Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 20, 1992 TAG: 9201200066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHANTILLY LENGTH: Long
PLAN B YIELDS GRADE A DECISIONS FOR REDSKINS
THE REDSKINS HAVE used what some say is football management's feeble attempt at free agency to build a powerhouse from players other teams let get away. Twelve decisions that transformed the Washington Redskins from just another football team to Super Bowl XXVI favorites were made in a room the size of a walk-in closet.It's where they became convinced safety Brad Edwards could out-hit and out-think an opposing tight end.
It's where they acknowledged that they had undervalued cornerback Martin Mayhew's ability coming out of college and that he could play in the NFL.
It's where they turned red in the face, shrugged their shoulders and admitted having made a mistake cutting tight end Ron Middleton. It also is where they mustered the humility to phone him and ask his forgiveness.
The Redskins have just 20 of their own draft choices on the 47-man roster that will take the field against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. No other team has reached a Super Bowl with so few homegrown products.
Ten Redskins are free agents. Six came over in trades.
Twelve Redskins, more than one-fourth of the roster - and the backbone of their defense - are on the team as a result of what some say is football management's feeble attempt at free agency.
Three years ago, the NFL ruled that at the end of each season, a team could protect only 37 of its players. The rest were free to sign with any of the other 27 teams.
They call it "Plan B," a name that suggests it was something of an afterthought.
Kirk Mee, the Redskins' director of player personnel, treats it with slightly more respect.
"That was our Christmas present," he says, smiling, "our chance to hit the mother lode."
And the Redskins have.
Mee, 51, was head coach at Indiana's Earlham College and an assistant at Wisconsin. He coached receivers and special teams for the Redskins before becoming a scout in 1978.
Until three years ago, Mee's primary responsibility was evaluating college seniors and players in the Canadian Football League and upstart leagues like the USFL.
Then came Plan B. Suddenly, the tiniest room at Redskin Park became a repository for football's unpolished gems. Mee and scouts Chuck Banker and Joe Mack were ordered to unearth them.
"We've got three guys busting our butt on Plan B," Mee said. "Other teams are doing it at the last minute. When that list comes out, we know right away who we want and who we don't."
They know because they review more film than Siskel and Ebert.
Against one wall of a tiny nook, resting on sliding bookshelves, are videocassettes. About 300 of them. They are tapes of games the 27 other teams played this season. Against the opposite wall, also on shelves, are cassettes of every team's 1990 performance.
In the center of the room are desks like those found in many school classrooms, the kind where the desktop and the seat are bolted together. Set into one wall is a small, square movie screen.
This, and a cluttered, postage-stamp office the janitors battle their way into, is Mee's kingdom.
He, Mack and Banker divide the other 27 teams. Mee gets 13. Banker and Mack's other responsibilities are such that they do seven each.
They watch three games played by each one of their teams.
Any player who shows up on the film is evaluated, graded and has something written about him, even if it's just one sentence.
It normally takes Mee 10 days of watching film from 9 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night to evaluate just one team. He starts with offensive linemen and tight ends, tape-recording and hand-writing his observations, which he passes on to a night secretary. She transcribes them into a computer.
Mee then reruns the games, repeating the process for defensive linemen, then linebackers, then defensive backs and, finally, quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.
The list of unprotected players will come out Feb. 1. Mee, Banker, Mack, general manager Charley Casserly and the coaching staff then decide by committee who to pursue.
"We have more full-time people evaluating pro personnel than anybody else in the league," Casserly says almost defiantly. "The thing we did a great job of a couple of years ago was changing the focus of our scouting, without hurting our college evaluations."
The first team Mee evaluated this season was the Detroit Lions, against whom the Redskins opened. He started in July, after their first preseason game. He finished the last report on the 13th team last week.
"You know when you protect 37 players that there's a chance you'll lose 10," Mee said. "The trick is to replace the 10 you might lose with players equal or better.
"Then you try to find that special guy some team tried to run through the system because of injury, age or salary."
As Casserly says, there's a story attached to every Plan B signee the Redskins have:
Starting defensive end Fred Stokes, unprotected by the Los Angeles Rams, was a pass-rush specialist who was long on speed but short on bulk. He was pure potential when the Redskins signed him in 1989. This season, he was second in sacks with 6 1/2 and third in quarterback hurries with 20.
Mayhew, unprotected by the Bills, played opposite Deion Sanders at Florida State. The Redskins didn't see him as having NFL skills until they saw films of him in a couple of Buffalo's 1988 preseason games.
"Buffalo didn't think anybody would sign him," Casserly said. "Who knew who he was? But he has started for us for 2 1/2 years."
Middleton was waived twice by the Redskins, once in favor of another Plan B tight end, Mike Tice, who they thought was a slightly better blocker. He wasn't. The more film of Middleton they watched, the more they became convinced no one available was.
"People thought we were nuts for going after Middleton after the Browns left him unprotected," Casserly said. "But we got a guy who's 25 and a hell of a blocker, perfect for our system."
Defensive end/tackle Jumpy Geathers' right leg was in a cast after knee surgery the day the New Orleans Saints left him unprotected. He had been a starter for the Saints, who couldn't imagine anyone taking a chance on damaged goods.
This season, he led the Redskins in hurries with 27 and had 4 1/2 sacks.
"Credit that one to our doctors," Casserly said. "They're the ones that said take him, he'll recover. We were the only team to offer him a contract."
Mee speculates that starting strong safety Danny Copeland was left unprotected by the Kansas City Chiefs because his wife is from Kansas City and had never lived anywhere else.
"We were looking for a great special-teams guy, and Danny had already proven he was that," Mee said. "But he was also a part-time starter at cornerback and both safeties for the Chiefs and we really liked him on film. You could see he was an athlete. He moved smoothly, gracefully, and he'd hit."
Fifteen teams went after starting free safety Brad Edwards after the Minnesota Vikings left him unprotected. The Redskins saw he was smart and were convinced he could grow into being their defensive signal-caller. They also knew he would hit far harder than their safety at the time, Todd Bowles.
This season, Edwards was third in tackles and had four interceptions. Casserly swears that Edwards, who just turned 26, will be better next year.
The San Francisco 49ers thought linebacker Matt Millen was unsignable because of his age (34) and his salary. When San Francisco owner Ed DeBartolo heard Millen was flying to Washington to meet with the Redskins, he made an emergency call to San Francisco airport and tried to dissuade Millen from moving east.
Playing significant backup roles on a team that not long ago had little depth are guard/tackle Mark Adickes, receiver Stephen Hobbs, quarterback/holder Jeff Rutledge and tight end/snapper John Brandes.
Terry Hoage was backup to Edwards and Copeland until he broke an arm on Nov. 13 against Cleveland. All are Plan B refugees.
Adickes, unprotected despite being a starter for the Chiefs, became available when another team reneged on its offer to him. His agent called the Redskins, who said they weren't interested because they had heard his asking price was too high.
Adickes came down and the Redskins nabbed a reserve linemen who could start almost anywhere else in the league.
The Redskins contacted Brandes to tell him they might be interested on the day his name appeared on the Indianapolis Colts' unprotected list. A week passed before he even heard from another team.
Finally, when Casserly decided the Redskins needed a defensive tackle last season, he traded a Plan B running back, James Wilder, to Detroit for Eric Williams.
"I laugh when I read other teams saying that Washington got well using Plan B so they're going to get well using it, too," Mee said. "Just because Plan B exists doesn't mean people are giving away good football players. It's not just getting players. It's getting the right ones."