The real deal

The right move can make or break a GM

A single personnel decision can be a defining point in many an NFL career. Take Ron Wolf's decision to trade for Brett Favre in 1992. No move was more meaningful to Wolf's career than that one. Or, more recently, Andy Reid's decision to draft Donovan McNabb over Ricky Williams in his first year as head coach of the Eagles became a big turning point; Reid now runs the whole show in Philadelphia.

On the other side of the coin, Bobby Beathard's trading for the rights to draft Ryan Leaf in 1998 wasn't such a great call. It's good to see Beathard back in football with Atlanta after a brief retirement from the game. There have been some interesting decisions made this offseason by personnel people that will put their careers under a microscope. Believe me, I know firsthand how intense the scrutiny will be for the next season or two.

Saints GM Randy Mueller traded Ricky Williams to the Dolphins and he didn't even get the chance to see if the move paid off, getting ousted by owner Tom Benson. Will Mueller get back in the league in the near future to run a club? He's more than capable of doing an excellent job for some franchise. If the Williams trade tips in favor of the Saints, he'll have his pick of jobs, but if the trade appears to be lopsided in Miami's favor he could struggle to find work.

Charley Casserly has a brilliant plan for the development of the expansion Texans but all eyes are on him about two decisions he has made. Was David Carr the right quarterback to select and can Tony Boselli return to his All-Pro status? Carr will be compared to Joey Harrington every weekend for the next five years just as Leaf was compared to Peyton Manning. In that scenario, Bill Polian was hailed as a genius and executive of the year for picking Manning in Indianapolis; Beathard ended up leaving the game.

Meanwhile, Boselli is a huge medical risk, having undergone three shoulder surgeries since early November after going under the knife this past Monday. The Texans took on a cap charge of nearly $7 million this season in selecting Boselli in February's expansion draft; they could be hit with a major charge if his career is shortened.

There will be winners and losers out of the Drew Bledsoe trade. New England's Scott Pioli is a rising star in the personnel business and already has a Super Bowl on his resume but if Bledsoe brings the Bills back into prominence and knocks the Patriots from contention his career could take a turn. Remember, Beathard went to Super Bowls with the Redskins and the Chargers but no one seemed to recall that during the Leaf days. There's a lot less risk on Buffalo's Tom Donahoe, who only gave up one first-round pick for Bledsoe.

Someone will be held accountable in Carolina if Chris Weinke doesn't produce since the team could have selected Harrington in the draft with its No.2 overall pick. New coach John Fox or director of football operations Marty Hurney will be answering questions on that decision as early as next season.

Dan Reeves will be known not for all the success he had with the Broncos and Giants but instead for Michael Vick's performance on the field this year. Draft picks were traded away and Chris Chandler was let go to pave the way for Vick. Reeves needs a big year from the young QB.

Look, decision-makers in this league welcome the opportunity to make the big moves that set the course for their clubs. That's what they're paid to do and that's the nature of the business. They take calculated risks and that's how we judge whether they're successful. This year a few careers will be held in the balance based on some individual performances on the field.

Steelers know their business

The Steelers have always done business their own way, especially when it comes to managing the salary cap and negotiating with their players. True, they have let quality veterans walk away throughout the years -- yet they always seem to put a very good football team on the field. They know their personnel very well and they keep their core of young players together. Some contracts recently put together by director of football operations Kevin Colbert and the Pittsburgh administration exemplify the team's style.

Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca was approaching the fifth year of a five-year deal. He was scheduled to make just under $1 million this season. Earlier this month the Steelers offered Faneca a five-year extension with a $6 million signing bonus. In doing so, the team used just an extra $100,000 of cap space this year to get one of its top young players locked up through 2007. The previous month the Steelers had focused their efforts on restricted free-agent linebacker Joey Porter. Colbert signed Porter -- who had a one-year, $1.2 million tender offer on him -- to a six-year deal with a $5 million bonus. That allowed the team to keep Porter's cap charge the same for this year. And let's not forget that Pittsburgh locked up would-be free-agent linebacker Jason Gildon for five years back in February with another $6 million signing bonus. But maybe the most intriguing deal was the signing of restricted free-agent RB Amos Zereoue.

Faneca, Porter and Gildon are legitimate starters in the NFL; Zereoue is a backup running back who rushed for 5.2 yards per carry (441 yards and one touchdown) in 2001. On June 13 Colbert completed a four-year contract that will pay Zereoue a $2.1 million bonus with a $689,000 salary this year. His salary next season will be $1.4 million, which is slightly less than his cap charge to the club if they were to cut him so you know Zereoue isn't going anywhere. If Jerome Bettis were to go down with an injury or can't get his weight under control, Zereoue is the man Pittsburgh has selected to walk into the starting role. This is just another example of the Steelers knowing which players they want on their team and being willing to pay them now rather than later when it always costs more.

These deals were good for the players AND the club and were all helped along by Earl Holmes' situation. The veteran linebacker turned down a $5.5 million signing bonus from the club offer and opted to test the free agent market (he ended up signing with the Browns for a mere $2 million bonus).

Pittsburgh has done a good job of convincing most of its players that the grass isn't greener on the other side of the hill. That's why the Steelers win as much as they do.

Pat Kirwan, who spent 12 years as a pro football coach, scout and personnel administrator, is an NFL analyst for CNNSI.com.

 

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