It was March 2003 and the Bears were searching for a quarterback. It was a year like so many others.
The short honeymoon with Jim Miller was over. Chris Chandler was too old. Henry Burris, alas, was not the new Warren Moon, rescued from Canada.
Likewise, the Arizona Cardinals were searching for a quarterback. Jake Plummer was on his way out of town as a free agent. The Cardinals liked their rookie, Josh McCown, although they weren’t overjoyed about Plummer’s planned exit.
The Bears liked Plummer and invited him to town, and Plummer gladly accepted. It helped him gain leverage with Denver, which he preferred and where he signed.
The Bears ended up signing another free agent, Kordell Stewart, and coach Dick Jauron said how happy and excited he was to have him. Someday, Jauron should write a book on what he really thought throughout his 30-plus years in the NFL.
Because they had finished 4-12 in 2002, the Bears had the fourth pick in the April 2003 draft. General manager Jerry Angelo was encouraged by his consultants in the media to do several things with it. If he couldn’t figure out a way to trade up and land USC’s Carson Palmer, and if he thought the fourth pick was too high for Byron Leftwich, then he should stick to what he knew best and take the highest-regarded defensive lineman, tackle Dewayne Robertson.
Everybody suspected the Bears would be looking for a quarterback at some point in the draft, probably in the second round, because Stewart was not a long-term solution. They brought in California’s Kyle Boller and Texas’ Chris Simms for predraft looks and made no secret of it. Their secret was Florida’s Rex Grossman.
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The Bears never mentioned Grossman in predraft talk. They didn’t send a coach to work him out or invite him to Lake Forest with other prospects. College scouting director Greg Gabriel went to Florida and interviewed him in January, but the Bears had only a brief conversation with him during the Indianapolis scouting combine.
The Bears were hoping to trade down and get two first-round picks. Boller, Grossman and Simms were not considered high first-round picks, if first-rounders at all. The Packers liked Grossman but not as a first-rounder. He got a lot of questions at the combine about succeeding Brett Favre, none about succeeding Jim Miller.
When the Bears traded that fourth pick to the New York Jets on the eve of the draft for the 13th and 22nd picks, they hoped other teams would tie them to Boller.
Because the fourth pick had netted Hall of Famers Walter Payton and Dan Hampton for the Bears, Angelo was criticized for shying away from a potential great player such as Robertson. There was speculation he was eyeing other defensive linemen such as Johnathan Sullivan or Ty Warren, as well as Boller.
On draft day, the New England Patriots traded a sixth-round pick to the Bears to move from 14 to 13 and land Warren. The Bears took defensive lineman Michael Haynes with the 14th pick. Then the Baltimore Ravens traded up to get Boller with the 19th pick. The Bears, never intending to take Boller, took Grossman at No. 22.
Here are picks 15-21:
The Eagles took defensive end Jerome McDougle, the Steelers took safety Troy Polamalu, the Cardinals took receiver Bryant Johnson and defensive end Calvin Pace back-to-back, the Broncos took offensive tackle George Foster and the Browns took center Jeff Faine.
How could the Bears possibly have gambled Grossman still would be there? Moreover, how could the Cardinals have two picks in a row at 17 and 18 and pass up Grossman? They had just lost Plummer and had signed journeyman Jeff Blake as their stopgap. They had McCown, but he was a third-rounder who is now a backup in Detroit.
Obviously, Grossman was not as highly regarded as his current play suggests. No team including the Bears predicted what Grossman has produced this season. If the Bears had known what they know now, they could have taken Grossman with the fourth pick with no apology.
Angelo knows a general manager is judged primarily on two decisions–his coach and his quarterback. Unless he’s Detroit’s Matt Millen, general managers usually get to stick around a team only long enough to make those decisions once, so they better get them right.
But luck often plays as big a role as skill. The Steelers, Cardinals and Broncos all have selected first-round quarterbacks since 2003 and the Browns are starting their 2005 third-rounder, Charlie Frye. So any one of those teams could have grabbed Grossman and ended up as happy as the Bears.
The Ravens could have too. Boller was benched this year for veteran Steve McNair from Tennessee. As for the other characters in this talent grab bag, Robertson has played well for the Jets. He has 18 tackles in five games. Sullivan, the sixth pick of the Saints, flopped in New Orleans and was released by New England just this week. Warren has 29 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery for the Patriots. Simms was the third-round pick of the Buccaneers, who liked him enough to allow veteran Brian Griese get away to the Bears in free agency. Simms suffered an injury to his spleen and had it removed three weeks ago. The Bucs are 0-4.
Haynes flopped in Chicago and the Saints released him because of a bad back.
But Angelo and Gabriel really didn’t need Haynes or any of those other defensive linemen in 2003. Legend has it (or soon will) they already had their sights set on a kid from Oklahoma they knew they could draft in 2004 with the 14th pick, same as Haynes. Sure enough, Tommie Harris was there. Talk about foresight.
Or maybe it was just luck. At this point, the Bears couldn’t care less.
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