Beathard Reflects, Deals Anderson : NFL: After rejecting third-round pick from Tampa Bay earlier this week, Chargers general manager changes mind and accepts offer.

The deal for holdout running back Gary Anderson that Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard rejected Tuesday, was accepted Thursday.

As a result, Anderson will be a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers no later than Saturday morning, provided the Bucs and Anderson can reach a contract agreement.

In return, the Chargers will receive Tampa Bay’s third-round choice in the NFL draft that begins Sunday and a conditional second-round pick in 1991.

The second-round choice in 1991 would be contingent upon Anderson gaining at least 1,000 combined yards passing and rushing in 1990. If Anderson failed to achieve that, the 1991 pick would be in the third round.

The offer is same one Beathard said as late as Wednesday night he would not accept. Until his shift, Beathard insisted on the Bucs including their second-round pick this year, the 30th overall, as a part of a deal for Anderson. Instead, he took Tampa Bay’s third-round choice, the 57th overall.

“I said this week we would not make the deal unless we received a (second-round pick),” Beathard said at news conference. “Tampa Bay said they would not make a deal if the second choice was involved. After thinking it over, I felt strongly (Wednesday) that we had to have the two. I slept on it, woke up this morning and discussed it with our people. Then, I felt a little differently. I did as much homework as I could and we were convinced that Tampa Bay was not going to give up the second.”

Beathard said he checked one last time with some other teams he said had expressed an interest in Anderson, finding no offers and unwilling to wait until draft day to attempt a trade, he called Tampa Bay Coach Ray Perkins and made the deal.

“I didn’t want to go into the draft relying on someone to come up with a second-round pick during the draft,” Beathard said. “I felt that if we went through the draft and did not make the trade, we lost a good pick in this draft and were starting anew. And we have no idea what we could get in the future for Gary Anderson.”

Perkins said he never withdrew his offer and was not taken aback by the Beathard’s change of heart.

“Nothing in the NFL surprises me,” Perkins said.

The only possible hitch is that Anderson must sign a contract with the Bucs by 9 a.m. PDT Saturday or the deal is off.

Perkins said he did not expect that to be a problem.

“I wouldn’t have made the deal if I didn’t think we could sign him,” Perkins said.

Perkins said contract talks with Anderson’s agent, Peter Johnson of Cleveland, would begin immediately.

Neither Johnson nor Anderson could be reached for comment.

The deal would send Anderson back to the city where he makes his home and starred during three seasons in the defunct United States Football League.

The trade would end a productive and controversial stay for Anderson in San Diego. He came to the Chargers in 1985 after three seasons with the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits.

In four seasons with the Chargers, he gained 2,250 yards and caught 194 passes for 1,978 yards. He had his best season in 1988 when he rushed for 1,119 yards and caught 32 passes for 182 yards.

His contract expired after that season and when the parties could not agree on a new contract, Anderson sat out the 1989 season.

He became expendable after the Chargers signed three running backs during the recently concluded Plan B free agency period.

They signed Ronnie Harmon from Buffalo, Thomas Sanders from Chicago and Joe Mickles from Washington.

With those added to returning players Marion Butts, Darrin Nelson and Tim Spencer, Beathard said the team would not be interested in drafting a running back in the first round. Something, he said, they might have been forced to do if they had not fared so well in Plan B.

“With Harmon and Sanders, we have more versatility than with one Gary Anderson and that’s not a knock on Gary Anderson,” Beathard said. “We have a faster more explosive back in Sanders maybe, and a better pass receiver in Harmon. And we have a power guy with Joe Mickles.”

The deal gives the Chargers three selections in the third round, but they remain without a second-round pick, having traded theirs to Chicago for quarterback Jim McMahon. Beathard said that it was his interest in obtaining a second-round pick that kept him from accepting the Tampa Bay offer earlier. But in the end, he yielded.

“Perkins said he wasn’t going to give a second, and we said we would not do it for less than a second,” Beathard. “If that is a battle, then Perkins won that battle because he didn’t move.

“I don’t look at that way. You get to a point in negotiations where you have to make a decision. Had it dragged on longer, who knows what would have happened.”

Asked if the Chargers received fair value for Anderson, Beathard replied:

“If you put it in relation to what Gary Anderson is going to get paid, then we didn’t get fair value,” Beathard said. “Fair value would have been two No. 1 picks. But we have to be realistic. And being realistic, in negotiations you come to a period where you have to make a decision, and it got to that point. We weren’t going to get any more out of this. Let’s take the best we can right now, and go on our way.”