ON PRO FOOTBALL; Ward Gets the Big Snub But Not Without Issue
Timothy W. Smith
Published: May 2, 1994
Sometimes things happen in the National Football League that make one wonder whether N.F.L. stands for National Farce League.
How can Charlie Ward of Florida State, a Heisman Trophy winner who guided his team to a national college championship, not merit consideration in any of the seven rounds of the draft by any of the owners and general managers of the 28 N.F.L. teams? It is almost unfathomable.
Nine quarterbacks were taken in the draft. The Falcons, a team in desperate need of a quarterback, took Perry Klein of C. W. Post in the fourth round. The Jets, who didn't particularly need a rookie quarterback, took Glenn Foley of Boston College in the seventh round.
Outside of Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer, who were taken in the first round, are all the other quarterbacks selected in the draft better than Ward? And is there such a glut of quarterback talent coming out of colleges that the N.F.L. can snub a player like the Heisman Trophy winner?
Ward not being drafted is about control and options.
Supposedly N.F.L. general managers were scared away from Ward because he expressed interest in the National Basketball Association college draft in June.
"The N.F.L. said, 'We don't know what Charlie Ward is going to do.' They tried to paint him as being indecisive," said Eugene Parker, Ward's agent. "All Charlie did was ask the N.F.L. to tell him whether he was going to be taken in the first round. When they wouldn't do that, he just said he was going to keep his options open. He never said he wouldn't play in the N.F.L. if he wasn't drafted in the first round."
Obviously, keeping options open is a one-way street for N.F.L. teams. And in the case of Ward, they would rather concede his talents to the N.B.A. than limit their options.
"Once he got past the second round and into the third and fourth round nobody was going to waste a pick on him, because you didn't know if you'd have him," said Tampa Bay Coach Sam Wyche, who took Dilfer with the No. 6 pick in the first round. "You'd be competing for him with the Canadian Football League or the N.B.A. Nobody wanted to find out if he was just posturing about the N.B.A."
All that does is beg the question: Why wasn't Ward good enough to be drafted in the first round?
Depending on who you talk to, Ward was too short (6 feet) or had marginal N.F.L. arm strength.
But remember this: Joe Montana of Notre Dame was taken in the third round by San Francisco in 1979.
If teams thought Ward had the abilities of a second, third or fourth-round pick, he should have been selected in one of those rounds and allowed to make his own decision. If teams are afraid of not being compensated for a player who jumps leagues, the N.F.L. should have a rule to award teams a selection in the next year's draft if that happens.
Perhaps the baggage of Ward's Heisman Trophy was too heavy for some teams to carry. In 1990, Detroit selected Andre Ware, another black quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, in the first round. He has yet to make an impact.
Should that have had a bearing Ward? Certainly not. But it might have.
The N.F.L. has an ugly and shameful legacy when it comes to black quarterbacks, which affects its perception of black athletes who play the position.
In his autobiography "Quarterblack" (Bonus Books, 1990), Doug Williams, who led the Redskins to a Super Bowl championship in 1988, talked about what he called the N.F.L.'s black quarterback syndrome.
"It boils down to the fact that most N.F.L. coaches, general managers and owners are scared of black quarterbacks or they just don't want a black man running their team, period," Williams said. "They're afraid if they play a black quarterback and he doesn't pan out, they're going to be ridiculed by their peers. People around the league will say, 'I told you that black guy couldn't play.'
"If they can get away with it, they're going to overlook the young black quarterback coming out of college. They'll find some excuse for not drafting him or they'll move him to another position. The only time they're going to take a black quarterback is when he's obviously the best player available or their team is desperate to win."
James Harris, the Jets' assistant general manager, was one of the first black quarterbacks in the modern N.F.L. and from 1969-81 played for Buffalo, the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego. He knows firsthand the history of black quarterbacks in the N.F.L., but he doesn't believe Williams's black quarterback syndrome is applicable in the case of Ward.
"If Charlie Ward had said, 'I'm going to play football,' and then no one drafted him, then it would be a racial situation," Harris said. "The facts as they exist don't support that."
Harris cites Vikings quarterback Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham of the Eagles as examples of how things have changed in the N.F.L. for black quarterbacks. But they're the only two black starting quarterbacks in the league and Moon played in Canada for six years to establish himself before he could command attention and a high salary in the N.F.L.
Whatever the case, it's unfortunate that N.F.L. teams thought Ward had nothing they wanted. Maybe in the end, he will be better off in the N.B.A.
Agreed.
@ how that game went down, and THAT'S from a Giants fan, lol!
