PRO FOOTBALL / BILL PLASCHKE : Free Agents Find That Grass Isn’t Always Greener

When asked for a midseason evaluation of free agency, George Young told about the unhappy player he released from the New York Giants in 1986.

After four weeks with a new team, the player began phoning him daily, begging to return.

When Young, the Giants’ general manager, made a trade to bring him back, the player marched into the locker room and wrote on a blackboard: “The grass is greener . . . my butt.”

Nine games into this brave new season, the rest of the league is learning the same thing.

Free agency has been as much a disease as a cure. For every free agent who has helped, another one has hurt.

Larry Wilson and Joe Bugel, general manager and coach of the Phoenix Cardinals, respectively, will soon lose their jobs because of free agency.

Coach Mike Holmgren of the Green Bay Packers has had a lot of explaining to do because of free agency.

Quarterback John Elway of the Denver Broncos has been running for his life behind uncertain new offensive linemen who came in through free agency.

Of the 112 unrestricted free agents and “transition” players who changed teams over the summer in the celebrated gold rush, only 60 are in starting lineups.

Twenty-one of them, nearly 20%, have been released.

The rest are either watching from the bench or the trainers’ table.

“A lot of people have seen, this sport is not pickup basketball,” Young said. “This is also not baseball, where a catcher can be a star for one team and then be a star for another team the next night.

“It has become obvious that pro football players are not gypsies.”

Young, whose surprising Giants are 5-2 and visit Dallas Sunday in an NFC East showdown, has been one of the lucky ones.

Instead of seeking big-name free agents, he took care of his own players first, making quarterback Phil Simms and the offensive line happy with big contracts.

Then he courted young, backup free agents in need of full-time chances. He ended up with linebacker Carlton Bailey and wide receiver Mike Sherrard, who have played big roles.

Sherrard is out for the season now with a hip injury, but his spot as the team’s top receiver has been taken by another unrestricted free agent, Mark Jackson.

Both Jackson and linebacker Michael Brooks, a “transitional” free agent signed by Young, came from the Denver Broncos and have benefited from knowing the system implemented by Coach Dan Reeves.

This, says Young, is the one intangible many players and officials forgot when celebrating the league’s first taste of total freedom.

“It takes a long time for football players to get comfortable with a new system,” Young said. “When it comes right down to it, guys have realized that they should stay where they are comfortable, no matter how much money is being offered.”

Steve Beuerlein, Gary Clark, Chuck Cecil and John Booty aren’t very happy right now. Touted as “the Fab Four” when they were signed for a total of $22 million by the Phoenix Cardinals, all are injured.

Beuerlein, the quarterback, is on the verge of losing his job to Chris Chandler. Receiver Clark, with a deep groin pull, has played two downs in the last four games and has yet to catch a touchdown pass.

While signing the stars, Wilson perhaps forgot about his own players. He is still being criticized for allowing holdout cornerback Robert Massey to sit out six games and holdout linebacker Eric Hill to sit out two.

“It has not worked out as planned,” said Bill Bidwill, Cardinal owner. “But it’s not over with yet.”

No, but it will be as soon as he fires Wilson and Bugel, which he said he would do if they didn’t finish 9-7 or better. To do that, the Cardinals must win seven of their last eight games.

Another team that has struggled with free agency has been the Packers, who won only one of their first four games with four free-agent starters.

“It has taken us a little time, but that adjustment period will be part of the game forever,” said Bob Harlan, Packer president. “Bringing in new people every year, which will be part of the game now, we will all have to live with slow starts.”

The Packers have indeed played better lately, winning their last three games. And just on the basis of two sacks in the final two minutes of that dramatic Sunday night game against the Broncos, Reggie White is one free agent who has been worth every penny.

SCORECARD

The worst free-agent signing? How about Tootie Robbins, a tackle who was given a three-year, $4.7-million contract by the New Orleans Saints, then was cut Aug. 3?

The best free-agent signing? Why not Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler? Nobody has done more to change the complexion of a team.

“Guys at skill positions have seemed to have an easier time in free agency,” said Jeff Diamond, Minnesota Viking vice president.

Now, if only the Raiders had also signed a free-agent running back. . . .

The All Free-Agent team: Quarterbacks Hostetler and Wade Wilson, New Orleans; running backs Marcus Allen, Kansas City, and Keith Byars, Miami; receivers Mark Ingram, Miami, and Billy Brooks, Buffalo; offensive linemen Bill Fralic, Dave Lutz and David Richards, Detroit, and Will Wolford, Indianapolis.

Defensive lineman White, Green Bay; linebackers Bailey and Brooks, and Kevin Greene, Pittsburgh; defensive backs Ronnie Lott, New York Jets, and Martin Mayhew, Tampa Bay.

THEY SHOULD HAVE LET HOWIE LONG TACKLE HIM

Some members of the Los Angeles Police Department were irked, and rightly so, when NBC announcer Charlie Jones criticized them over the air Sunday after an officer had tackled a 20-year-old man who had run across the Coliseum field near the end of the Raiders’ loss to San Diego.

Said Jones as the cameras showed several policeman surrounding the man: “Goodness . . . I think that is a bit of an overkill. . . . You’ve got nine or 10 policemen, you don’t need to hurt anybody . . . a complete overreaction.”

Fans who run onto the field need to be dealt with firmly, before they hurt the players. The other idiots who have moved down to the first row and are waiting to do the same need to be persuaded that it’s not the thing to do.

How soon we forget about Monica Seles and the kitchen knife.

“There is a lot of crowd psychology involved there,” said Garrett Zimmon, an LAPD commander who was on the Coliseum sideline Sunday. “If nothing happens to that fan, that sends a message to everyone else that it is all right. And if a bunch of fans start doing it, we have a serious problem.

“Just look at what happened up at Wisconsin last week.”

Jones later said: “I have great respect for the LAPD. . . . If I upset them, I’m terribly sorry . . . but he had already slowed down and stopped. They could have just led him off to the side and gotten on with the game.”

Until the next fool took the field a few seconds later.

GO FIGURE

--When the Indianapolis Colts play the Redskins at Washington Sunday night, the Colts will be returning to their old neighborhood for the first time since they left Baltimore after the 1983 season.

--Rookie Tom Scott of East Carolina was so fat when he reported to the Cincinnati Bengals’ training camp that he had to change positions, from tackle to guard. This week, he will be back at tackle for the first time after losing 42 pounds.

--Looking for a second-half sleeper? Try these guys: Bill Parcell’s New England Patriots have outgained opponents in each of the last four weeks, the team’s longest such streak since 1979. Four of their seven losses were by a total of 10 points.

--Troy Aikman still has not thrown an interception since Matt Darby picked off one of his passes at the goal line to seal the Buffalo Bills’ victory on Sept. 12, the Cowboys’ last loss. Aikman’s streak has reached an NFL-high 132 attempts.

--My, what durability: Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers has inherited the longest consecutive-starts streak for quarterbacks with 25. Brent Favre, who became a starter last year, ranks fourth on the active list.

--After five years of pouting, Tom Landry has finally agreed to allow himself to be inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor. It will happen Sunday.