USFL Fragments: '94 Draft Report, or, History on Horseback

 

It wasn't clear who'd make a run at Dan Wilkinson in the USFL. Ohio State was technically in New Jersey's territory since '83, though they had "allowed" Chicago to sign a few Buckeyes over the years, part of this was out of Stan Chera's willingness to help build up the league and his investment. He didn't need Everett and Byars in '86–he had Flutie and Hersch–and they had a title, Boz, and signed Bill Romanowski in '88. This let the Blitz ink Chris Spielman. Bobby Olive and Scottie Graham weren't flashy. The Pritzker's assumed they could land Wilkinson given recent raids. But conditions changed: Boston took back New England, the Syracuse pipeline was down to a trickle. The Trump Memorial Dome project in west Manhattan ground down to a halt.

Commissioner Grover Debs would've sided with Chera had this been Oklahoma or San Antonio, but Chicago was a big market and Ditka's ousting–and the Bears in a nadir–meant blood in the water; Michael Jordan's retirement meant that maybe the Blitz would have undivided attention all spring. Whoever could piece together the best deal got him. 

"Blitz Blink!" caterwauled The Sun-Times, Chicago offering 7-years, $12 million fully guaranteed, but Wilkinson's group waived them off. Adverts on WGN and WDTN in Dayton, Ohio–Wilkinson's hometown–with messages from BJ Armstrong, Shawn Dunston, and ex-Sting legend Karl-Heinz Granitza asking Wilkinson to come "be the Glitz on our Blitz" was cited as the failure.

Stan Chera in New Jersey would wait it out. East German Sportecho ran a story January 9th that Tagliabue–looking to avoid humiliation–worked every other NFL owner into forcing Mike Brown to dump the top pick to a club who would sign Big Daddy. Detroit Lions' "Labor Specialist and Security Attache" Adolf Galarraga–since recovered from a stab wound by an irate fan the previous spring -–suggested the League fund Bob Avakian's endorsed tickets in the upcoming city council and Hamilton county board elections in a bid to kill a stadium deal for the Bengals. Paul waived it off, citing the club's poor play even drawing the ire of Westside Catholics and local GOP unwilling to part with tax revenue. Kidnap his family? Mike was childless. Jim Irsay, Al Davis, Browns owner George Steinbrenner, and Jerry Jones suggested outright confiscation and sale to Bill Cosby's group, still itching to break-in. Bills' owner Ralph Wilson–himself a decade-long holder of Jim Kelly's rights and deeply worried they'd come for him eventually–pulled Brown aside and told him to cough up the pick.

They didn't need to black bag Mike Brown at a Hamilton, Ohio Gold Star and fly him to New York, but they did it anyway. He was given three options. Two first round picks and Garrison Hearst, two first-rounders and a 3rd in '95 from the Giants, or be compensated $2.5 million for the franchise, with America's Dad becoming the first African-American owner of a professional sports franchise (not completely true: a group of Black Israelites hold 2% of the Blitz and descendents of Woody Strode own 10% of the Express–ed.). Brown took the Big Red offer via Larry Wilson. Cardinal Central Committee authorized a 6-year, $13 million offer with a $1 million bonus. 

But the Generals and his group were already in Dayton. The deal: 6-years, $19.6 million, second highest for a defensive lineman in the league. The prospect of playing in New York alongside fellow buckeye Alonzo Spellman the clincher. Where Stan could get that dough was a puzzler, though Prodigy and Source message boards suggested Communist involvement via the International Friendship Development Fund or Pyongyang counterfeiters. Fran Tarkenton suspected Ivana Trump, whose family had connections to Czechoslovakia and the KGB. Whatever, thought most press and fans. It beat New Jersey relying on a platoon of good but undersized George Rooks, old man Bill Pickell, and oft-injured John Bosa, who would be among final cuts. Rooks would ship to Tampa Bay after Shane Curry bolted for cash-rich Indy. 

Chicago took cash reserved for Wilkerson to land potatoed-headed dreamboat Trev Alberts and Notre Dame Medium Daddy Bryce Young, two 1st rounders projected by SI mystic Dr Z. Young was a territorial pick, but Nebraska's draft status meant Trev had to wait. Birchers on Prodigy murmured that the USFL Central Committee informed other clubs to let him fall to Chicago, as a 6-year, $8.5 million deal had been offered to Alberts' father in Little Havana hours ahead of the Orange Bowl.  

The NFL did secure Trent Dilfer and Heath Shuler, both of whom signed on condition they both go in the first round. They saw what the League did in '93–securing Bledsoe and Mirer and then punishing them to 2nd round selections, where the Bills and Bears negotiated cheaper deals.

Neither Oakland nor Memphis made plays for the pivots. The Invaders lacked liquidity; The Showboats had Brett Favre. Few around Graceland wept: Beale Street was populated by Ole Miss, Memphis, and Arkansas fans. Prodigy was a buzz with another plot: USFL Central Command fed false information to Chris Mortensen, Mel Kiper, and Joe Theismann that both clubs were putting together "substantial offers" in hopes to clip them. This would lead Tagliabue and the League to jump on guarantees. In his weekly BircherSports column, Fran Tarkenton would connect the "USSRFL" to an "octopidic" plot to collude with Super Agent Drew Rosenhaus to drive up salaries and bonuses, helping him land big deals for both hurlers while swaying other players to desecrate the game and play out of season. 

Another demerit in the black book for Paulie: the loss of Charlie Ward. East German Deutsch Sportecho garnered controversy for a cover depicting the Heisman winner in a fashion patterned after the original movie poster for Mandingo. The communist rag tried to mock the "still inconceivable nature of the NFL monolith in face of changing conditions." Ward's desire to wait where he landed–he was pro level on the Grid and the Court–might have been enough to shut him out.

Everyone was shocked by the 9-year, $45 million deal bandied, then proffered, by the Bandits. Ward signed on January 10th. Those numbers were not entirely real: it was $3 mil a year with a $2 million signing bonus and a $16 million annuity that'd kick-in if Ward stayed committed beyond '94 and didn't pursue the NBA. As an entertainer himself, fellow 'Nole Burt Reynolds also understood keeping options open as long as possible. In the 9 days between their National championship and the inking, Ward–through his reps–informed the NFL of the Tampa deal and expressed that he would wait if offered a commitment like others. "You're too short," blurted Jerry Jones on the conference call. That Dilfer and Schuler got sheets in the interim angered the otherwise shy slinger. Bandits head coach Ken Riley welcomed him quickly, relieved he had an option guy. Gino Torretta strained one of those Alan Alda grins white folks do upon a new limitation or change. Tampa sold another 10,000 season tickets. 

Beyond Ward though, the rookie QB signings by the USFL left no spots on fan brains, no hair raising on arms. Kevin Murray's departure left San Antonio thin beyond Bucky, so Landry kept 15th rounder Clint Dolezal of East Texas. Tom told an Express beat writer that "Doley" "looked like Staubach if the sun was in your eyes." 

Mike Perez's sudden holdout in August over unpaid bonuses resulted in a transfer market deadline dump to Green Bay, where he took the reins in Week 8 and led the Pack to a 9-7 record and their first playoff win since '82. Denver head coach Babe Perreli seemed resigned to handing the keys to Ty Detmer. A local favorite among the hive of Mormons; the Heisman winner had made just two appearances and one start in two years. This led secular Gold fans to fret all fall.

Woody Paige returned to doomsaying after Anthony Calvillo--a stub out of Utah State–won the starting role after throwing for 579 with 4 tds and 4 picks against Birmingham in a preseason game in Shreveport. Tony bounced around JuCos before landing with the Aggies and winning the Vegas Bowl. He felt he could go pro, but no one scouted him. He landed in Denver because they had one territorial pick left; his deal cheapish at 3-years, $290,000. Babe liked his arm, and kept talking to beat writers about the "click" sound the ball made every time it landed in a receiver's hands. Like when a kid puts an accessory into the hand of a Playmobil figure: a predestined, designed pop, like the tomahawk belonging in the Chief's hand. Predestined. The only concern was if he'd be able to see over his offensive line. 

Anhell–he changed the spelling to be more phonetic–Cabrini had shifted his focus from vanguarding worker-managed AMC to the Panthers; the clubs' growing, rabid fanbase made "games feel like North Korean Liberation Day celebrations"--per George Will–due to the noise and pageantry.

The Champagne Cats had essentially locked down much of the talent in the state and Upper Midwest, but struggled to find a QB. Foggie's swerve was fading and Krieg–reliable like the Eagle–lacked the vision and elan of the Javelin. As with Mrs. Berhing's dream of Damon Allen as a Seahawk in '93, Cabrini himself saw a Napoleon–history on horseback–while in slumber. 

"A tall man with Raven hair, auburned a little on inspection under fluorescent light, not one of us or anyone, really. I see him not throwing Wilsons, but Light" read the memo to the scouting office of three. Cabrini went on and on–he earned the nickname "Fidel" for his propensity to rhapsodize; said he dreamed of a man working in a HyVee flinging toilet paper rolls like bolts of lightning. "He's out there." Head scout Albrecht DeLigt, Camel just hanging on by his lower lip, sat perplexed. Cabrini hired Albie because he had a "prose mind but a poet's heart."

Rebuffed by the Packers, Chargers, and Bengals, an NFL scout named Dan Shonka started calling USFL teams in late December to tell them about Kurt Warner–"like Curt but with a K." He had seen tape of 12 games and attended 3; Shonka got DeLigt's name when Northern Iowa head coach Terry Allen told him that Albrecht was also a UNI alum and might hear him out. The Cats scout read Shonka's report and watched tapes in between Bud diesels. In Warner, he saw the flings of light Cabrini typed and underscored in the playoff loss to Boston U. Saw them especially in moments with Kurt's back against the wall. The USFL draft was 22 rounds and after about the 9th one could daydream and longshot, as clubs focused on their territorial maps or the transfer market for pivots. That Warner might be a Christian Warrior type–a trait unwanted by even clubs like Oklahoma–helped Michigan grab him in the 17th. 

When Kurt Warner threw a Charmin on request from Cabrini, all watching wept. Warner took $95,000 with a $25k bonus if he could crack the top 3. Head coach Johnnie Walton was suspicious–he had no input on the selection and wasn't happy about the Foggie trade in November. Mouse Davis–the team's new quarterback coach–saw The Archetype of the run-and-shoot, a corn-fed squarehead/middle european hybrid Jim Kelly wasn't. Walton immediately pushed Warner past Erik White into the third slot after a 7-7-56-1 performance in the 4th quarter of the Amsterdam exhibition against Oakland. After a 28-41-287-3 performance against New Jersey in West Berlin, Walton cut presumed number three Art Schlichter and dropped White into a pit. Krieg would still be number one–the steadier hand–but Mother Destiny began laying out the table.