Three Rounds Later, Rob Johnson's Long Day Fades to Black : USC: His coming-out party turns into a wake as six quarterbacks are selected--but not him.

By BILL PLASCHKE

April 23, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

As Rob Johnson stared out the window of a Newport Beach office and waited for his future Saturday, the water below turned from bright blue to black.

A TV cameraman fell asleep.

Cold cuts were nibbled, rearranged, nibbled, rearranged.

A photographer fell asleep.

Friends sat in a corner for five hours, sighed repeatedly, and left.

Cookies were crumbled.

ESPN became ESPN2.

Hands were wrung, faces were red, voices grew sharp.

Garbage cans overflowed.

Somebody asked: “Anybody want to take some of this meat home?”

When Johnson finally met a group of reporters who had waited down a hall for him for nearly six hours, only three remained.

And Johnson gave the interview by telephone . . . from a nearby restaurant.

What was supposed to be the coming-out party for a popular USC quarterback became the unhappiest place in Southern California when Johnson was not selected on the first day of the NFL draft.

Three rounds, 98 players. Six quarterbacks--and no Johnson.

And to think that nine months ago, he was considered possibly the No. 1 quarterback.

Early in the day, experts were saying that Warren Sapp, Miami defensive tackle, took the biggest plunge in the draft. But he dropped only from a top-five pick to No. 12.

By 7 p.m., Johnson dropped from a late first-round pick to nowhere. Nobody fell farther. Or harder.

Based on the average salaries of draft choices last year, Johnson lost more than $1.2 million over the life of an average three-year deal by falling from the first round to probably the fourth round today.

“I don’t know what happened,” Johnson said softly. “I guess I did something wrong, but I have no idea what it was.”

Even his sharpest critics never predicted this.

Although his stock fell during the season when his arm and game-breaking ability were questioned, nobody figured Johnson would drop below the middle of the second round.

Didn’t he throw 44 touchdowns passes with only 12 interceptions in his last two seasons? Doesn’t he have the size (6-feet-3), smarts and natural ability?

The knock is that he is not a good comeback or pressure player. Perhaps it hurt him that he never beat Notre Dame or UCLA.

But roommate Tony Boselli never beat them either, and he was taken as the second choice overall. USC linebacker Brian Williams was taken in the third round by the Green Bay Packers.

“It’s bewildering,” Boselli said. “I feel sorry for him.”

The best guess is that with teams looking for immediate help in these days of free agency, quarterbacks who may need seasoning are no longer commodities. And they can no longer be afforded under the salary cap.

Three years ago, perhaps, a quarterback like Johnson would have been a late first-round pick because a team knew it could afford to keep him for seven or eight years.

But apparently, no more.

“We thought Rob Johnson would be gone by now . . . but there must have been other good players people felt would be more productive early on,” said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Johnson was ignored by teams that desperately needed young quarterbacks--Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City--and passed over for the likes of New Mexico quarterback Stoney Case.

Stoney Case?

“It’s a little embarrassing,” admitted his mother, Debbie Johnson. “We’re just baffled by the all the information we got before the draft. Whoever gave it to us sure didn’t get it right.”

Late Friday night, after plans had been completed for this draft party at the offices of Johnson’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, mother knew best.

She wanted to cancel. She wanted to spare her son possible public disappointment.

“As soon as we heard that Jacksonville had traded with Green Bay for (quarterback) Mark Brunell, there went our safety net,” she said. “If all else fell through, we counted on Jacksonville at the end of the first round or beginning of the second round.

“I did not want to go into this without a safety net.”

But it was too late. A dozen reporters and nearly as many friends and family members gathered about 1 p.m.

An hour later, Jacksonville traded that final pick of the first round to Kansas City.

Several picks later, St. Louis, another strong possibility, selected an offensive tackle.

Finally at 4:15, with Buffalo scheduled to pick, a couch was cleared and cameras were arranged. The Bills had spoken to Steinberg earlier in the day.

“I really thought the Bills were going to be it,” Steinberg said from New York. Buffalo took quarterback Todd Collins from Michigan.

An hour later, when the Chicago Bears actually took a punter instead of Johnson, friends began gathering their things.

After sequestering himself for six hours, refusing to give interviews, Johnson gamely agreed to take questions at the end of the day. He had few answers.

But he did have promises.

“I have no doubt in my ability to start in the NFL, and start for a long time,” he said, then paused.

“I just don’t have a team to play for right now.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Calling Their Signals

Quarterbacks drafted Saturday: FIRST ROUND

3. Houston: Steve McNair, Alcorn State

5. Carolina: Kerry Collins, Penn State

SECOND ROUND

45. Buffalo: Todd Collins, Michigan

60. Pittsburgh: Kordell Stewart, Colorado

THIRD ROUND