MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 20, 1999

During its coverage of the NFL Draft Saturday, ESPN showed the Saints’ “War Room.” In the background you could see the Saints’ draft board filledwith names of college prospects.

It turned out that board could have listed just one name – RICKY WILLIAMS.

It was kind of appropriate that it took a curveball by the Indianapolis Colts for the Saints to get Williams, a former baseball player in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. With the Colts expected to takeWilliams with the fourth pick, they instead went with Miami’s Edgerrin James, opening up the way for the Saints to complete a deal with Washington they had made before the draft to acquire the Heisman Trophy winner.

Williams was the man the Saints, and especially coach Mike Ditka, coveted. Saturday, then, was the perfect day for Ditka, who got his manand the rest of the day off to play golf. All it took to get the running backfrom Texas was this year’s entire draft (six picks) and next year’s first and third round draft choices. That was actually a bargain considering theoffers the team had earlier made to trade up with the top four teams in the draft.

Was Williams worth it? Only time can tell. Similar trades in the NFL inrecent years have not paid off. In 1989, Minnesota acquired HerschelWalker from Dallas for a number of draft picks. A year later, the Saintssent a number of picks to the Cowboys for quarterback Steve Walsh.

Walker and Walsh had unspectacular careers with their new teams while the Cowboys used the picks to build their dynasty of the 1990s.

But how many times does a team have the opportunity to pick the best player in a draft? And wasn’t it nice to see the Saints finally make an aggressive move to acquire a player? Just think what could have been had the Saints had gotten a Brett Favre or a Eddie George earlier this decade.

And with the way the Saints have squandered draft choices throughout their history, maybe trading them away wasn’t such a bad idea.

Whether or not Williams can make the Saints a playoff team is debateable.

But he can do nothing but help it.

Williams gives the team the durable, 25-carries-a-game back it has been lacking since the days of Reuben Mayes, Dalton Hilliard and Craig Heyward.

And remember, the Saints were 6-1 this past season when they ran the ball 22 times or more.

It will not be easy for Williams. He will be facing a lot of eight-manfronts. It is up to the Saints staff to find the best ways to make him themost productive. It is also up to the front office to make sure he is signedand in camp on time. His signability was one issue that some feel why theColts passed on him.

The Saints and Ditka got their man. Now, its up to them and Williams toprove that it was the right move for a franchise that has made few of them.

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