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Family values key theme for Skins draft
Posted: Sunday April 18, 1999 10:02 PM
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Family values was the theme of the day at Redskin Park. Champ Bailey, one day after passing up a chance to bask in the glare at Madison Square Garden with other top NFL draft choices, brought his mother along to meet his new employers. Another draftee spoke of the advantages of being "settled" with a wife over the potential distractions of bachelorhood. Perhaps it was best the Washington Redskins passed on a chance to draft Ricky Williams. The dreadlocked, casual-dress Heisman Trophy winner would have looked way out of place Sunday amid all the suits and ties. "I'm not going to be the kind of guy that looks for the spotlight or seeks attention," said Bailey, the NFL draft's seventh overall pick, after posing with mother Elaine and his new No. 24 jersey. In other words, Bailey wants to play like Deion Sanders -- one of his three most idolized National Football League players -- but not behave like him. Nevertheless, the cornerback-wide receiver-return man at Georgia will have to be content with playing defense along another idol, Darrell Green, for perhaps a full season before the Redskins will even think about giving him some snaps on offense. "Hopefully, they'll give me a shot at it," Bailey said. While Bailey and the team's second-round pick, right tackle Jon Jansen of Michigan, were taking the nickel tour, the Redskins completed their draft Sunday with four more players: Georgia Tech linebacker Nate Stimson, Virginia Tech left tackle Derek Smith, Tennessee kicker Jeff Hall and Oregon State receiver Tim Alexander. Instead of accepting an invitation to go to New York for the draft, Bailey stayed home and had an outdoor party Saturday in his hometown of Folkston, Ga. The mayor, the sheriff's department and some 300 other people -- one-tenth of the town's population -- were there. "You go up there, you just sit in front of the camera," Bailey said of going to New York. "I'm not that type of person. I'm a family person. I enjoy it. It was just the perfect place to be." Elaine Bailey, polite and articulate, said she spent weeks preparing for her son's special day. "I thought it was going to be my opportunity to go the Big Apple," she said. "But, yesterday, [our town] was as bright as the Big Apple. "If you want to be a parent, you have to do the duties of a parent. You have to be there. You just don't ship them off. ... [In high school], he would come home with the plays and schedules and I let him talk to me about it. OK, where are you here? What's your duty here? Where are you going with the ball?" The business side of things Sunday was left to Bailey's agent, Jack Reale, who will make the case that his client should be paid as if he were picked No. 5 overall since that's where the Redskins originally expected to take him. Washington took advantage of Williams' availability to trade down and take Bailey two spots later. "It's going to make for some interesting discussions," Reale said. Meanwhile, Jansen said he also expects strong family ties to keep him levelheaded in the pros. He was married last year. "It's an advantage for me because I'm more settled," Jansen said. "I don't have to worry about Friday nights, going out and finding girls and things like that." In football terms, the Redskins need Bailey and Jansen to be immediate impact starters at positions that were lacking on last year's 6-10 team. The same could be said of Hall, given that there hasn't been a steady kicker in Washington since Chip Lohmiller was cut in the summer of 1995. Among their other picks, the Redskins hope to have found a bargain or two among a set of checkered college careers. Stimson, taken in the fourth round, didn't play at all his junior year because he didn't get along with the defensive coaching staff. But new coaches gave him a second chance as a senior, and he collected nine sacks -- including 2 1/2 in the Gator Bowl -- as a defensive end. "It's hard to come out of nowhere," said Stimson, who is too small to play the defensive line in the NFL and will move to linebacker. "A lot of people get illegal phone calls from agents during the season and stuff. I didn't get any." Smith, taken in the fifth round after a trade with Denver, was expected to go as high as the second round until he blew out his knee at the NFL combine in February. It'll be a race to get him healthy in time for training camp, so he's likely a long-term project. Alexander, a quarterback until his senior year, was taken in the seventh round and is probably destined for the practice squad. The Redskins already have young receivers James Thomas and Chris Thomas behind starters Michael Westbrook and Albert Connell.
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