The Draft Gurus: NFL’s 6 Best Personnel Men

George Young was a genius a decade ago when he put together the Giants who won two Super Bowls.

“Now I’m a bum,” says Young, who hasn’t had a first-rate first-round pick since Rodney Hampton in 1990 and regularly takes heat on New York talk shows.

This is life in the NFL. Where would Bill Walsh be if he had taken Steve Dils--as he almost did--instead of Joe Montana in the third round of the 1979 draft? In the drafting business, today’s heroes are tomorrow’s numskulls.

Here’s a look at the NFL’s current top six personnel men:

1. Jimmy Johnson, Dallas-Miami.

The one coach among many who try (Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Don Shula, etc . . . ) who is as good or better as a personnel man than a coach. He built the Cowboys with the draft choices he got for Herschel Walker, moving up to get Emmitt Smith in the first round in 1990 and also finding small-college gems like Erik Williams in the third round and Leon Lett in the seventh.

Jimmy knows it, too.

“It’s no different than someone in school who is thoroughly prepared to take a test,” he says of his draft preparation. “They look forward to it.”

So Johnson’s first draft in Miami netted seven players who contributed as rookies, including middle linebacker Zach Thomas, taken in the fifth round, and third-rounder Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the first Miami running back in 18 years to rush for 1,000 yards.

2. Bill Polian, Carolina, and John Butler, Buffalo.

Group these two together because they teamed to build the Bills who won four straight AFC titles from 1990-93. Polian was general manager and Butler the personnel director. They’re especially good late in the first round (Will Wolford, John Fina, Thomas Smith, Henry Jones) and past that (Thurman Thomas in the second, Andre Reed in the third).

Polian is also one of the main reasons Carolina was in the NFC title game in its second year, seeing through the alleged flaws in Kerry Collins’ delivery and taking him with the Panthers’ first pick two years ago. He also did a superior job at free agency.

3. Ron Wolf, Green Bay.

In vogue now because the Packers won the Super Bowl, but a solid personnel man for a long time. Wanted Brett Favre, but just missed in the second round in 1991, when he was with the Jets, then traded for him when Wolf arrived in Green Bay a year later. Got the likes of Edgar Bennett, Dorsey Levens, Robert Brooks, Mark Chmura, Brian Williams, Antonio Freeman and other Super Bowl fixtures in lower rounds.

4. Tom Donahoe, Pittsburgh.

Low-profile but highly effective. Saw a way to combine Kordell Stewart’s desire to play quarterback with his athletic skills, and finds unsung players to fill in for the injured and departed. Thus was Jason Gildon able to step in when Greg Lloyd was hurt last season. Drafts for depth, knowing it will be needed.

“Some teams may throw darts at the wall in the later rounds. We don’t,” Donahoe says.

5. Jerry Reichow, Minnesota.

Why didn’t the Vikings plummet to the bottom of the NFL when Mike Lynn, now departed, traded away the franchise for Walker? Because Reichow found players like Terry Allen in the eighth round and free agents like John Randle to make up for the loss of the team’s top draft choices in the early ‘90s. Brad Johnson, now the quarterback, was a ninth-round pick in 1992 after playing little behind Casey Weldon at Florida State.