Bill Walsh, A Mirer Admirer, Says Hawks Chose Best Qb

So a college coach happens to think the Seahawks got the better quarterback in the NFL draft.

So the college coach happens to be Bill Walsh.

His Stanford team beat both Rick Mirer and Drew Bledsoe this season. A year earlier he had been the television analyst for seven of Notre Dame's games and weekly spent time with Mirer.

There was the Bill Walsh of the '80s, drafting and nurturing Joe Montana, changing the offensive face of professional football, winning three Super Bowls for the 49ers.

The Bill Walsh of today is a college coach, but an NFL visionary. And he thinks Rick Mirer is the quarterback of the '90s, not Drew Bledsoe.

"Move and avoid," he said this week. "I'm convinced that the successful quarterback in the NFL must have point-guard qualities. He must direct the offense as a nimble athlete who can make things happen."

Walsh didn't want to discount Bledsoe.

"I think Drew Bledsoe has a great arm. He is an outstanding athlete with a lot of command. I can understand him being the No. 1 player picked, but at the same time I feel Rick Mirer is the outstanding athlete of the draft.

"To me, he has Montana movement."

Walsh went on.

"Rick has a very good arm. His drop is smooth and efficient. He can run in the open field. He is agile, quick on his feet, and plays with a lot of poise. He is not a guy who demands a lot of attention. He is sharp, a natural football player who I think is just the ideal quarterback prospect."

But is he right for Seattle?

Walsh talks about the 6-foot-2 athlete as being the perfect height for an NFL quarterback, not the 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 longtime NFL model.

"The taller man is inherently less able to move and avoid," Walsh said.

Bledsoe is 6-foot-5.

More to the point, Dan McGwire, Seattle's other quarterback, is 6-8. The Seahawks have said their offense is flexible enough to suit either McGwire or Mirer. But to suggest that the old Raider offense - the quarterback rigid in the pocket, throwing bombs down the field - is interchangeable with the 49er offense of Montana or Steve Young beating you laterally seems a stretch.

"We were able with that offense to do some things with Stan Gelbaugh that neither Kelly Stouffer or Dan McGwire could do," said Tom Flores, the Seattle coach.

The Seahawks preferred Bledsoe, the WSU quarterback, for their offense, and that is understandable. But now that they have the quarterback for the '90s, will they turn to an offense of the '90s, not the '70s, as well?

Flores says his offense doesn't need to change.

"Dan McGwire is never going to run as fast as Rick Mirer, but we're giving him boxing lessons," Flores said. "He's learning to slip and slide, he will be better at avoiding the rush. And that's what you want, not somebody who can run like Steve Young."

What concerns Walsh most is when the Seahawks will use Mirer.

"In his second year, he will demonstrate that he can be the quarterback the Seahawks want," Walsh said.

"I would feel badly if he is thrown in his first year. That might be a necessity for the Seahawks, but he would be better served not playing this year.

"He will have the same problems Jim Plunkett did. He will make a number of spectacular plays, but he will lose his confidence and get injured."

Walsh said it took two seasons to tell if Montana could play in the NFL.

"By the end of the second year we thought we had our quarterback," he said. "We substituted Joe on rare occasions his first year. But we were fortunate enough to have Steve DeBerg, who was a bright prospect himself."

Montana was the 49ers' first pick in the 1979 draft, but because they had traded away draft choices to get an aging O.J. Simpson, they didn't pick until the third round.

"At Notre Dame, Joe didn't have the consistency that Rick Mirer did," Walsh said. "Joe didn't even start full time until he was a senior. And Rick is a little bigger than Joe."

Even though Mirer started for three years, Walsh worries about his transition to the NFL.

"At Notre Dame, they were going to win seven games a year no matter who played quarterback," he said. "Rick only had three tough games a year.

"The jump from college to the NFL is much greater than from high school to college. Every game is a tough game. There is a tremendous stress factor directing players who are much older and more experienced than you are. The quarterback is more important in professional football than he is in college football."

Walsh knew it was easy for him to tell the Seahawks how to run their business.

"They probably didn't draft him No. 2 to let him sit and develop," he said. "I can understand that, but I can also understand what is best for both the team and the quarterback in the long run."

And in the 1990s.