| ProFootballWeekly.com asked
contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum for his thoughts on some of the latest happenings in
the NFL. 
Henson leaving football?
QB Drew Henson will likely be traded from the Cincinnati Reds back to the New York
Yankees, paving the way for the Michigan quarterback to leave football and continue his
pursuit of a baseball career. Two other players are involved in the deal, which won’t
become official until all three pass physicals. Henson began spring football practice last
weekend and was scheduled to have his physical in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, an off-day
from practice.
PFW: What type of prospect was he looking like he’d be for the draft a year
from now if he were still playing football?
Buchsbaum: Let me put it to you this way: I asked 10 scouts before this draft, they
could pick between Drew Henson and Michael Vick if they both came out this year. Seven
picked Drew Henson.
PFW: What are you hearing as far as which way he seems to be leaning?
Buchsbaum: Baseball, after the season. His biggest dreams in life were to lead Michigan
to a national championship and to be a superstar baseball player with the New York
Yankees, to follow in the footsteps of the Joe DiMaggios, the Mickey Mantles, etc.
PFW: There has been some speculation that this deal could lead to him not playing
football this year, but that doesn’t seem to make sense, doesn’t it?
Buchsbaum: No. It’s probably going to be, if it is the way they think it is, he
will agree to play minor-league baseball this summer. He’ll go back and play football
in the fall, and then, if all sides are agreeable, he will sign a four-year, $24 million
contract after Michigan’s football season and go to spring training with the Yankees
in February. If the NFL were to lose Henson and Joe Borchard (Stanford quarterback who
left to play baseball), that would mean in one year, the league lost to potential
franchise quarterbacks and the top two picks in the draft. And there are a lot of scouts
that feel Borchard would have been the best of the three, including Vick.
PFW: Why are these kids leaving for baseball?
Buchsbaum: The big change is this: The huge increase in baseball salaries. I mean, in
baseball, you have a chance to play 15 years and average $15 million a year. You get
magnificent treatment, you have so many rights. You can just live off the money that you
get for signing just with the union, but they get you royalties from the baseball cards.
The average veteran major-league player gets $75,000 just for being a member of the union.
PFW: Which is the more difficult thing to be successful at?
Buchsbaum: No question, baseball because it’s a much bigger jump. These guys, you
know that they have the great tools as a quarterback, whereas baseball is much more a
specific skill game, and most of these guys are being taken because they’re five-tool
guys, not because they’re sensational baseball players. But that I mean, if you can
run, if you have great power and if you have a very strong arm, you’ve got three of
the five tools already, and you’re a first-round pick almost. And then, if they feel
they can train you to hit for average, and you’re a good athlete that they feel they
can train you to field, you’re all of the sudden a five-tool baseball prospect.
Leaf starting over with Buccaneers
Newly signed Buccaneers QB Ryan Leaf believes he can benefit from his role as a backup
to Brad Johnson. Said Leaf: "I’m the type of person that is kind of impatient
and wants that instant playing time. But this was the best thing for me and for the long
run to rejuvenate my career. I’m going to have to be patient. It’s never been a
strong suit for me, but I think when you’re winning and have a chance to play in the
playoffs and go to the Super Bowl, that takes the edge off." On Monday, Leaf agreed
to restructure his contract, which now has him making about $1.5 million each of the next
two seasons and $7 million in 2003.
Buchsbaum: With Ryan Leaf, the thing is you have to wait to see when he experiences
adversity what’s going to happen. I mean, last summer he talked a good game too. This
guy talks a good game, but when the going gets tough, will he revert back again.
That’s going to be the big question.
PFW: He wasn’t the most popular guy in the world at Washington State either was
he?
Buchsbaum: No. He was the most hated guy in the world, he threatened to leave if they
didn’t start him, he pouted like a baby, all the players hated his guts. But when he
got in there, he was so gifted, they came to respect him. (He began to turn things around)
because he had great respect for Mike Price, and Price sweet-talked him into it, build him
up and basically told the kid, ‘Look, you can be the best quarterback in the country,
but you’ve gotta do this. This is what you’ve gotta put in to be the best.’
PFW: Given what happened then, couldn’t it happen again with Tony Dungy,
who’s a good players’ coach?
Buchsbaum: It’s possible. But the bottom line on this guy was, his last year at
Washington State was all smooth sailing. You know, they were picked for last in the
conference and went to the Rose Bowl and almost upset Michigan.
Eagles re-sign Whiting, Reese
DE Brandon Whiting and LB Ike Reese re-signed with the Eagles on Tuesday. Whiting, a
fourth-round draft pick in 1998, started the last 11 games last season and set career
highs in tackles (60) and sacks (3 1/2). Reese, a fifth-round pick in ’98, was tabbed
by Eagles coaches as the team’s best special-teams player. He finished third on the
team with 25 special-teams tackles and saw action in passing situations.
Buchsbaum: Brandon Whiting is a good guy, though he’s an ideal backup who can
start. He plays the run well, and he’s an excellent technician. Ike Reese is a
special-teams specialist who fills a role.
Broncos hire Yaralian
The Broncos hired former Saints defensive coordinator Zaven Yaralian as an assistant
coach. Yaralian, who worked with Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan at the University of
Florida in 1983, joins a staff that consists of 17 coaches, an NFL high.
Buchsbaum: Just gives them more coaching power. He’s been a coordinator in the
league, a defensive backfield coach; those are two areas they’ve had problems with in
the past. And he’s just another assistant for Ray Rhodes to work with. I mean,
basically what they’ve done is they’ve gone out there and they’ve gotten
Ray Rhodes the best cornerback on the market (Darnell Walker), a defensive tackle that
still has a chance to be quite good (Leon Lett) and they upgraded the defensive staff
around them.
PFW: The Broncos have an inordinately high number of assistant coaches. How does
that translate onto the field?
Buchsbaum: It gives them more one-on-one coaching than anyone else, and these are all
very skilled coaches. |
