| Contributing editor Joel Buchsbaum
offered his take on a variety of topics from around the NFL. 
Sundquist appears to be in line for Bears’ job
PFW: What is the situation in Chicago as you see it?
Buchsbaum: It appears that the clear-cut frontrunner for the Bears’ GM job is Ted
Sundquist of Denver. Sundquist is a brilliant organizer, a brilliant computer man, very
thorough, very comprehensive and very well thought of in terms of being able to handle the
front office part of the job. One area that he’s a major unknown in is scouting of
talent, which was the greatest strength of people such as Tom Modrak and Jerry Angelo.
Sundquist has never really done much in-the-field scouting for the Broncos, but he has
been organizing their scouting department for years now, setting things up. Very few
people in football are as astute with the computer and how it can be used as Sundquist.
If the Bears do hire Sundquist, which appears likely, they’ll do nothing to
transform the image they started with when Michael McCaskey took over, of being the
ultimate corporate team that almost ignores hiring football people for the front office.
One of the reasons there were problems in the front office when Mark Hatley was in charge
was that the Bears surrounded him with nonfootball people who felt they knew football.
This is not to infer for one minute that Sundquist doesn’t know football, but
his scouting ability and ability to select coaches is a great unknown.
On the other hand, Tom Modrak showed in Philadelphia that he knew how to evaluate
talent, he knew how to run a team, he knew how to get a down team back into the running
and he knew how to pick people to handle jobs. He had a tremendous staff, and though his
first choice for head coach in Philadelphia was Jim Haslett over Andy Reid, there’s
nothing wrong with either of those, by any means. With regard to Modrak, he landed on his
feet in Buffalo and should be a tremendous addition to an already-strong Bills college
scouting department, which includes Dwight Adams, whom many regard as the No. 1 field
scout in the NFL. He also can help Tom Donahoe, who will have to spend more time on pro
personnel until his new director of pro personnel, John Guy, learns the ropes.
Many people were surprised Buffalo hired Guy as the pro personnel director because he
has almost no experience in the pro personnel area, and he had just spent two years as a
college scout. He formerly had been a head coach. The guy that may end up getting screwed
in the whole situation is Bill Rees, who tried his best to keep everything together during
this period when no one was in charge. Rees is one of the semifinalists for the job. Many
people felt that Rees would have been a deserving candidate for the job itself if he had
been given a fair chance. But because he was a member of Hatley’s staff, he
wasn’t playing on a level field. He has been a loyal Bear employee ever since he
joined the team with Hatley. The reports of him trying to get out to join Terry Donahue in
San Francisco were, to put it straight, were not exactly true. Rees likes Chicago, wants
to stay there, and it would be a big mistake if whoever came in let him go. He’s a
very good evaluator. He has very good contacts in the college ranks and at one time was
regarded as the No. 1 recruiter in the college ranks when he was at UCLA. And a big part
of football is recruiting talent.
Buchsbaum gives his thoughts on the Edgerrin James situation
Buchsbaum: When the Colts traded Marshall Faulk to the Rams, although Faulk was coming
off a Pro Bowl-type year and appeared to have all the stuff back as a running back, Bill
Polian made several points defending his trading of Faulk — this guy is not
team-oriented, he’s selfish, he’ll be hard to sign, etc. Right now, it appears
the man he ended up getting to replace him, Edgerrin James, is starting to become all
those things as well. It should be pointed out that a lot of people feel James is the
second-best running back in football right now, with Faulk the best. I don’t know
about you, but I think a lot of people in the NFL, were or will be turned off by his
recent exposure on ESPN’s "The Life" and some of the remarks he made during
the program. The fact that he isn’t attending the Colts’ minicamp is purely
selfish on his part, because he thinks he knows better than everyone else. Unfortunately
for Polian, it seems as though many running backs through history have been selfish
players — Ricky Watters, Eric Dickerson, etc. — and you didn’t find many
Walter Paytons out there in terms of both character and football-playing ability. On the
other hand, while the Colts did get a second-round pick for Faulk, if they held onto
Faulk, they could’ve traded the James pick to the Bears for all the Bears’ picks
that year plus the Bears first-round pick in ’99, which would’ve really helped
the Colts rebuild their defense. And I see no reason why, with Faulk at running back, they
couldn’t have still had a good offensive football team.
Buchsbaum comments on the signing of the collective bargaining agreement
Buchsbaum: I’m glad that the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was signed.
There were some positive moves made with regard to clubs being able to retain older
veterans. However, a couple key issues were not discussed or resolved in any way. One is
the huge signing bonuses rookies get. There was nothing concrete in there that will cause
a cutoff of those, which is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard — getting paid
millions because you might become something down the road and letting players who do
become something often getting paid less than their worth in the field their in because
they were drafted in the wrong place or not at all. The other thing not addressed was
player safety. The injuries are going up and up, the players are getting bigger and
bigger, the supplements are getting better and better, the players are not only getting
bigger but faster, the collisions are getting more violent and with so much money at
stake, the game has become more violent. These two issues must be addressed, and a third
issue that no one is talking about, is everyone is happy because the players and owners
are getting huge money. But in the long run, this could be the destruction of pro football
and sports in our country, because Joe Q, the little kid who’s going to grow up to be
a big fan, can’t afford to ever go to a game with ticket prices where they are and
with so many tickets being sold before games to season ticket holders. |
