Maurice Clarett won’t be the first 20-year-old running back drafted by the NFL. Walter Payton was only 20 when the Bears drafted him in 1975. Barry Sanders was only 20 when the Detroit Lions drafted him in 1989.
Payton and Sanders turned 21 before their rookie seasons. Clarett will turn 21 during the season. The anxiety caused by Clarett’s court challenge to NFL drafting rules isn’t about chronological age. It’s about preparedness. There is concern about Clarett’s mental and physical preparedness after only one year at Ohio State. Of more concern to NFL teams is their own preparedness to evaluate players like Clarett.
Payton had completed four years of football at Jackson State, where he set rushing records. Although he was not well-known by the media at the time, he was not a surprise to NFL scouts.
Sanders came out of Oklahoma State a year early and hadn’t blossomed until his junior season because he was playing behind Thurman Thomas. But he had been on the team for three years.
Doug Plank was drafted by the Bears with Payton in 1975 and had played at Ohio State with two-time Heisman Trophy-winning running back Archie Griffin. Plank said it took him exactly one practice with Payton to realize he was better than Griffin. This surprised the media, but not the scouts.
The trouble with Clarett is that scouts think they don’t have enough evidence to make an informed decision. In general, they do not believe that teenagers or most 20-year-olds are ready for the NFL. Greg Gabriel, Bears director of college scouting, said he will not change the way his staff scouts to account for underclassmen. No senior high school or junior high school scouting division will be added. Clarett sneaked up on the NFL, but in the future such exceptions will become obvious.
Indianapolis Colts rookie safety Mike Doss played with Clarett in 2002 and warned teams against underestimating Clarett.
“He was the strongest player on our football team,” Doss said. “Mentally, he made up his mind to be a starter from day one and he did that. On a scale of 1 to 10, he’s a 9. He has proven people wrong all along. There’s a lot he can do, that he brings to the table. He’s definitely older than his years.”
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All this means that Clarett’s personal workout, especially the old standby 40-yard dash, will go a long way toward deciding where he will be drafted April 24-25. Scouts always want to balance a prospect’s track record as a player with his record on the track. But in Clarett’s case, the almighty 40 will be watched more closely than most because his track record is shorter than most.
“If he runs a 4.4, some clouds will go away,” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said. “If he runs 4.7, it could turn into a thunderstorm. His workout will be very, very important.”
Clarett estimated he would run in the high 4.4s. Payton, by the way, ran in the high 4.5s and low 4.6s, but his college achievements outweighed the average time.
Clarett’s college achievements, though limited in time and interrupted by injury, were impressive because he led a big-time program to a national title. When the Bears signed Andy Livingston out of Phoenix Junior College in 1964 at age 20, he had much less on his resume.
As far as questions about character, Clarett will erase them quickly with a good workout. He is no Lawrence Phillips, the troubled Nebraska running back the Rams drafted in 1996 at the No. 6 spot in the first round.
Beginning or end: If USC receiver Mike Williams follows Clarett into the draft after only two seasons in college, he’ll be the first underclassman to apply for early admission since the NFL extended the deadline until March 1. Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald also has been granted admission after only two years in college, but his high school class graduated three years ago. Fitzgerald went to a year of prep school before graduating himself, so his situation was unlike Clarett’s or Williams’.
“The initial thought was, `Boy, this could be a large number, maybe a dozen,'” Atlanta general manager Rich McKay said. “We’ve become a little more comfortable that number will be a lot less, and we all want it to be a lot less, so we’ll see. If the number were zero, I’d be happy, but whatever that number is, we’ll deal with it. With the Clarett situation, we have to hope as a league that it’s a one-year issue. We change the ’04 draft rules as we have to let these players apply, and hopefully, by ’05, an appeal has taken place and we can get back and have our eligibility rule in place.”
Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis thinks Clarett is “the tip of the iceberg. I think it really hurts college football and education. There are a number of kids who have worked their tails off to receive an NCAA scholarship. I’m not so sure they will work so hard if that [the draft] is hanging out there as an option. The uneducated person has no idea what these guys are in for.”
If, as expected, Mike Williams joins Fitzgerald, Texas’ Roy Williams, Washington’s Reggie Williams and others, the wide receiver class will be one of the best ever. It will help the Bears. Not only might an outstanding receiver be available at the 14th spot, but Mike Williams’ presence will push another good player at another position down to the Bears.
Jarrett and Quincy: Miami’s Jarrett Payton and West Virginia’s Quincy Wilson, running back sons of Walter Payton and Otis Wilson, are among several sons of NFL players invited to the combine.
Angelo said Payton was “a good football player” whom the Bears will evaluate no differently from any other despite his unique heritage.
“We don’t have any problem with him, and I’m sure he has no problems with us,” Angelo said. “He’s a tough kid.”
Scouts from two teams expressed concern that Payton was a bit “spoiled” after he arrived at college already driving the kind of cars most players can’t afford until they sign an NFL contract.
“I don’t think that’s true at all,” Payton said Saturday. “I feel I do this because I love it. Some might do it for the money, but I don’t. There’s no truth to that.”
Unlike a lot of the top running backs, Payton plans to run and go through other drills Sunday.
“If I don’t run a time I like, I’ll just run it again,” Payton said.
Payton improved as he got more playing time. Scouts said he would be a second-day draft choice who could play fullback or tailback. He measured 6 feet 1/8 inch and weighed 220 pounds, bigger than his dad, who was 5-10, 205.
Henson deal: The Houston Texans and Tom Condon, agent for former baseball player Drew Henson, are scrambling to structure a contract that will allow the Texans to trade Henson before the draft. The problem is the deal must fit under last year’s rookie salary cap for the Texans. Because he was a sixth-rounder, there isn’t much wiggle room. So a long-term guaranteed deal is being investigated in lieu of the usual big signing bonus. If Henson isn’t signed and traded, he will go back into the draft.
Stay in school: According to the NFL Players Association, there is a correlation between winning teams and the number of college graduates on the roster. The Carolina Panthers had 42 graduates, including 15 starters. The champion New England Patriots had 35 graduates, including 12 starters.
The Bears ranked 29th with 21 graduates, including seven starters. Only the Denver Broncos had fewer starters with college degrees–four.Don Pierson