SPORTS
Texans build franchise as draft finishes
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Monday, April 22, 2002
NEW YORK — Quarterback David Carr is the first player from Fresno State and the first from the Western Athletic Conference to be selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.
The last Fresno State quarterback drafted in the first round was Trent Dilfer in 1994. Dilfer happens to be Carr’s friend and mentor.
“He gives me a lot of tips,” Carr said. “Like, give your wife flowers when you go to the (NFL) combine because you won’t be around.”
The Houston Texans wasted no time finding a receiver for Carr, selecting Jabar Gaffney of Florida with the first pick in the second round. Defensive end Julius Peppers, the second overall pick by the hometown Carolina Panthers, had 15 sacks in 2000, one shy of breaking Lawrence Taylor’s school season record.
Peppers also was a key reserve on North Carolina’s Final Four basketball team in 2000-01, and was sorely missed last season when he opted to concentrate on his postseason football workouts.
Along with having a perfect name for a cornerback, Quentin Jammer of Texas — the fifth overall pick of the San Diego Chargers — is known for his big, bushy eyebrows.
“I’ve always had thick eyebrows,” Jammer said. “But when I was eight or nine, a lady cut my hair and she trimmed my eyebrows. They were really thin. When they grew back, they were bushy.”
Quarterback Joey Harrington of Oregon, the third overall pick by Detroit, and defensive tackle Ryan Sims, the sixth overall selection by Kansas City, were not at Madison Square Garden because they were not certain top 10 selections.
Harrington pulled out when he heard nothing definitively from any of the five teams he worked out for over the last two weeks. Yet he was taken by the Detroit Lions third overall.
“I was unbelievably surprised,” Harrington said. “Honestly, I had been told five minutes earlier that they were going in another direction. So, I was just about to sit down with my mom and dad and watch the Lions pick someone else, and I got a phone call. I was shocked. I was caught off guard, but I’m thrilled to be there.”
Harrington’s selection indicates there was probably a disagreement between Lions coach Marty Mornhinweg and president Matt Millen. Mornhinweg probably favored Harrington, who is ideal for the West Coast offense because he sets up quickly and is accurate on the intermediate throws.
The Lions will release quarterback Charlie Batch in June and Harrington will compete with second-year player Mike McMahon for the starting job.
It was believed St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz coveted Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El, a quarterback who converted to receiver and was selected in the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, two picks before the Rams selected.
But Martz got another exceptional athlete in the third round — Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Eric Crouch of Nebraska with the 95th selection — and may use him in a multi-purpose role.
National champion Miami again led the way with five first-round picks — McKinnie, Shockey, Buchanon, safety Ed Reed (24th to the Baltimore Ravens) and cornerback Mike Rumph (27th to the San Francisco 49ers). That’s one more than the Hurricanes had in the first round last year.
The Denver Broncos may have Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson and Olandis Gary in the backfield, but that didn’t stop coach Mike Shanahan from selecting Miami running back Clinton Portis in the second round. Portis lacks size at 5 feet 10 and 204 pounds but is not afraid to run hard between the tackles and take a pounding. He was not utilized as a pass-catching threat at Miami.
For the first time since 1970, three tight ends — Shockey, Colorado’s Daniel Graham to New England and Washington’s Jeramy Stevens to Seattle — were selected in the first round, which lasted a record five hours, 46 minutes, eclipsing the previous mark of 5:39 in 1995.
The most exciting development on day two of the draft occurred when the Patriots traded Drew Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills Sunday after a nine-year career in which he rewrote the record books but watched from the sideline while his former backup led the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship.
The Patriots will get Buffalo’s first-round pick in 2003.
New England had been trying to trade Bledsoe since Tom Brady, a former fourth-stringer who inherited the starting job when Bledsoe was injured, led the team to an improbable 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.
Every team is looking to catch New England now, but none have farther to go than the expansion Texans, which started the second day of the draft by picking Jonathon Wells, a late-blooming running back from Ohio State. He was Ohio State’s most valuable player last season, rushing 1,331 yards with a 5.2 yards-per-carry average and 16 touchdowns.
The Texans went into the draft wanting to add playmakers to their offense and gave Carr a target by picking Jabar Gaffney from the Florida Gators with their first pick in the second round. Gaffney will compete with Texans starters Corey Bradford and Jermaine Lewis for playing time.
The Texans traded draft picks with the Atlanta Falcons with their second pick in the fourth round. The Texans get Atlanta’s third pick in the 2003 draft.
In the seventh round, the Texans took defensive end/linebacker Greg White from the University of Minnesota and the final player in the draft, No. 261, was defensive end Ahmad Miller of Nevada-Las Vegas.
>- compiled from staff and Reuters reports
