Seahawks, Chargers Are Off the Hook, for Now

Bill Walsh and Ron Wolf oversaw their final NFL drafts for the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers last weekend.

Only years will tell which general managers will one day be considered their heirs.

But the Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Holmgren--who once worked for both--quieted questions about whether he can handle the general manager role in addition to coaching after a savvy draft that capped a run of eye-catching off-season moves.

Others who made the strongest moves to strengthen their teams included the San Diego Chargers’ John Butler--bold enough to risk ridicule by trading the No. 1 pick--and the St. Louis Rams’ Charley Armey, who controlled almost 10% of the first-round picks and used all three on defensive players to shore up a dethroned Super Bowl champion that gave up more points than any other team.

Even though this draft seemed to mark a changing of the guard, one oldster proved he isn’t any Mr. Irrelevant yet.

The Atlanta Falcons’ Dan Reeves pulled off the splashiest move of all by trading for the top pick to select Michael Vick, giving San Diego only the fifth overall pick, a third-rounder, a second-rounder next year and receiver Tim Dwight for an electrifying quarterback prospect.

Over the next day, Butler’s reputation changed directions faster than Vick on a Virginia Tech scramble.

But when the Chargers came away from the draft with running back LaDainian Tomlinson and quarterback Drew Brees--third and fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting--Butler suddenly looked more like a gambler smart enough to walk away from the table than one who would risk going bust on one hand.

If anyone had said at the end of the season the Chargers would have Doug Flutie, Tomlinson, defensive end Marcellus Wiley and Brees, it would have been declared an unqualified success.

Exactly how the Vick deal will be rated in the long term is a matter that will have to wait.

For the moment, the Chargers have nothing to regret after two days that unfolded so perfectly they were even able to unite two brothers, taking USC linebacker Zeke Moreno in the fifth round to join his brother Moses, a reserve quarterback.

Their biggest remaining need is for offensive linemen--though they drafted Washington’s Elliot Silvers in the fifth round and Purdue’s Brandon Gorin in the seventh, sticking to Butler’s general philosophy of drafting players who won in college.

Time will tell.

Holmgren, the consensus early winner this year, understands that.

“Are there certainties in this business? No,” he told reporters after Day 1. “The draft is not that way. It’s not.”

Holmgren took care of Seattle’s quarterback situation long before the draft, getting Matt Hasselbeck--a player he knows well--from Green Bay for a swap of first-round picks and a third-round pick.

Then he deftly traded down a mere two spots in the first round to allow Walsh to pick Cal defensive end Andre Carter--recouping the third-round pick he spent on Hasselbeck and still getting receiver Koren Robinson with the ninth pick overall.

Robinson is slightly risky because of questions about his discipline, but with tremendous upside: People like to mention the name Randy Moss.

With their second first-round pick--17th overall--the Seahawks got offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson, considered one of the sure-fire, low-risk picks in the draft.

The Seahawks also picked up cornerback Ken Lucas in the second round and a fullback, Heath Evans, in the third.

When you consider Holmgren already added free-agent tackles John Randle and Chad Eaton, linebacker Levon Kirkland and safety Marcus Robertson to the defense, the Seahawks look ready for the playoffs.

Another team plotting a big turnaround is the Rams. Someone wrote the number 471 on the grease board in the team’s war room--a reference to the number of points the Rams allowed, seventh most in NFL history. The Rams made a big move the morning of the draft, acquiring cornerback Aeneas Williams from Arizona.

Then the Rams used their first five picks on defensive players--including their three in the first round, one of them acquired when they traded Trent Green to Kansas City the day before the draft.

They grabbed pass-rusher Damione Lewis with the No. 12 pick, safety Adam Archuleta with No. 20, and reached a bit for defensive tackle Ryan Pickett at No. 29, when he was not considered a first-round prospect.

By the time Day 1 was over, the Rams had given new meaning to the concept of drafting for need.

Other draft winners included the Washington Redskins, who had only five picks but got receiver Rod Gardner with the 15th pick overall and stole cornerback Fred Smoot in the second round after others passed because of seemingly minor off-the-field issues.

Tampa Bay found Kenyatta Walker, a left tackle to protect new quarterback Brad Johnson, at No. 14.

Baltimore got an excellent pass-catching tight end in Todd Heap at No. 31. He’ll be the heir to Shannon Sharpe.

Which teams blew it?

Some believe the Minnesota Vikings did by picking running back Michael Bennett at No. 27 when the problem the Vikings had in the NFC title game against the New York Giants was a wretched pass defense.

But Robert Smith’s surprise retirement put the Vikings in need of a runner, and Dennis Green is better at drafting offensive players than defensive ones. The Vikings recovered defensively by picking tackle Willie Howard in the second round, and cornerback Eric Kelly in the third.

But there was no more puzzling or potentially explosive move than the New Orleans Saints’ decision to draft running back Deuce McAllister at No. 23, even though they already have Ricky Williams.

One issue is that Williams has been oft-injured. Another is that Williams, at home in La Jolla, is the only player under contract not attending the Saints’ off-season workouts and recently flirted with the idea of playing minor league baseball, though he said it wasn’t serious.

“I totally understand why they would question my dedication to the team,” Williams told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “But I know that before I can give myself to the Saints the way I need to, I have to take care of myself.”

The draft’s consensus loser?

The Dallas Cowboys.

Though USC linebacker Markus Steele might have been a steal in the fourth round, Dallas’ quarterback pick was strange. Unprepared for the end of Troy Aikman’s career, they needed a quarterback in a year they had no first-round pick after trading it last year for Joey Galloway.

The Cowboys’ choice was Quincy Carter, the Georgia quarterback rated as the No. 8 prospect at the position by some analysts.

The Cowboys took him with the 53rd pick, passing on Washington’s Marques Tuiasosopo and Florida State’s Chris Weinke.

“No matter what quarterback was on the board, other than Michael Vick, we were drafting Quincy Carter,” said Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, whose team signed UCLA cornerback Jason Bell to a free-agent contract after the draft.