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Moving on Ten familiar faces in new places for the 2001 season
The NFL's regular season lasts four months. The playoffs consume January and the preseason schedule takes up August. That's six months of prime time. So how come it seems as if the NFL has turned into a year-round operation, capable of making us stop and pay attention in March or May as well as September or November? Because in the five-plus months since the Baltimore Ravens began reveling in their impropable Super Bowl championship, the face of the league has once again undergone a significant reshuffling. In this, the era of free agency and win-now coaching dictates, it happens every spring. Not to mention late winter and early summer. With training camps beginning to open this week, here are the 10 most notable faces in new places:
1. Brad Johnson, Tampa Bay: Stop us if you've heard this one before, but the addition of Johnson in March stamped the Bucs as the concensus NFC Super Bowl favorite. Again. Just like last year's blockbuster trade for Keyshawn Johnson. But this time we really mean it. While many cringe at the use of the dreaded "final piece of the puzzle" label, Johnson gives Tampa Bay a poised, steadying presence at the game’s most pivotal position. He still knows the NFC Central from his days in Minnesota, and his quiet brand of leadership is a nice fit for a Bucs team that isn't all that young any more and must take the next big step in 2001. Providing he can stay healthy, Johnson is exactly what the Bucs have lacked. "I don't think Brad is ever going to be a guy who comes in and slams his helmet down and tries to lead you through a wall," Tampa Bay general manager Rich McKay said. "But he's a very positive guy and a very hard-working guy. He sets an example, and he's not going to panic. He's very even keel, and that's nice because that's Tony Dungy's style and approach." 2. Elvis Grbac, Baltimore: Let's see, the last time a Super Bowl winning team changed horses at starting quarterback the next season was ... uh, never. Into that unchartered territory lumbers Grbac this season. But in reality, the Ravens defied all conventional wisdom last season anyway. They won a Super Bowl with defense in an age of offensive dominance. They changed quarterbacks at mid-season, endured a record-breaking and mind-boggling touchdown-less streak, took the wild-card route through the playoffs, and still won. Make no mistake, anything less than another Super Bowl appearance and the switch from Trent Dilfer to Grbac will be labeled an unmitigated failure. It's that all-or-nothing pressure-cooker that should make for interesting football watching in Baltimore this fall. Grbac can put up glitzy numbers, but he has yet to prove he can take a team where it wants to go in January. So, what's it going to be, Elvis? Did the Ravens get too smart for their own good? 3. Jerry Rice, Oakland: He didn't move far, so why does it still seem like the world has rotated off its axis to see Rice donning Raiders silver and black instead of 49ers red and gold? For the same reasons we never got use to lightning bolts on Johnny Unitas' helmet. But the analogy breaks down there. Unitas was broken down by the time he hit San Diego. Rice still has some life left in those Hall of Fame legs. As motivated as he has been in a long time, Rice is aching to make an impact in the East Bay. As long as Rich Gannon can keep both he and Tim Brown happy -- in their younger days there would have never been enough footballs to keep both egos placated -- the Raiders passing game will be a dangerous factor. 4. Kevin Carter, Tennessee: Carter felt left out last season in St. Louis. Now, he's left end in Tennessee, and folks are salivating at the thought of what he and bookend Jevon Kearse should do for the Titans pass rush. But the truth of the matter is that Carter played like a dog for much of 2000 and has something to prove this year. His image took a beating when he pouted over his contract situation, and he'll be challenged to show that he's still a divisive force whom opponents must gameplan for. The hunch here is that Kearse -- stationed back at his more natural right end slot -- will benefit more from playing with Carter than Carter will from Kearse. 5. Dick Vermeil, Kansas City: And you thought Vermeil's un-retirement in 1997 was big news? Four years later, his second comeback to coaching prompted a nasty intra-state feud that spawned sniping among old friends and didn't get settled until it reached Paul Tagliabue's office. Once the acrimony died down, however, Vermeil set about making over a Chiefs team that has been mired in mediocrity for the past three seasons. Vermeil's work may not bear full fruit this season, but at his age, he's not interested in following the three-year plans that have worked for him in Philadelphia and St. Louis. Folks can second-guess the Trent Green - for-draft-picks trade all they want, but which available quarterback was better qualified to run the Rams-style offense than the former Ram? 6. Doug Flutie, San Diego: Here's the great thing about the bitter enmity that boiled over in Buffalo last season between Flutie and Rob Johnson: It wasn't a mere media creation. It wasn't a product of hype or fostered by one incident blown out of porportion. It was real, it was deep-seated and it was a two-way street that divided the Bills locker room with a median down the middle. And we're all going to miss it, in that slow-down-to-look-at-a-car-crash sort of way. Both Flutie and Johnson got what they wanted in the end, and you can count on Flutie giving the moribund Chargers offense an immediate lift. That's his track record in the first year at a new stop, and even the fact that he'll turn 39 in October won't offset that trend. Alas, we even hear he gets along great with rookie backup Drew Brees. 7. Ryan Leaf, Tampa Bay: Speaking of quarterbacks who have been through San Diego, we can't forget the mercurial Mr. Leaf. For the price of a waiver claim, the Bucs either bought themselves an amazingly low-priced insurance policy, or a potential headache that isn't worth any amount. Leaf has hit all the right notes so far, but don't forget everyone was writing about the new, mature Ryan Leaf at this point last season. If he comes through and winds up helping the Bucs win two or three games this season, he'll be chronicled as the next Jim Plunkett or Kerry Collins. If he does anything -- both on the field or off it -- to disrupt the good karma that surrounds Tampa Bay's Super Bowl intentions, the comparisons will lean more toward Jeff George and Scott Mitchell. 8. John Randle, Seattle: With apologies to Cal Ripken Jr., sometimes even the best of players can stay too long in the same spot. For Randle, the vicious circle that the Minnesota Vikings defense seems caught in has gone around and around forever. Playing with a building level of frustration the past two years, Randle saw his Hall of Fame-level game go stale and his always effusive fire start to flicker. He wanted out of Minnesota in the worst way and played financial hardball with the team in order to bring about his exit. Now, his challenge is to re-invigorate himself on a team that overhauled its defense with a host of veterans. If Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren gets 80 percent of the Randle who used to regularly torment his Packers quarterback Brett Favre, he may even start to look like a genius again. 9. Marty Schottenheimer, Washington: The sidelines to network analyst to sidelines routine has grown so cliched that we don't even blink any more when a former coach reaches for his old whistle. For Pete's sake, we still hear rumors that Joe Gibbs is headed back to the NFL any day now. But Schottenheimer's emergence in Washington was still something of a surprise. His candidacy came out of nowhere, saving owner Daniel Snyder the embarrassment of having to beg a big name to take his team's top job. Like Vermeil, Schottenheimer has whipped his two former teams into perennial playoff contenders. Unlike Vermeil, Schottenheimer has never managed to slip on one of those gaudy diamond-crusted rings. Picking up the pieces of what was a three-ring circus in D.C. last year, that streak is in no jeopardy of ending in 2001. 10. Ray Rhodes, Denver: As a head coach, Rhodes makes a heck of a defensive coordinator. Or so it seems. Upon being bounced out of Green Bay after just one season in 1999, teams have lined up to hire the talented Rhodes as defensive coordinator. Washington was last year's assignment, where he took the 30th ranked Redskins defense to 4th overall, and now he's working for old friend Mike Shanahan in Denver. The Broncos have made some risky, big-money moves on defense -- giving Chester McGlockton and Leon Lett fat deals -- but they also added a smooth cover cornerback in Denard Walker and a couple of veteran linebackers in Lee Woodall and Henri Crockett. Expect Rhodes to quickly blend the unit into one of the AFC's best. Working for his fourth organization in four years, what other timetable can he go by? Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com
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