It’s a Quarterback Sneak

The morning began with a car slowing down outside the Browns’ NFL draft headquarters and the driver screaming, “Don’t pick Couch; we want Ricky.”

The refrain continued on the radio with “Greg from Akron” insisting the Dawg Pound be thrown “the next Jim Brown” instead of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch.

An hour later the Browns not only passed on Ricky Williams to anoint Couch their great franchise hope, but the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals never took a look, and then the shocker of the first round, the running back-poor Indianapolis Colts went for a guy who ran for 3,319 fewer yards than the Heisman Trophy winner.

Crazy, just crazy, which of course was Mike Ditka’s cue.

“I love the kid,” said Ditka, who made no secret before the draft of his interest in Williams. “He’s what we really need. He gives us what Walter Payton gave us in Chicago.”

Ditka, doing a pretty good Bobby Beathard NFL draft-day imitation, traded all of New Orleans’ selections this year to Washington and the Saints’ first- and third-round choices next year--potentially eight players overall--to take Williams--dreadlocks, tongue ring, tattoos and all--with the fifth pick.

“It was kind of a shock to be the second running back [picked],” Williams said. “But I think there’s even more relief knowing I’m going to play where they don’t care about the way I look. I can be myself and be very comfortable in New Orleans, hopefully thrive there, also.”

The Colts, who traded Marshall Faulk earlier this week to St. Louis, announced publicly they preferred Miami running back Edgerrin James because “his hands were more natural,” allowing him to catch the ball better.

Oregon quarterback Akili Smith, who went to Cincinnati with the third pick, however, suggested to reporters in New York that Williams became available to New Orleans for different reasons.

“I was sitting next to [former Kansas City Chief coach] Marty Schottenheimer,” Smith said, “and heard him say something about the owner of the Colts thought signing Ricky might be tough to do because of his agent, Master P.”

Tattletale.

But then understandably Smith was on edge, armed with his story of misfortune swirling around yet another agent--his own--Leigh Steinberg.

“There’s nothing that someone in the Cleveland organization could say now that I would have confidence in,” Steinberg said after believing he was close to a deal Friday evening that would have prompted the Browns to make Smith the first pick. “I don’t know what happened to common courtesy and honest dealing.”

Hello, this is the NFL, and on a day like this the bizarre rules and believe who you will.

“Tim Couch has always been the guy,” said Dwight Clark, Cleveland’s director of football operations. “He’s always been the guy. He’s always been the leader. He’s always been the one that rallied the troops. He set records in high school, he set records in college, and we expect him to set records here.”

If Tim Couch has always been the guy, then why were they toying with the idea of selecting Smith less than 12 hours before the draft?

The Browns said they reached the unanimous opinion Thursday that Couch should be their top selection, but then demanded that he agree to a contract before they went on the clock.

When negotiations with Couch’s agent Tom Condon broke down Friday night, tempers flared, and the Browns began to court Smith.

“We were prepared to make a move,” Clark said.

How would they have explained to their fanatic fans they had elected to take their second choice after a year of homework in order to secure a contract agreement?

The Browns presented a contract to Steinberg on Friday night calling for Smith to receive a $12-million signing bonus. Steinberg told the team he and his client were “warm” to such an offer, but insisted negotiations could go no further if the team was using Smith as leverage to sign Couch.

“I asked that a second time on a later phone call and was told this was coming directly from Carmen: ‘We have a sincere interest,’ ” Steinberg said. “They said they would get back to us at seven in the morning. Seven passed, eight passed and about 10:30 a Cleveland TV reporter asked me for my reaction on the signing of Couch.

“I couldn’t believe it. I have absolutely no idea why they did this. I’ve had seven players taken first in the draft and it was never like this.”

Smith, who had brought 47 family members and friends with him to New York for the draft--waiting to hear if their hero was Cleveland-bound--landed in Ohio, but with the Bengals, known best for losing and their stinginess in contract negotiations.

“It was leverage all the way,” said Smith, igniting an Ohio battle for years to come. “But now I’m going to play them twice a year and it’s going to motivate me quite a lot.”

Couch, who agreed to a seven-year, $48-million contract with a $12.25-million signing bonus and the chance to collect $59.4 million if all incentives are reached, solidified his standing with the Browns after changing his grip on the football.

“I put up big numbers in high school and big numbers in college,” said Couch, the national prep player of the year who was recruited by Tennessee but went to Kentucky rather than play behind Peyton Manning. “It seemed to all come down to a workout last week.”

Couch performed poorly in a March 11 workout, but then Cleveland Coach Chris Palmer noticed in a picture of Couch taken while he was a freshman at Kentucky that he was holding the ball differently now while throwing. He asked Couch, who had changed his grip beginning his sophomore season, to hold the ball as he had as a freshman in an April 11 practice session, and after tossing 115 balls, the Browns were sold.

“The difference in the workouts was night and day,” Palmer said. “He wiped out any doubts we had and we walked away from that workout thinking that this is our guy. Going into the April 11 workout, though, Tim was definitely behind Akili.”

Of course, he fell behind him again Friday night when the Browns couldn’t get him to agree to a contract, but then vaulted ahead at just the right time, giving birth to a new draft-day cliche: “We took the best player available who agreed to take whatever we were offering.”

The Browns, back in business after a three-year break and taking a quarterback in the first round for the first time since 1970 with Mike Phipps, said Ty Detmer is presently the team’s starting quarterback--once again stretching their credibility.

In Philadelphia, meanwhile, the Eagles slipped Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb between the selections of Couch and Smith, which drew boos from NFL fans in New York, who had been chanting, “We want Ricky.”

It was the first time since 1971 when Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning and Dan Pastorini were selected that the draft began with the selection of three quarterbacks. And the run was on.

Central Florida’s Daunte Culpepper earned a job as clipboard holder behind Randall Cunningham and Jeff George on the Vikings’ roster on the 11th selection, and Chicago, as it had hoped, followed with UCLA quarterback Cade McNown, making it five quarterbacks in the first dozen choices. Tampa Bay added Tulane quarterback Shaun King in the second round after acquiring Eric Zeier earlier from Baltimore.

Baltimore, which signed Scott Mitchell as its reclamation project earlier, continued to gamble by trading for Ram quarterback Tony Banks.

While the draft was rich with quarterbacks, it was Washington that struck gold, wanting Georgia cornerback Champ Bailey and getting him despite moving down in the first round. Benefiting from Indianapolis’ decision to leave Williams on the board, the Redskins traded with New Orleans and then packaged five choices to deal again with Chicago to move from fifth to 12th and back to seventh.

“Everyone felt at No. 4, Indianapolis was going to take a running back,” Washington General Manager Charley Casserly said. “Everyone assumed it was Ricky Williams. We were wrong. So we moved back two spots, got a No. 1 next year and the player we were going to take at No. 5.”

The Redskins are armed with three first-round picks in next year’s draft, while Bailey, a combination cornerback and wide receiver, will be immediately inserted into the starting lineup and cornerback Cris Dishman will be released Monday.

The Rams, who dealt disappointing receiver Eddie Kennison to New Orleans a few weeks ago for a second-round pick, used the sixth choice on North Carolina State wide receiver Torry Holt. Two picks later, the Cardinals gave quarterback Jake Plummer a promising wide receiver, Ohio State’s David Boston.

USC’s Chris Claiborne, projected as high as the fourth pick a few weeks ago, made Detroit’s day at No. 9, and Arizona cornerback Chris McAlister completed the top 10 selections by going to Baltimore.

Baltimore, of course, has the old Browns, now known as the Ravens, who will be playing in a new sold-out Cleveland Stadium come early November against Couch & Company.

“Coming out of high school I was the national player of the year and dealt with that pressure and expectations,” Couch said. “Going to college, Kentucky was 1-10 the year before I got there, so I kind of felt like it was a rebuilding process where all the pressure was put on my shoulders to rebuild the program. It’s kind of like here where we’re starting from scratch.”

* BREAKING IT DOWN: T.J. Simers looks at the first round, providing facts and opinions. Page 13

* NOT A LONG WAIT: USC’s Chris Claiborne and UCLA’s Cade McNown were hot commodities. Page 15

THE FIRST ROUND

1. CLEVELAND

Tim Couch, QB: Kentucky

2. PHILADELPHIA

Donovan McNabb, QB: Syracuse

3. CINCINNATI

Akili Smith, QB: Oregon

4. INDIANAPOLIS

Edgerrin James, RB: Miami

5. NEW ORLEANS

Ricky Williams, RB: Texas

6. ST. LOUIS

Torry Holt, WR: North Carolina State

7. WASHINGTON

Champ Bailey, CB: Georgia

8. ARIZONA

David Boston, WR: Ohio State

9. DETROIT

Chris Claiborne, LB: USC

10. BALTIMORE

Chris McAlister, DB: Arizona

11. MINNESOTA

Daunte Culpepper, QB: Central Florida

12. CHICAGO

Cade McNown, QB: UCLA

13. PITTSBURGH

Troy Edwards, WR: Louisiana Tech

14. KANSAS CITY

John Tait, OT: Brigham Young

15. TAMPA BAY

Anthony McFarland, DT: Louisiana State

16. TENNESSEE

Jevon Kearse, LB: Florida

17. NEW ENGLAND

Damien Woody, C: Boston College

18. OAKLAND

Matt Stinchcomb, OT: Georgia

19. NEW YORK GIANTS

Luke Petitgout, OT: Notre Dame

20. DALLAS

Ebenezer Ekuban, DE: North Carolina

21. ARIZONA

L.J. Shelton, OT: Eastern Michigan

22. SEATTLE

Lamar King, DE: Saginaw Valley State

23. BUFFALO

Antoine Winfield, CB: Ohio State

24. SAN FRANCISCO

Reggie McGrew, DT: Florida

25. GREEN BAY

Antwan Edwards, DB: Clemson

26. JACKSONVILLE

Fernando Bryant, DB: Alabama

27. DETROIT

Aaron Gibson, OT: Wisconsin

28. NEW ENGLAND

Andy Katzenmoyer, LB: Ohio State

29. MINNESOTA

Dimitrius Underwood, DE: Michigan State

30. ATLANTA

Patrick Kerney, DE: Virginia

31. DENVER

Al Wilson, LB: Tennessee