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The league-mandated one-year suspension of Carolina Panthers cornerback Rashard Anderson on Thursday is the latest reminder of how miserable this franchise's fortune is with first-round draft choices.
Since their inaugural 1995 season, the Panthers have exercised nine first-round choices, including three in the debut campaign. With the events of Thursday, only two of those picks, middle linebacker Dan Morgan (2001) and defensive end Julius Peppers (2002), remain on the roster.
Morgan suffered through an injury-plagued rookie season last year and Peppers still has to prove to the skeptics that he is capable of playing hard on every snap.
"To say our record with first-round picks has been bad would be an understatement," acknowledged one Carolina official Thursday night. "Some of it is our own fault, and some of it is just bad luck, pure and simple. But the overall results, no matter the reason, are pretty (messy). These guys are supposed to be your building blocks. We don't have enough of them left to build a doll house."
|  | | Tim Biakabutuka rushed for only 2,530 yards in his six season with the Panthers. |
Only a few months on the job, rookie head coach John Fox is now aware of what his predecessors, Dom Capers and George Seifert, discovered: When considering first-round draft picks, don't walk under any ladders or in the path of black cats. Indeed, Fox might do well to tie a clove of garlic around his neck.
The litany of former Carolina first-round choices is a star-crossed lot.
The team had three first-rounders in '95, and all are now playing elsewhere. Quarterback Kerry Collins quit the team, citing lack of ardor for the game, in '98. Cornerback Tyrone Poole, who was a starter in each of his first three seasons with the Panthers, was nonetheless traded to the Indianapolis Colts in 1998 and is now with Denver. Offensive tackle Blake Brockermeyer left as an unrestricted free agent in 1999. He played three seasons for the Bears, is a free agent again and close to a deal with San Francisco.
Seven years after that initial draft, those three players should still be cornerstones for the Panthers, but all are gone and Carolina has little to show for them. The only return on the investment in the trio was the second-round selection the Panthers garnered for Poole in '99, a pick that was used on Chris Terry, the team's incumbent right offensive tackle.
The first-round choice in 1996, tailback Tshimanga Biakabutuka, was disappointing in his six-year tenure with the Panthers. He sustained a foot injury so severe last season that doctors briefly considered amputation, and he will be lucky to play again. Wide receiver Rae Carruth, the '97 first-rounder, was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and is in prison. Defensive lineman Jason Peter, the top pick in 1998, retired after a series of shoulder injuries.
Actually in '98, the Panthers forfeited their own first-round pick that year and in 1999 to sign "franchise" free agent defensive tackle Sean Gilbert from the Washington Redskins. Gilbert has been a perennial underachiever and, given his salary-cap number of $7.26 million for 2002, he conceivably could be released next month.
There is certainly no guarantee that Anderson, the top pick in the 2000 draft, will return to the Panthers next spring even if he complies with league stipulations that would allow him to apply for reinstatement. Ever since the ugliness of the Carruth murder trial, owner Jerry Richardson has stressed to his personnel department that character be a prime factor in deciding on draft choices, and he is increasingly intolerant of off-field indiscretions.
In fact, Richardson sternly lectured his top three choices in the 2000 draft -- Anderson, safety Deon Grant and guard Leander Jordan -- about the importance of their conduct off the field. A no-nonsense owner and a man of great integrity, Richardson will find it hard to reconcile Anderson's actions. It will be difficult for him to accept that a guy in whom the Panthers have invested $3.78 million so far, could record three positive drug tests in the past 11 months, as sources told ESPN.com that Anderson did.
No one should be too surprised, given Richardson's tack, if Anderson never plays again for the Panthers. Or if, years from now, he is recalled as just another of the Carolina first-round washouts.
Around the league
Don't be surprised if former Cleveland Browns vice president Dwight Clark extends overtures in the direction of Carolina, once he decides to get active again in seeking a front-office job. Clark is a native of Kinston, N.C., grew up in Charlotte and was a college star at Clemson. He still retains close ties to The Carolinas and is fond of the area. The Panthers' current personnel director, Jack Bushofsky, almost certainly will retire in another year or two. That might open up a spot for Clark, or the Panthers could bring him in before that and prepare him to take over the scouting department upon Bushofsky's retirement.
The high-profile and high-volume spitting match this week between Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick and the agents for linebackers Peter Boulware and Ray Lewis didn't help what was already an incendiary situation. Billick acknowledged he was "disappointed" that Lewis and Boulware didn't show up for voluntary minicamp workouts and suggested that agents Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker, who represent the linebackers, might teach their clients better communication skills. But it turns out that both players had informed the team, although not Billick directly, that they were not going to attend. The crux of the boycott, despite denials from Barnes, is that Boulware and Lewis want their contracts upgraded. In point of fact, the cap-strapped Ravens need to restructure the two deals to gain enough wiggle room to sign draft picks and perhaps bring back unrestricted free agent defensive tackle Sam Adams. But talks have grown sour and, with Billick throwing kerosene on an already raging fire, things will get uglier pretty quickly. The two players have reviewed the new contract to which the Ravens signed star offensive left tackle Jonathan Ogden in 2000, a deal that included a signing bonus of $16 million. Essentially the bonus was $12 million, but the Ravens rolled in the $4 million Ogden was to have made in base salary for that season. And that is precisely what Lewis and Boulware are now asking the team to do. Lewis is owed base salaries of $4.75 million each for 2002 and 2003. So he's suggesting Baltimore lump that $9 million-plus into what probably would be a signing bonus of $11 million-$12 million, and pay him about $20 million upfront. Boulware is due a base salary of $4.3 million for 2002, the final year of his existing contract, but will lower his salary to the minimum if the team ties in $4 million extra as a signing bonus. The irony in all of this is that Billick has ostensibly charged Barnes and Parker as being enemies of Ravens Nation. Ironic because both agents are close friends with Baltimore vice president Ozzie Newsome and were instrumental in getting him an interview request from the Atlanta Falcons for the team's general manager vacancy. Alas, despite the hard work of the agents, Newsome was denied permission by owner Art Modell to interview for the Atlanta post.
Best line of the week came from Barnes, who didn't back down when Billick publicly attacked him, and who took a pretty good shot at the insufferably egotistical head coach. Billick ranted in mid-week about how he wasn't going to let agents dictate to him, that he didn't consult with player reps on team strategy and that he wouldn't even know Parker or Barnes if they walked into his office. Barnes was asked what he would say to Billick if they convened a one-on-one session. His reply: "If I was standing in front of (Billick), I would ask him about his offense. He's considered an offensive genius and I haven't seen it yet." For the record, in Billick's three seasons as head coach, the Ravens have ranked 24th (in 1999), 16th (2000) and 14th (2001) offensively.
The St. Louis Rams aren't openly shopping two-year veteran tailback Trung Canidate, but team sources told ESPN.com that the backup to Marshall Faulk is on thin ice and probably could be had for the right price. Head coach Mike Martz, the man responsible for selecting Canidate with the final choice in the first round of the 2000 draft, seems to have soured on the former University of Arizona star even more than some other Rams officials. The Philadelphia Eagles probably would be interested in Canidate, but there is little chance St. Louis would deal him to a team that could challenge the Rams for NFC superiority in 2002. Canidate has three years remaining on his original contract, with base salaries of $680,000 (2002), $797,500 (2003) and $915,000 (2004). Having lost Robert Holcombe to the Tennessee Titans as an unrestricted free agent on Thursday, the Rams really don't have another proven backup to Faulk on the roster. The Rams selected Lamar Gordon of North Dakota State in the third round last month.
After going through evaluations for about 800 players, roughly 100 more than the usual quota, National Football Scouting, Inc., wrapped up its spring combine meeting Thursday afternoon. And the top-rated prospect at all positions, according to one of two combine groups that service NFL teams with reports, is a player who doesn't figure to even get onto the field until October, if at all. Wisconsin wide receiver Lee Evans, who tore up his knee in spring drills and subsequently underwent surgery, has the highest grade of any of the senior prospects for the 2003 draft. The top-rated quarterback is Byron Leftwich of Marshall, who at nearly 6-feet-6 and 250 pounds, reminds scouts of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
One name that keeps popping up on most lists of post-June 1 salary cap casualties is that of Detroit starting tailback James Stewart. If Detroit releases the seven-year pro, it will not sit well with teammates, and certainly not with his agent. Stewart is scheduled to earn a base salary of $4.15 million for 2002 and he carries a hefty $5.3 million cap value. Lions officials contacted agent Pat Dye Jr. at the start of the free agency period to tell him Stewart's deal would need to be restructured. But months went by before Dye heard again from the Lions, and now the team is dragging its feet again. A few weeks ago, the Lions suggested a restructuring in which Stewart would reduce his 2002 base salary to $2.5 million (with $1.5 million of that guaranteed), and drop his scheduled 2003 base salary of $4.9 million to $3 million. Dye countered with a deal in which Stewart would get a $1.5 million signing bonus, a base salary of $1.5 million for 2002 and $3 million for 2003. The counter left the sides just $500,000 apart over two years, but Dye has yet to have a substantive discussion with Lions officials since then. It could be that Detroit will wait until just before June 1, then offer a restructured deal, figuring Stewart will accept it rather than face being released into a moribund and gutted free agent market. If that is what transpires, it will hardly have been good-faith bargaining by the Lions organization. Then again, no one seems to know what's going on in Detroit, a franchise that hasn't exactly been the model of efficiency lately. Agent Tom Condon waited for more than a month for a promised contract proposal from Lions official Kevin Warren on unrestricted free agent tailback Robert Holcombe. The proposal never came and Holcombe agreed on Thursday to a four-year contract with the Titans instead.
Last week, ESPN.com noted in a story on undrafted free agents that Philadelphia signed only four prospects and paid out just $2,000 in signing bonuses. Turns out that the NFL Players Association documents that served as a basis for the story were incomplete. The Eagles actually signed 13 undrafted free agents and expended $55,500 in signing bonuses to do so. Linebacker Justin Ena of Brigham Young and defensive end Ivory McCoy of Michigan each received $10,000 bonuses.
Here's the breakdown on the contract signed with Tennessee by unrestricted free agent center Jeff Smith earlier this week: His base salary for 2002 is $700,000 and there is no signing bonus. Next spring, the Titans can exercise an option of $750,000 and Smith's base salaries for the remainder of the deal are $655,000 (2003), $900,000 (2004) and $1.1 million (2005). There are roster bonuses of $125,000 each for 2004 and 2005.
The least surprised person about the decision by Arizona Cardinals strong
safety Pat Tillman to enlist in the U.S. Army was agent Frank Bauer. Two
weeks ago, when Bauer was discussing with us the number of safeties
remaining in the free agent market for a "Tip Sheet" note, he
suggested that Tillman was simply a guy who laid out his life a different
way than most players. Tillman was recently married and, at his wedding,
Bauer told him he should accept an offer to return to the Cardinals.
Instead, Tillman informed his agent he was going to Bora Bora for his
honeymoon and would sort out his future when he returned. "He probably knew
then that he wanted to do this," Bauer said. "He really is just a different
kind of guy. Not wacky, like some people think, but different. Very
principled. Very much a man's man. The events of Sept. 11 clearly had an
effect on him and he wants to do something for his country." Tillman plans
to join the Special Forces unit and, at this point, wants to resume his
football career when his three-year tour of duty is over. He essentially
turned down a three-year, $3.6 million offer from Arizona to take a job that
pays about $18,000 annually. Said Bauer: "I asked him if he was sick of
football and he said that wasn't the case at all. In fact, he said, 'No, I
love the game and still want to play. But this is something I feel like I
have to do.' Give the guy credit for sticking by his principles, you know?"
Despite the efforts of agent Ron Del Duca to force the Carolina Panthers
into an early decision on the future of defensive end Jay Williams, the club
seems likely to wait until June 1 to determine the fate of the six-year
veteran. Williams is due a base salary of $1.65 million this year and the
team already owes him a $100,000 workout bonus. Several clubs -- Miami,
Washington and Kansas City, among them -- will be interested in Williams if
he is released as a post-June 1 cap casualty. Del Duca's pitch to Panthers
general manager Marty Hurney was that, with Williams in the final season of
the three-year deal he signed in 2000, it doesn't matter if Carolina
released him now or after June 1. Essentially, the cap ramifications are not
a function of timing in Williams' case. Williams is likely to be bumped from
the starting lineup by first-round pick Julius Peppers.
Another defensive end who could be released after June 1, Washington
veteran Marco Coleman, probably will draw interest from the Philadelphia
Eagles. Cornerback Troy Vincent, a one-time teammate of Coleman in Miami and
still a close friend, has pitched the veteran end to Eagles brass.
Philadelphia has a need and also the cap room to bring in a player of
Coleman's ilk and bolster its front four.
Punts: Despite recent reports, New York Giants general manager Ernie
Accorsi denies he is planning to retire after the 2002 season. ... Arizona
kicker Bill Gramatica, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament of his knee
while celebrating a field goal conversion, is now able to kick a soccer
ball. His rehabilitation allows him to kick a football, however, only about
15 yards for now. ... Don't look for the Packers to release wideout
Antonio Freeman immediately after June 1. Talks between Packers negotiator
Andy Brandt and agent Joel Segal remain amicable and, while it's a longshot,
there is still a chance that Freeman might agree to a paycut instead of
being released. ... Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde and offensive
coordinator Paul Hackett apparently have worked through the differences they
experienced during the '01 season. ... Colts coach Tony Dungy has asked
his players to not discuss the absence of tailback Edgerrin James with the
media for now. ... Dallas coaches have been impressed with the performance
of second-round pick Andre Gurode and the former Colorado star is working as
the starting center.
Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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