Ex-Redskin May Signs With Chargers
Mark May, an offensive lineman who for nine years was a starter for the Washington Redskins and has played in both the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl, signed a three-year contract Friday with the Chargers.
May, 31, won the Outland Trophy as a senior at Pittsburgh and was selected in the first round of the 1981 draft. He was selected by Bobby Beathard, the Redskins’ general manager from 1978 to 1988 who now holds the same job with the Chargers. With 115 NFL starts, May will become the senior member of the Charger offensive line, which used six starters with a career total of 165 starts last season.
“He’s been around a successful team and he has been one of the leaders on that team,” Beathard said. “He’s tough and competitive. He’s the type of guy you win with.”
May, the first Plan B free agent signed this year by the Chargers and the fifth signed in the NFL, was on Washington’s physically unable to perform list all last season after he injured his knee against the Dallas Cowboys in the ninth week of the 1989 season. Reconstructive surgery followed. May (6-6, 290) returned to practice midway through the season and said he had no problems with his knee.
Said Beathard: “We got a good report from Dr. (Gary) Losse on his his knee, so that’s not a big concern. . . . Gary says he was really impressed with the way he looked. He said he really looked good for a 31-year-old guy.”
May, a 1988 Pro Bowl selection, narrowed his choices to the Chargers, the Raiders, the San Francisco 49ers and the Phoenix Cardinals, whose coach, Joe Bugel, was May’s offensive line coach at Washington. After his visit with the Chargers, May’s search was over.
“I went to San Diego and had a long talk with Bobby,” May said. “I just got the feeling that I was wanted there. There was a feeling of sincerity from everybody.
“I told my wife before I left that I was going to end up in San Diego. I know the system there. It’s very comparable to our system.”
Charger Coach Dan Henning said May would be vying for a spot on the right side of the line, possibly at tackle, a position the Chargers were thin at toward the end of last season. Of May’s starts, 56 have been at right tackle and 51 at right guard.
“He’s got a great desire to continue his career,” said Henning, an assistant coach with the Redskins from 1987-1988. “He’s got fierce determination. He has that type of attitude that brought (Washington) to where it was the last 10 years.”