Bucs’ Anderson Offer Too Little for Chargers

The Chargers received and rejected a trade offer from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for running back Gary Anderson Tuesday, Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard said.

“They made an offer to show they were sincerely interested,” Beathard said.

Beathard would not say what it included but did say Tampa Bay did not offer its second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft, the 30th overall. Beathard said the team is asking for a second-round choice this year as a minimum part of a deal for Anderson.

“We’ve given Tampa an idea of what we need, and so far they have not come back and offered that,” Beathard said. “It might just be a waiting game, or whether they’re serious we don’t know.”

Beathard said Dallas and Seattle had also talked to him about Anderson. Beathard said the Cowboys’ interest might be heightened because Anderson played at Arkansas, the same school at which Cowboy owner Jerry Jones and Coach Jimmy Johnson were teammates.

The Cowboys also have picks available to trade, five choices in the first three rounds.

But John Wooten, Dallas director of pro personnel, said this week that he did not think the Cowboys would want to trade for Anderson.

“We’re going with younger players,” Wooten said. “I don’t think we’d be interested in a player of his age (Anderson turns 29 today).”

And so far, Beathard said, Tampa Bay is the only team to make an offer.

“We’re trying to make it a reasonable offer,” Beathard said. “We’re not going to ask for something where a deal can’t be made. We don’t want to do that. The best interest of the Chargers is that Gary Anderson plays football, and we get what’s fair.

“I don’t think that any team that has talked to us so far has felt our request has been unreasonable.”

Anderson, the team’s most valuable player in 1988, sat out last season in a contract dispute. The Chargers would have to sign him before trading him. Beathard said that the contract would have to be negotiated with the other team in conjunction with Anderson’s agent, Peter Johnson of Cleveland.

Beathard said the Chargers would like to trade Anderson before the first round of the draft Sunday but said a trade could still be sought after the draft. Beathard said the chances of Anderson playing for the Chargers in 1990 were “slim” but that it was not impossible.