Beuerlein Is Top Expansion Pick : Pro football: Jacksonville calls choice obvious as Carolina goes big on defensive players.

Long ago, Raider owner Al Davis resigned as a member of the Steve Beuerlein fan club. And Arizona Cardinal Coach Buddy Ryan doesn’t have time for him either. But Beuerlein is big in Florida.

There, a new NFL organization, the Jacksonville Jaguars, made the former Raider quarterback the top pick Wednesday in the league’s one-day expansion draft.

Beuerlein, who will make $2.7 million this year under a contract previously agreed to by Ryan, referred to his new leader, pass expert Tom Coughlin, and said: “It’s exciting to be with this coach.”

As the Jaguars divided selected NFL players with the Carolina Panthers of Charlotte, N.C., the Raiders lost defensive end John Duff, Jacksonville’s fourth pick, and cornerback Cary Brabham, Carolina’s 10th.

“They’re players you hate to lose, the kind you build a program around,” said Raider Coach Mike White.

The Rams lost running back Howard Griffith and wide receiver Richard Buchanan, who were 16th and 21st on Carolina’s list.

In the critical first 10 rounds, the Panthers, beginning life under a coach with a defensive background, Dom Capers, chose six defensive players, starting with Rod Smith, a cornerback discarded by New England Patriot Coach Bill Parcells.

For Jacksonville’s passing team, Coughlin drafted three offensive linemen in his top 10 along with two other offensive players.

Coughlin moved to the NFL from Boston College. Capers went to Carolina from Pittsburgh, where he was the Steelers’ defensive coordinator.

Said Raider executive Al LoCasale, who in 1968-70 helped Paul Brown build an expansion team, the Cincinnati Bengals, into a playoff team in a record three years: “Jacksonville and Carolina both got more talent than Cincinnati had when we started.”

In all, Carolina accepted 36 and Jacksonville 31 of the 168 athletes in the expansion pool. They ignored the others after the NFL’s 28 established clubs had each made six of last year’s veterans available.

Under NFL rules, the draftees must fit into each club’s $14-million payroll.

“Beuerlein is one of the elite players in this draft,” Coughlin said. “The fact that he’s a quarterback made it (the obvious choice.)”

In Los Angeles, Beuerlein first pleased but in time greatly displeased Davis.

Before the college draft in April, however, the Jaguars expect to have Beuerlein well grounded in Coughlin’s pass-based system, although, just in case, they will bring in three other quarterbacks. One is Heisman Trophy winner and seldom-used NFL veteran, Andre Ware.

Former NFL coach Bill Walsh, who expects Beuerlein to win out, suggested that Coughlin and his Jacksonville staff “may know more about him” than Davis, Ryan or Jimmy Johnson, the early ‘90s Dallas coach for whom Beuerlein also played.

“The (Jaguars) have studied him for months,” Walsh said.

The Panther coaches, meanwhile, studied defensive possibilities and settled on Smith as No. 1 for a reason that seemed obvious to their president, Mike McCormack.

“At a position that’s very important,” McCormack said, “Rod showed speed and intelligence.”

After the first 10 rounds Wednesday, the coaches seemed to be grab-bagging. But of their first 20 choices, there were eight linemen, four on each side of scrimmage, five defensive backs, two linebackers, two tight ends, a center, a quarterback and one running back, Griffith.

Mostly, the coaches ignored the high-priced veterans, concentrating on young players with presumed potential.

Of the first 36 selected, 24 made $200,000 or less last season in a league with an average salary of nearly $1 million.

Of three quarterbacks drafted, the last two were both Carolina picks, Doug Pederson of the Miami Dolphins and Jack Trudeau of the New York Jets.