Raiders Get an ‘A’ for Plan B Pickups : Pro football: Key players in team’s resurgence match image of outlaws of yore.

The Raiders have enough stars to form a small galaxy. There are three Heisman Trophy winners--Bo Jackson, Tim Brown and Marcus Allen--a couple of defensive gems, Howie Long and Greg Townsend, and Coach Art Shell, a Hall of Fame tackle.

But their road back to the playoffs this season was made more impressive by a second tier of players who were once other teams’ discards, some left unprotected by Plan B free agency and others forgotten altogether.

The Raiders drafted shrewdly in 1990, finding outside pass rusher Aaron Wallace in the second round, cornerback Garry Lewis in the seventh. Some teams stake their season on first-round choices. The Raiders played this one without theirs, defensive end Anthony Smith, who has missed the entire season after summer knee surgery.

But with no true free agency in the NFL, making the wholesale purchase of star players impossible, it pays to clip coupons and shop around for talent.

“You’re not going to do it all through the draft,” Shell said. “I think the draft is a core for you. With your top choices, you should be hitting some. But there’s other ways to do it. You’ve got to go through the free agency route, you’ve got to go through Plan B, whatever it takes. You’ve got to pay a price to win. You better know what you’re doing.”

Of course, that’s where Raider owner Al Davis comes in. Some owners kiss their players on the sidelines. Davis smooches with film projectors. In Detroit a few weeks ago for a Monday night game against the Lions, Davis sent a runner to the airport late Sunday night to pick up the Cincinnati film from that day’s game. The Raiders were scheduled to play the Bengals the following Sunday.

On offense, the Raiders lured Pro Bowl guard Max Montoya away from the Bengals in Plan B, securing an offensive line that had been suspect.

But perhaps Davis’--and Shell’s--greatest success has been breathing new life into players other teams could find no use for. The Raiders have long provided refuge for wayward football souls, but this season the pieces all came together.

Six of the team’s 11 defensive starters are castoffs. This is the NFL’s third-ranked defense, mind you.

Raider safeties Mike Harden and Eddie Anderson were released outright by their former teams, Denver and Seattle. The Broncos unloaded Harden to make room for rookie Steve Atwater, and the Raiders scooped him up as a free agent in September 1989.

Anderson said he couldn’t believe it when the Seahawks released him in 1987. He remembers getting called into Coach Chuck Knox’s office and receiving the bad news.

“I was shocked, stunned,” Anderson said. “I told him, ‘I’m going to play for the Raiders, and you’re going to hate that you let me go.’ Now, when the two of us see each other after the game, he always shakes my hand and says, ‘You played a helluva game.’ I try to play very well against those guys.”

The Raiders swept the series with Seattle this season.

What makes a team give up on a player? Sometimes it’s a matter of conflicting opinions or styles.

“Maybe somebody feels a guy may never come around,” Anderson said. “Or they feel the guy has talent, but they just don’t have time to wait. Here, I’m allowed to roam. I’m more free. They utilize my ability a lot differently. Here, certain times against certain teams, I’m up close playing like a linebacker. There, I never did anything like that. They kept you playing basic defense in Seattle.”

Bob Golic was a star nose tackle at Cleveland for years before a coaching change--Marty Schottenheimer to Bud Carson--led to his departure after the 1988 season. At 33, Golic might not be the player he was, but his attitude and effort have made him the heart and soul of the Raider defense. The Browns struggle on at 3-11.

“They told me they were going with a four-man line, and me, being a standard nose tackle, (they) said that I wouldn’t fit into that type of scheme,” Golic said of the Browns’ reasoning. “That’s what they told me. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. They felt they had the young guys to do it. Plus, it was a new coaching staff. Sometimes they want to say, ‘OK, these are my people.’ ”

Golic said joining the Raiders seemed almost preordained. He couldn’t wait to prove the Browns wrong. Golic looks down the Raider roster and sees several similar story lines:

--Linebacker Riki Ellison. The San Francisco 49ers released him in 1989 after a couple of injury-filled seasons. Ellison has stepped in to help against the run. Of course, the 49ers took Matt Millen from the Raiders in return, so consider this one a push.

--Linebacker Jerry Robinson. His career was on the backside when the Raiders acquired him in a trade with Philadelphia in 1985. Robinson was a risk because of age and a previous drug problem, but he’s still going strong at left outside linebacker. He turned 34 Tuesday.

--Linebacker Tom Benson. The New England Patriots left him unprotected after the 1988 season, as if they couldn’t use help on defense.

--Cornerback Lionel Washington. The Raiders picked him up from the then-St Louis Cardinals for a draft choice in 1987.

“You look at it and you can’t understand why people make these decisions,” Golic said. “For me, I loved my years in Cleveland, but there was something about coming here, signing with the Raiders, that really gave me a little kick in the pants. For me, it was the mystique, the tradition. It was somebody who said, ‘We believe you can do this, we need you.’ When somebody says that, I’m going to do whatever I can for them.”

These Raider bargains aren’t limited to defense. Is there a better comeback story than tight end Ethan Horton, a former running back and No. 1 draft choice of Kansas City in 1985? Horton was out of football for the entire 1986 and ’88 seasons. Some weeks this season, Horton was the only tight end on the Raider roster. He plays on special teams, too.

One of the unsung heroes of a much-improved offensive line has been right tackle Steve Wright, who has filled in so well for injured starter Bruce Wilkerson that Wilkerson can’t get his job back.

Wright’s story? He was a former starter for the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts in the early 1980s before jumping to the United States Football League in ’85. When the league folded, Wright returned to the Colts, who cut him for reasons unknown. Wright guesses treason.

In 1986, Wright joined Horton in the NFL’s unemployment line.

“I was working at the Hard Rock (Cafe) in Dallas,” Wright said. “I figured I still was going to play again. I kind of got a raw deal with the Colts. I was starting there in ’84. . . . You’ve got to dream, I guess. I always knew I could play. I knew I could fit in somewhere; I just didn’t know where it was going to be or when it was going to be.”

Wright had a connection. His coach with the USFL Oakland Invaders, Charlie Sumner, had moved to the Raiders. Wright got a tryout in 1987. He’s been hanging around ever since.

“They just want good, hard-nosed players,” Wright, 31, said of the Raiders. “I think we all fit that mold. If you can play and you’re a fighter, you’ll fit into the Raiders’ organization.”