Again, Beathard Saves His Best for Last

The NFL invited more than 300 players to be weighed and measured at this year’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and “footballsfuture.com” provided the results for another 55 players considered draft prospects.

There was no mention of Florida A&M; quarterback JaJuan Seider.

But you know who picked him Sunday, the NFL’s all-time master of no-names: Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard.

“His name probably wasn’t on the board for most teams and I couldn’t find his name in Buchsbaum or Kiper, well, I don’t read Kiper, but it wasn’t anywhere that I could find,” he said. “This is one of the most exciting guys in our draft; he’s got a gun. He’s as good a thrower as there is in the draft.”

And hardly anyone else has ever heard of him.

In what could very well be his last draft before retiring, Beathard closed the final two rounds with characteristic far-out reaches, as the Chargers announced they had taken Seider and Hampton guard Jason Thomas.

There’s no telling how good Thomas might be because the Charger public relations staff was unable to produce biographical information.

Indeed, if Beathard is retiring, the clever way to go out would have been to make up a no-name player like Jason Thomas and take him with his final pick.

Bobby Beathard spent much of his career taking risks, trading away No. 1 picks and giving his coach the personnel to advance to the Super Bowl. He did it as player personnel director in Miami, as general manager in Washington, and then again as general manager in San Diego.

The past few years have not been so magical, the draft-day strategy a disaster, the Ryan Leaf escapade a disappointment.

“Believe me, I would not let [Leaf] drive me out of here,” Beathard said. “Nothing is driving me out of the game. . . . it’s just exciting to think what I might be able to do [in retirement].

Beathard, 63, has 13 grandchildren and a dream for years to pull back from football and spend more time with his family. He purchased a second home in Steamboat Springs, Colo., to make it easier for family vacations. But by his own count he spends maybe three days there in the winter and another week in the summer.

“I’ve thought it would be just great if my son, Jeff [a Charger scout] went to training camp and I took his kids to Steamboat,” Beathard said. “I’m also having a good time in football again because of Coach Mike Riley, who just makes it fun here.”

The game has changed, however. There is no longer any time to develop the obscure potential tapped by Beathard.

“It used to be you could draft a player and develop him for two or three years,” he said. “Now you have coaches yelling at you to find players that can challenge for a starting spot right away.”

With that in mind, some teams focus on selecting players from only the large football conferences, believing those players are better prepared. Today many of them will be calling their friends around the league to ask, “Know anything about this quarterback Beathard took in the sixth round?”

“Maybe we’re right, maybe we’re wrong,” Beathard said. “But we sent people there from the organization and they all came away saying wow. We’ll just see.”

And that’s why a draft day with Beathard is so exciting. He only made three first-round picks in his 11 years with the Redskins, picking Darrell Green, Mark May and Art Monk--all great players. He followed the same pattern in San Diego, taking Junior Seau, but also trading away future No. 1 picks for immediate gratification on the football field.

He’s also mortgaged the future to go after someone named Bryan Still, not realizing he would be remembered as Bryan Stiff.

Sometimes it has worked, sometimes it hasn’t, but he has kept everyone honest with his gambling eye, and as impact players go, it will be hard to duplicate Beathard’s career.

As for this year’s draft, there’s no sense waiting two or three years to see how it turns out, so here are the winners and losers.

SAN FRANCISCO--A winner. They followed a plan and did not waver, passing when given the opportunity to take Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington, thereby accepting the chilling news of surrender that Jeff Garcia will be their ineffective quarterback this season. Their strategy may ultimately be judged idiotic, but after allowing 40 or more points five times last year, the 49ers acted decisively in grabbing three of the first 16 defensive players taken in the draft.

BALTIMORE--A winner. They needed firepower, had the fifth and 15th picks in the first round, swapped with Denver and took Jamal Lewis at No. 5 to carry the ball and with the Broncos’ pick at No. 10 landed Travis Taylor, who will try to catch the passes of Tony Banks and Trent Dilfer. Not surprisingly, the Ravens took the third quarterback selected: Louisville’s Chris Redman.

ATLANTA--A loser. They didn’t have a No. 1 pick, and after waiting for 36 players to drop off the board went for USC offensive lineman Travis Claridge, a nice enough sort probably, but the Rams averaged almost 15 more points a game than the Falcons, and Claridge is coming from a program that can’t even score more points than Notre Dame.

CAROLINA--A loser. The knock on first-round pick Rashard Anderson is he’s too tall to play effectively at corner and maybe should play safety. The knock on second-round pick Deon Grant is that he doesn’t like to tackle anyone. The knock on third-round pick Leander Jordan is he needs a lot of technique refinement. . . .

SEATTLE--A winner. The Seahawks had the best pick for value in round one with Alabama running back Shaun Alexander.

TAMPA BAY--A winner. You’re already sitting cozy, trading two No. 1 picks for Keyshawn Johnson a few days earlier, so who do you take with your second-round pick? Cosey Coleman, a comfortable fit at guard for a team positioned now to make a run for the NFC championship. Only one small detail remaining: Make a top-flight quarterback out of Shaun King.

WASHINGTON--A winner. How can you lose with two of the top three picks? But wouldn’t you just like to smoosh that cigar into the face of that smug little shrimp owner of the Redskins? He thinks he’s so smart passing on wide receiver Peter Warrick, and taking a solid but not-spectacular left tackle in Chris Samuels. We’ll see.

BUFFALO--A loser. What happened--their budget didn’t allow scouts to go to any big-time campuses? They led the league in taking stiffs from Tech: Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech. . . .

INDIANAPOLIS--A winner. They found the best inside linebacker available, BYU’s Rob Morris, and plugged him into a hole, setting themselves up as one of the favorites to win the AFC title. They also added another potential front-line player on defense in linebacker Marcus Washington.

CHICAGO--A winner. The good news is Georgia Tech wide receiver Dez White was still there in the third round. The bad news is there was something that scared 31 teams from taking him in the first round as most expected.

DALLAS--A big loser. The Cowboys used their top two choices on cornerbacks who run 40 yards in 4.45 seconds. That means they couldn’t catch Deion Sanders, who they will be replacing, if spotted a five-yard head start.

DENVER--A loser. The Broncos had the 10th pick and could have had wide receiver Travis Taylor, tight end Bubba Franks to replace the departed Shannon Sharpe, running back Ron Dayne, defensive end Shaun Ellis to replace a released Neil Smith or linebacker John Abraham. Instead they took cornerback Deltha O’Neal with the 15th pick, but probably could have gotten him if they had fallen back to the 22nd choice.

OAKLAND--A big winner. Maybe. If kicker Sebastian Janikowski is just happy to be in this country, toasting his good fortune, the Raiders will win more games. If the young man has a drinking problem, they were stupid taking this guy. Wide receiver Jerry Porter is considered a wild card too, with the kind of attitude one would expect from a Raider.

PHILADELPHIA--A winner. Top two choices in defender Corey Simon and wide receiver Todd Pinkston give Eagles chance of winning four or five games this year. It doesn’t get any better than that, unless you live in Philadelphia and are looking to boo something. So consider this: Pinkston ranks second on Southern Mississippi’s all-time catch and touchdown-catching lists behind Sherrod Gideon, who went to New Orleans in the sixth round.

NEW YORK JETS--A winner and a loser. Here’s the argument: Do you take four pretty good players with four first-round picks, or with all that bargaining power for the first time in NFL history, do you rise to the top to take a player like LaVar Arrington, whom you think will be the next Lawrence Taylor? You go to Super Bowls because you have really, really good players, although the Rams shot that theory all to hell, which makes this a really tough question to answer.

PITTSBURGH--A loser. The Steelers signed the franchise’s death warrant months ago. Choosing between personnel whiz Tom Donahoe and tyrant Coach Bill Cowher, owner Dan Rooney went with the fixed jaw. Cowher can’t figure out whether to make a receiver or a quarterback out of Kordell Stewart and now he’s making draft picks.

SAN DIEGO--A marginal winner because you could look up the names of Rogers Beckett and Damion McIntosh in Buchsbaum and Kiper and actually find them mentioned. And you know General Manager Bobby Beathard is retiring, because the guy who is going to replace him probably had him tied to a chair and gagged when it came time to try and trade away next year’s No. 1.

ST. LOUIS--A loser. Mike Martz came from nowhere to be the Ram coach because of all the speed he inherited on offense, so it’s no surprise that his first pick was one of the fastest running backs available, Arizona’s Trung Canidate. Let’s see how fast they take away Martz’s power for picking talent if this guy falls flat as most think.

ARIZONA--A winner, and that could be the first time that word has appeared in the same sentence along with Arizona. Top four picks look like keepers with defense getting a big boost from Raynoch Thompson, Darwin Walker and David Barrett. Who locked Bill Bidwill out of the war room?

CINCINNATI--A winner. The Bengals not only got Peter Warrick, but another solid choice at receiver in Ron Dugans, which means Carl Pickens is probably headed elsewhere. Cincinnati also added a quality defensive back in Mark Roman, and dealt a deadly blow to the Rams, taking tight end Brad St. Louis before St. Louis could pick him.

CLEVELAND--A loser. The Browns picked 13 players, and missed on every one of them. They could have had Arrington or Warrick, and took Courtney Brown. They took a specialist in receiver Dennis Northcutt with the second pick, and a ho-hum running back in Miami of Ohio’s Travis Prentice.

DETROIT--A loser. They took a 5-10 linebacker, Barrett Green, in the second round, which means he will have to wear heels, and that makes it difficult to run and tackle. They also took a defensive back in Todd Franz who had five interceptions in 40 games. That ought to really throw a scare into Brett Favre.

TENNESSEE--A winner if you don’t hold it against them using a fourth-round pick on a defensive back from Wisconsin, Bobby Myers, who failed his predraft physical examination. On a cheerier note, it doesn’t appear as if the Titans’ top two picks, linebacker Keith Bulluck and tight end Erron Kinney will require an ambulance to get to practice.

NEW YORK GIANTS--A loser. Unless Ron Dayne has the shoulders to carry all the lugs the Giants took in this draft, it’s going to be another long year. Wide receiver Ron Dixon, a third-round pick, should have been hanging around after the fifth round still waiting for a call.

NEW ORLEANS--A so-so winner. They didn’t have much of a chance after Mike Ditka’s handiwork, but they found a steal in the fifth round in Mississippi tackle Tutan Reyes, and if they can kick start the motor of Kansas State defensive end Darren Howard, they may not get clobbered, but only beaten somewhat badly this season.

NEW ENGLAND--Amazingly a winner. The Patriots did not have a first-round pick, but landed first-round talent in Hawaii tackle Adrian Klemm in the second round, and then addressed a serious need with the pick of Arizona State running back J.R. Redmond in the third round. It’s a proven fact that anyone who has initials for a first name is a cut above the crowd.

MIAMI--Forget it. The Dolphins no longer seem interested in winning. They didn’t have a No. 1 pick, and with their first choice in the draft took an offensive tackle, Todd Wade, who began his career at Mississippi as a fullback, before switching to defensive tackle and then the offensive line. You’d think a guy 6-7 and 320 pounds wouldn’t get pushed around like that.

MINNESOTA--A big maybe. You never know with Dennis Green’s draft whether the players are going to disappear in the middle of training camp or not.

KANSAS CITY--A winner. If you are going to play Elvis Grbac at quarterback and continue to sell out games in Arrowhead Stadium, you’re going to need a tall receiver who can jump high and save those fans sitting in the lower seats around the field. The Chiefs got their fan protector in Jackson State receiver Sylvester Morris.

JACKSONVILLE--A loser. Lots of reaches, including USC’s R. Jay Soward with the first pick and Northern Iowa center Brad Meester with the second. Jacksonville did not fill its specific needs, which means Coach Tom Coughlin will have that sneer plastered across his face all season long.

GREEN BAY--A winner. They don’t have to worry about getting a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for Mark Chmura now that they have Miami’s Bubba Franks to play the position. They also did well with Tennessee tackle Chad Clifton and Nebraska defensive tackle Steve Warren. You would have thought the way General Manager Ron Wolfe picked his new coach--closing his eyes and pointing to a name on a list of all the assistant coaches around the league--that he wouldn’t do so well in the draft.

And finally, the biggest loser of all, why of course--Ryan Leaf. When a reporter asked Seider, the Chargers’ quarterback draft choice, on a telephone conference call if he could beat out Leaf, a local San Diego columnist shouted: “Can he walk?”