NFL Teams Doing Their Part in Recycling

Unusual statistic.

Of the four coaching vacancies this year, three will be filled by recycled coaches--Bill Parcells with the Patriots, Dan Reeves with the Giants and Mike Shanahan with the Broncos.

“This isn’t a league for recycling,” says none other than George Young, who’s finalizing the contract with Reeves. “You usually want someone who’s young and hungry.”

On the other hand, the recycled coaches aren’t the kind of guys who move around into the same jobs in other sports, most notably baseball and basketball. Parcells and Reeves were two of the five most successful coaches of the ‘80s (Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Mike Ditka were the others) and are relatively young -- Parcells is 51, Reeves is 49.

And Shanahan failed with the Raiders because he tried to change things from the “Raider Way,” a no-no with Al Davis. He’s getting the Denver job because he’s close to John Elway, a yes-yes in Denver.

As for Chicago ...

The one surprise in Dave Wannstedt’s choice of the Bears over the Giants is the organizations.

Despite their two down years (and wouldn’t New England or Phoenix or Tampa Bay take 14-18?), the Giants’ organization is still regarded as solid. Wannstedt, meanwhile, inherits a hands-on owner who’s no football genius and an alienated Bill Tobin, the personnel guy who got Ditka most of his players.

But Jimmy Johnson didn’t want to lose Wannstedt’s friendship, which he said would have been inevitable had Wannstedt coached in the same division. Wannstedt concurred.

Parcells, of course, steps into a vacuum -- no organization to speak of and an owner who’s trying to sell the team.

That may suit him just fine -- there’s no one to talk him into drafting quarterback Drew Bledsoe over linebacker Marvin Jones or any offensive player over any linebaker.

That’s unlike his role with the Giants, where Young, Tom Boisture and Tim Rooney outvoted him to choose Rodney Hampton over Darion Conner in the 1990 draft and then vetoed his plan to trade Pepper Johnson for the rights to Conner.

Hampton has now had two 1,000-yard seasons; Johnson was an All-Pro that year and the Giants won the Super Bowl. Conner is an improving linebacker but may never be more than better than average.

The NFL’s club executives won’t even learn the intricacies of the new system of free agency until next week.

And already there are charges of tampering.

The player in question is Steve Beuerlein, Dallas’ backup quarterback, who figures to be one of the more sought-after free agents this year. So, naturally, he’s been reportedly contacted both by Kansas City and Minnesota, teams that think a decent quarterback can get them beyond the first round of the playoffs.

It never happened, but it’s indicative of what free agency may be like.

Beuerlein says all he knows about it is that he’s aware that Kansas City tried to trade for him in the off-season. His agent, former Chiefs player Tom Condon, has had no contact with either team.

Why is Beuerlein so valuable?

Because the last time he had extended playing time, last season, he led the Cowboys to four straight victories, one in the playoffs. This year, he threw just 18 passes, completing 12 for 152 yards, but he was a good soldier, never complaining while watching Troy Aikman lead Dallas to the Super Bowl.

He’s also a “named player,” a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits that led to the settlement, meaning he couldn’t be protected even if the Cowboys so chose.

So next to Reggie White, the Philadelphia defensive end who’s also a plaintiff, he will probably be the most wanted man along with some other backups with starting potential -- Cody Carlson of Houston, Steve Bono of San Francisco and Philadelphia’s Jim McMahon. Plus Bobby Hebert of New Orleans, a starter who may be protected ... or may not be.

Moreover, White’s value has gone down because three of the teams he says he wants to play for -- San Francisco, Dallas and Miami, made it to the final four and final four teams can’t sign free agents unless they divest themselves of one of equal value. The only way the 49ers could do that would be to leave Steve Young unprotected, and go with Joe Montana and that’s unlikely to happen.

Another potential free agent quarterback, Chicago’s Jim Harbaugh, is now likely to stay put to play for Dave Wannstedt. Harbaugh reportedly had had enough of Mike Ditka, who chewed him out both publicly and privately.

Another, Phil Simms, says he wants to end his career with the Giants.

But if Kansas City doesn’t get Beuerlein, the Chiefs might try to lure him to their SAQ (Stopgap Aging Quarterback) program to succeed Steve DeBerg and Dave Krieg and help new offensive coordinator Paul Hackett help develop Mat Blundin.

The Young-Montana thing gets sillier and sillier.

After the 49ers lost to the Cowboys in last week’s NFC title game, Young’s agent, California-based Leigh Steinberg, said it was time to leave town. His rationale: Young will never be accepted by the Bay Area’s Montana-mad fans, who didn’t appreciate even his MVP performance this year.

Nonsense, Young said. “I like it here.”

And Steinberg’s still his agent, even though he spent this week in Dallas seeking promotional opportunities for Aikman, the first quarterback he’s had in a Super Bowl since Tony Eason seven years ago.

Young will surely get his wish.

Montana, for everything he’s accomplished, will be 37 next season and has played exactly one half of real football in the last two years. There’s no guarantee that his surgically repaired elbow will hold up over an entire season and there’s really no one who knows if he can throw deep a half-dozen times a game to Jerry Rice or John Taylor.

Now that Parcells has landed in New England, there’s speculation that Lawrence Taylor might reconsider his retirement and join him there. Taylor, who had announced that 1992 would be his last year, said after tearing his Achilles tendon midway through the season that he preferred to go out some way other than on a golf cart.

Parcells might welcome him there, if for no other reason than to set an example for his younger players. One of them is likely to be Marvin Jones, the Florida State linebacker. With the No. 1 pick in draft, Parcells could change places with No. 2 Seattle. let the Seahawks take Drew Bledsoe, then grab Jones -- Parcells’ subscribes to the theory of building teams around linebackers.

On the other hand, can the financially strapped Pats afford Taylor? How much can a 34-year-old coming off a serious injury be worth? Probably not the $1.5 million he made last year, but his status demands a large outlay of cash, no matter who owns the team -- James Orthwein or new owners who take on the team’s debts.

Moreover, Reggie White has said he might like to play for Parcells, although probably not with a team with no chance to contend for a couple of years. He’ll come with a price tag of at least $3 million.

Plus one other problem.

No. 56 is already taken by another aging outside linebacker, Andre Tippett.