position.

Doug Williams, Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham, all black quarterbacks, are starting in the NFL.

“I hope that’s (racism) not the case because I can’t do anything about the color of my skin,” Peete said.

He was reminded that Syracuse’s Don McPherson, another black quarterback and a Heisman Trophy runner-up, was also drafted on the sixth round last year by the Philadelphia Eagles.

“My advice is don’t be a runner-up to the Heisman,” Peete joked.

In what was probably the longest day of Peete’s life, he watched quarterback after quarterback being drafted ahead of him on television while he sat in a Century City hotel room with his mother, Edna.

“It was a shocking experience to see the other quarterbacks go before me,” Peete said. “I thought I’d be the second quarterback picked (behind UCLA’s Troy Aikman).”

Peete said that Kansas City, among other clubs, worked him out on the USC campus.

“I thought if I was still around by the second round they’d pick me,” he said.

The Chiefs drafted Wake Forest quarterback Mike Elkins instead.

San Diego was another option for Peete, especially since his former USC coach, Ted Tollner, is the club’s new quarterback coach.

“If San Diego was going to take a quarterback, I was almost positive it would be me,” Peete said.

The Chargers had other plans, drafting quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver of Texas Tech on the second round.

Peete was running out of options after Green Bay drafted quarterback Anthony Dilweg of Duke on the third round.

However, he believed that if a quarterback was still available on the fourth round, the Rams would draft him.

He was available, but the Rams chose another quarterback, Jeff Carlson of Weber State.

It was that kind of day for Peete.

Then, early Monday morning, the Lions, who had a 4-12 record in 1988, drafted him.

“I talked to Coach Wayne Fontes (a former USC assistant coach), and he seemed pretty excited,” Peete said. “He seemed surprised that I was still available.”

The Lions already have three quarterbacks, Chuck Long, a No. 1 draft choice in 1986, Eric Hipple and Rusty Hilger, the former Raider. Long and Hipple were injured last year, with Hilger becoming the starting quarterback and winding up only 13th ranked statistically in the NFC.

Detroit is reviving its offense to include the run ‘n’ shoot, a short passing scheme that floods the field with receivers.

Peete believes that he can be effective in such a scheme.

“It’s a type of offense in which you use a lot of receivers and sometimes no running backs,” he said. “There’s lots of movement involved in the run ‘n’ shoot, a lot of throwing on the run.

“I feel I can perform in any type of offense. I believe my strong point is my versatility.”

There is a notion that Peete is a scrambling, roll out-type quarterback. Yet, he said that he threw from the pocket for the Trojans 70% of the time last season.

As a sixth round pick, Peete won’t get the money he would realize as a higher draft choice.

So there’s still another option, a baseball career. As an accomplished USC infielder, he was drafted on the 14th round by the Oakland Athletics last year.

When he didn’t sign with the A’s by the time school started last September, the club lost its claim to him. He could be drafted again, though, by a major league team.

“I’m not putting much thought into it (baseball),” Peete said. “I’m just getting over the disappointment of going in the sixth round. I’m now focusing on how I can improve myself and getting ready to go to Detroit. It has always been a dream of mine to play quarterback in the NFL.”

As for his most recent disappointment, Peete said philosophically: “The story of my life is coming back from adversity (a torn Achilles tendon and subsequent recovery, measles, etc.). Now I have one more obstacle to overcome.

“It’s just another test and I plan to pass it with flying colors.”