Draft-day story or how Steelers landed Big Ben, and Eli got his wish
Monday, October 10, 2005
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
SAN DIEGO -- His team, as they say, was on the clock in the first round of the 2004 draft and the general manager of the New York Giants was on the phone to the Cleveland Browns.
Ernie Accorsi's Giants had the No. 4 pick in the draft, and he already had lost the player he waited 30 years to get. On that phone line, Accorsi held the fates of at least four teams in his hands -- the Chargers, Giants, Browns and the Steelers.
Accorsi already had lost his chance at drafting Eli Manning, and now the Browns were making him an offer. They wanted his pick and were willing to pay for it. He could move down to their spot at No. 7 and still take his second choice at quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
One thing nagged Accorsi, however. He did not fully trust the Browns. They wanted tight end Kellen Winslow, but what would stop them from drafting Roethlisberger or accepting an offer from the Chargers to draft quarterback Philip Rivers and then swapping him to San Diego?
Tick, tick, tick, tick ...
Of those three top quarterbacks, Accorsi did not want Rivers. Yet his desire to land Manning was so strong he took another chance, this time with the Chargers. He and San Diego general manager A.J. Smith tried but could not work out a deal before the draft; the Chargers preferred Rivers. Instead, San Diego called the Giants' bluff and drafted Manning with the No. 1 pick, gambling Accorsi would then draft Rivers and the two teams could work out a deal.
That is precisely what happened. After drafting Rivers, Accorsi then sent him to San Diego, along with a gaggle of draft picks. The Chargers sent him Manning. Thus, Accorsi, who revered Johnny Unitas, reversed his heartbreak from 21 years earlier when he drafted John Elway for the Colts only to have owner Robert Irsay deal him away.
Today, the three teams who drafted the first three quarterbacks in 2004 are delighted with that trade, but for different reasons. Accorsi and the Giants got their man. The Steelers wound up with Roethlisberger at No. 11. And the Chargers have been getting great play from their quarterback the past two seasons. Only there's a slight twist to San Diego's story: Drew Brees, the Chargers' second-round pick in 2001, beat out Rivers for the job last season and an unhappy Rivers languishes on the bench behind him.
Yet Accorsi maintains he would have settled for Roethlisberger, if that's how things worked out.
"I would have been happy with Roethlisberger," Accorsi said the other day. "There wasn't much to choose [between the two]. We just liked Manning. But we loved Roethlisberger."
Tonight, Roethlisberger takes his personal 17-2 NFL record for the Steelers (2-1) against the Chargers (2-2) and Rivers must wonder from his outpost on the San Diego sideline what might have been. Had Accorsi stood pat and drafted Roethlisberger, the Steelers almost surely would have taken Rivers. Could the former North Carolina State quarterback have duplicated what happened in Pittsburgh last season and become Big Phil, 13-0, rookie of the year and darling of the Letterman show?
"I think he would have been successful there," Accorsi said. "I happen to believe when you have a winning program -- and they know how to win -- they make any good player fit. They won with quarterbacks other than Roethlisberger -- Neil O'Donnell, Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox. I think great coaches and good programs win. I think that's a winning program and he would have flourished there. I think they win no matter who they get."
Ron Hill, for years the top personnel man with the Falcons, Jaguars and Broncos, isn't so sure Rivers would have worked out as well with the Steelers.
"I thought he was a good player," Hill said. "But to sit here and say he could have done what Ben did, I can't do that because that's too hypothetical. Ben did it, and I don't want to take away anything he did."
If Hill won't say it, Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt certainly will not.
"We liked all three of those guys coming out," he said of the quarterbacks. "We were extremely excited to get Ben."
The Chargers face a dilemma because they drafted Rivers. He reported late to training camp as contract negotiations dragged on. That allowed Brees to secure his job and then he had one of the best seasons of any quarterback in the NFL. After four games in this season, he has the best accuracy of any passer in the league.
Rivers wants to play or he wants to get out. The Chargers would take a big hit on their salary cap if they traded him.
"They have to do something," Maddox said. "They can't sit there and pay those guys what they're paying. I would think at some point, especially after this year, they have to make a decision whether to sign Drew for the long term or let him go. It'll be interesting."
But not quite as intriguing as it was the day Manning wound up in New York, Rivers in San Diego and Big Ben in Pittsburgh.
