By Dodging Draft, Beathard Is Turning Over a New Leaf

During last year’s NFL draft, Bobby Beathard, as he does most every year, began frantically calling around the league trying to obtain additional draft picks in exchange for the Chargers’ No. 1 pick in the next draft.

Although it’s a proven fact that Beathard can be ripped off on draft day, not one team responded positively, and so with no other option, the Chargers were forced to keep their top pick, everyone else in the league now kicking themselves and missing out today on the opportunity to select Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf.

How dumb are the Raiders, Chiefs, Jaguars, Steelers . . . ? The first order of business for every team preparing for the NFL draft should be ordering an open phone line to Beathard.

In a game that favors the team with the most impact players, five times Beathard has elected to give away the team’s future first-round choice for an immediate second-round pick.

* The Chargers took the 41st player (wide receiver Bryan Still) in the 1996 draft, giving Tampa Bay the chance to select wide receiver Reidel Anthony with the 16th selection in the first round last year. Who would you rather have, Still or Anthony?

* A year earlier, Detroit found starting linebacker Reggie Brown (now injured) with the Chargers’ 21st pick in Round 1, cheaply costing them the 51st player (running back Terrell Fletcher) in the 1995 draft.

* Carolina took the Chargers’ No. 1 pick in 1995, the 29th player available, in starting left tackle Blake Brockermeyer, while the Chargers took the 34th player (cornerback Terrance Shaw), the 98th player (linebacker Preston Harrison) and 100th pick (linebacker Chris Cowart). Harrison and Cowart never suited up for a game, while Shaw starts at corner.

* Beathard landed running back Natrone Means (41st selection) in this fashion in 1993 in a deal with San Francisco for the team’s first pick in 1994, the 15th selection, which ended up in the Rams’ hands to be bungled with the selection of starting offensive tackle Wayne Gandy.

* He gave the fifth pick (wide receiver Desmond Howard) in the 1992 draft to Washington for the 47th player (guard Eric Moten) and 140th in long-lost tackle Eric Jonassen.

He already has dealt away the team’s 1999 first-round pick to Arizona along with a combination of four players and picks to move from No. 3 to No. 2 today to get Leaf.

In the 19 drafts so far that Beathard has overseen for the Redskins and Chargers, only seven times has he made a first-round pick, and for the most part, with a keen eye for talent.

In Washington, his three first-round picks were cornerback Darrell Green, wide receiver Art Monk and offensive tackle Mark May. In San Diego they have been linebacker Junior Seau, defensive back Darrien Gordon--now the Broncos’ premier return specialist--Stanley Richard, the Redskins’ starting safety, and to demonstrate he’s human, defensive lineman Chris Mims, currently a free agent.

Now add Leaf, because no one recognized a year ago how bad the Chargers were going to be, and therefore how valuable their No. 1 pick would be.

Too bad they couldn’t have caught a glimpse of Coach Kevin Gilbride at work sooner--that would have had Beathard overwhelmed by suitors.

So what does this all say about Beathard, a personnel strategist who obviously lives for today and he will worry about next year when it will be time to deal away the future once again?

It says Beathard remains something special, oblivious to criticism, undeterred by risks or past mistakes, and a little lucky this year in still having his first-round pick.

Beathard’s seven trips to the Super Bowl as a talent evaluator for the Chiefs, Dolphins, Redskins and Chargers are the most for anyone in his position in the league. He hired two great coaches in Joe Gibbs and Bobby Ross to use the talent he procured properly, and while he has some serious explaining to do after missing on Gilbride, he has tried to recover by hiring quarterbacks coach June Jones and offensive line coach Joe Bugel as Gilbride tutors.

But for all of his successes, he appears to be in a slump, his team dropping to 4-12 last season and looking like doormats once again with less than a handful of recognizable names on his roster. Hard to imagine the necessity for Beathard to prove himself again, but here it is.

“He puts pressure on himself every year just by trading No. 1 picks and taking risks, so I don’t notice any more pressure on him this year,” said Billy Devaney, a Beathard disciple since their days together in Washington and the Chargers’ director of player personnel. “Bobby’s always missed on people, and he would be the first to tell you. But look at his batting average and it’s still a hell of a lot better than anyone else’s.”

Passing on the chance to trade for quarterback Rob Johnson, who eventually went from Jacksonville to Buffalo for the ninth pick in the draft, Beathard gave Arizona owner Bill Bidwill five minutes to accept his proposal of a No. 1, No. 2, No. 1 in 1999, Eric Metcalf and Patrick Sapp to move from the third position in the draft to Arizona’s spot at No. 2. It should have taken Bidwill five seconds to accept, but he actually paused and wanted more time.

Beathard said no way. He told Bidwill that he had a chance to trade a second-round pick to the Jets for defensive lineman Hugh Douglas. Bidwill accepted, Douglas went to the Eagles for a No. 2, and although there was a league-wide sigh at the high price paid by the Chargers, they had a chance at a franchise quarterback.

“Has Bobby gotten gun-shy because of the criticism or some of the things that have happened?” Devaney said with a laugh. “All I can say is, if you only knew.

“We drafted a bunch of guys from small colleges last year, including two from North Carolina A&T;, and we took a lot of criticism for that. Well, this year there was a player we were discussing from North Carolina A&T;, and Bobby didn’t bat an eye. He had the coaches look closer at him, and we might pick him again, and why not if there’s a conviction there? That’s the thing about Bobby, he’s fearless.”

A cautious Beathard would be such a letdown, but it’s early, and there’s no way the draft ends with Beathard maintaining the status quo and making only three picks after the first round.

“Am I on the spot?” said Beathard. “If we don’t do well and [owners Alex and Dean Spanos] say, ‘Hey, we gotta make a change and you’re out,’ it happens. It’s not something I’d ever think about. I’m thinking we’re going to be better, and no one can convince me that we’re not better already.

“I’m so excited about this draft and doing everything we can to make this a better team. Playing it safe, well, that’s not me. And that’s not fun.”

Playing it safe would probably mean selecting Manning, which Indianapolis is expected to do. Beathard has no choice, but it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to learn that he prefers Leaf, and all that untapped potential and the risk in letting everything ride on it.

If he’s right in his assessment of Leaf, 10 years from now no one will be dwelling on what he gave away for the quarterback, but instead voters will be using it as additional ammunition to induct Beathard into the Hall of Fame.

If he’s wrong and Leaf doesn’t pan out, I’ll blame it on Gilbride.