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Had the Chicago Bears stayed at the seventh pick in the NFL draft, they could have chosen the next Dan Marino, the next John Elway, the next Joe Namath.
In fact, Namath has said this quarterback is the best passer he's seen since Dan Marino.
This quarterback is 6-foot-4 and weighs 255 pounds. He is built like a tank but can run the 40 in 4.68 seconds. He led his college team to a 9-2 record. He completed 296 of 402 passes, which set an NCAA record for completion percentage (.736). He threw 28 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. He accounted for 377.6 yards per game.
And he had by far the coolest name in the draft.
His name is Daunte Culpepper. Don't let the school he attended - Central Florida - fool you. The guy will be a superstar for years and years.
But these are the Bears, and they went for the next Erik Kramer in UCLA's Cade McNown. This should not surprise you. Remember, at one time they thought Rick Mirer could play a quarterback in the NFL.
Oh, McNown probably will turn in a nice little career. He probably will be a starter before Culpepper is. But will he be a superstar, like Culpepper will be? I think not. When McNown's career is finished, he will most likely fall somewhere between Vinny Testaverde and Todd Marinovich.
I guess the 4-12 Bears don't need superstars, so they choose to play it safe.
What they want are warm bodies, as evidenced by the 13 picks they ended up with, more than any other team. This is their only consolation for botching on Culpepper, who went to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 11 - by trading out of the seventh spot to pick McNown at No. 12 in the first round, they added three extra picks.
And I know what Purdue fans around here are thinking. You think Culpepper is the next Marino? Just last season, didn't the Boilermakers dismantle him and his Central Florida team 35-7?
Yes, they did.
So?
Culpepper's college coach was Mike Kruczek, who played on the Pittsburgh Steelers when quarterback Terry Bradshaw was there. Last week Kruczek told Chicago Tribune columnist Skip Bayless, "If Daunte's still there at No. 7, I'd get on my hands and knees and thank the Lord that six teams passed him. ... I think Cleveland is crazy not to take him [with the first pick]."
During ESPN's draft, college analyst Mike Gottfried and San Francisco 49ers general manager Bill Walsh said Culpepper was the best quarterback in the draft.
Why did the Bears pick McNown? They fell for the stereotypes.
McNown is the gritty, gutty, intelligent white quarterback, the classic overachiever. He's too small and doesn't have enough arm strength, but he's excellent at reading defenses, and his UCLA teams won football games.
He is a safe pick.
Culpepper is the opposite. He is a physical specimen - the best in the draft - with a rifle arm and superlative speed. He has been blessed with all the physical ability in the world. But he played at a small college. The defenses he saw when he played at Central Florida are nothing like he will see at the pros and possibly nothing like the defenses McNown saw at UCLA.
To some - the Bears - he is still unproven.
Admittedly, has there ever been a football player scouts and coaches have been more divided on?
Granted, while I love Culpepper and spent this column bragging him up, for each scout who said Culpepper was the best quarterback in the draft, there were scouts who said he "scares me to death."
Former NFL coach Lindy Infante, who as a head coach made a great offensive coordinator, brags about Culpepper. Yet the Baltimore Ravens could have had Culpepper at No. 10, and head coach Brian Billick passed on him. Consider the Ravens' current quarterbacks are Scott Mitchell and Tony Banks, and consider Billick was considered the game's best offensive coordinator when he was at Minnesota last year. Consider he helped resurrect quarterback Randall Cunningham, turning him into a star after he was out of the league. (Although Minnesota wide receiver Randy Moss played a big, big role in these things, as well.)
Billick passes on Culpepper?
Culpepper may not put up the numbers Marino has - who will? - but those who lump him with Andre Ware or even Tennessee's Steve McNair are buffoons.
We know this about Culpepper. One day after he was born, he was one of 15 kids raised by the now 84-year-old Emma Culpepper, because his mother was in prison for armed robbery.
He is a humble, intelligent, soft-spoken player who wants to learn. Combine that with his God-given talent. There is just no way he can miss. The Minnesota Vikings got the steal of the draft with the No. 11 pick.
Thanks to the Bears' blunder. Bears fans, enjoy the next Rick Mirer. Oops, make that Erik Kramer.
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Other draft observations:
God bless Mike Ditka. He is refreshingly blunt. More coaches could use his candor. He traded his whole 1999 draft - six picks - and his first- and third-round picks in 2000 for running back Ricky Williams.
And there was da coach, dressed in a gaudy shirt with palm tree leaves, a long-legged bird and a drink on it, smoking a victory cigar as round as an oak tree.
When ESPN reporter Ed Werder asked Ditka what he was going to do the rest of the draft, Ditka said, "Play golf."
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It did not take long for Ditka bashers to surface. For each coach or GM who stood up for Ditka, three said, "I don't see how you can give up your whole draft for one guy."
Take your favorite NFL team. Look at its draft last year. How many made the team? How many started? I would say in most cases, you would give up all the guys your team picked in last year's draft for Williams, who is Earl Campbell, Walter Payton and Tony Dorsett wrapped into one.
Guys like Williams come around once a decade. Ditka got a bargain.
Like Ditka suggested to those who questioned him, "Worry about your own teams."
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Da coach was doing so well, but then he got carried away. Irked by criticism of his draft-day dealings, Ditka brashly declared his team one player away from the Super Bowl. That player is Ricky Williams. He now says the Saints are headed there next year.
New Orleans was 6-10 last season. While Williams has a good chance of being the best back in NFL history, he is not enough to turn a 6-10 team into a Super Bowl team.
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What were the Colts thinking? They trade away Marshall Faulk, and I'm thinking, all right, Ricky is on his way.
Then they pick Miami running back Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams.
Williams rushed for an NCAA record 6,279 yards during his NCAA career; James rushed for 2,960.
Don't tell me about how James has less wear and tear on his body or how Williams fumbles too much because of his small hands or how some teams in the NFL - the Miami Dolphins were one - had James rated higher than Williams.
These are not reasons the Colts went with James over Williams.
Master P could be the biggest reason.
Quarterback Akili Smith, a good friend of Williams, is quoted in Sunday's Chicago Tribune as saying: "I was sitting next to [former coach/current ESPN analyst Marty] Schottenheimer and heard him say something about the owner of the Colts thought signing Ricky migh be tough to do because of his agent Master P."
For the record, rapper Master P's real name is Percy Miller. For the record, the guy who will handle Williams' contract negotiations is Leland Hardy of No Limit Sports. Miller gave control of the company to Hardy.
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Ditka's brash Super Bowl statement was only the second most absurd thing said during ESPN's draft coverage. The first was by insider Chris Mortenson. This isn't knocking him but knocking San Francisco general manager Bill Walsh.
Mortenson reported that he wouldn't be surprised to see Rick Mirer end up in San Francisco, because Walsh is seriously considering grooming Mirer as the heir apparent to Steve Young.
Joe Montana ... Steve Young ... Rick Mirer? One of these names is not like the others. Mirer couldn't cut it in Chicago. Now he's going to go down as one of San Francisco's legendary quarterbacks? That will be the day.
Walsh may know talent most of the time, but he misfired badly here.
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One person who knew Mirer would be a bust was Mel Kiper, Draft Expert. ESPN's Kiper had Mirer rated 30th in the 1993 draft when Seattle picked him second.
Say what you want about Mel Kiper, Draft Expert. You can make fun of his hair. You can whine about his credibility like FOX anlayst/former coach John Madden, who continually gripes about what Mel Kiper, Draft Expert, could know because he never played the game.
Hey, John. If it's an apple, do we need somebody with a Ph.D. to tell us it's an apple?
Jeff George was picked No. 1. Mel Kiper, Draft Expert, had him rated No. 84. Mel Kiper, Draft Expert, was right on. George has been a lot closer to No. 84 than No. 1.
Mel Kiper, Draft Expert, can talk about the strengths and weaknesses of Eastern Kentucky wide receiver Rondel Menendez, picked No. 247 by Atlanta in the draft. I bet John Madden can't. Or anybody else, for that matter.
Say what you want. Kiper knows players as well as anyone and is indeed a draft expert.
