Winslow Cleared by Dad
Father Has No Objections to Son Playing in Detroit
By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 17, 2004; Page D03
Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow Sr. said he would not object to his son, University of Miami tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., beginning his NFL career with the Detroit Lions even though the team last year violated the interviewing rule for minority coaching candidates that the elder Winslow helped to get enacted.
"It's two totally different subjects," Winslow Sr. said by telephone this week. "It's apples and oranges. One is not related to the other."
The Lions have the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft next Saturday and are a top contender to select Winslow Jr., by far the highest-rated available tight end. The Winslows had a very public disagreement when Winslow Jr. was making his college choice: His father refused to sign a national letter-of-intent to the University of Washington, in part because he reportedly had reservations about the racial composition of the coaching staff and administration.
Winslow Sr. criticized the NFL for its minority hiring practices during his 1995 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech and now is the executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the group formed to promote minority hiring at all levels of the league. Lions President Matt Millen was fined $200,000 last year by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for violating the league's rule -- approved by acclamation of team owners under the threat of litigation -- that requires each club with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate. Millen said that several minority candidates declined to interview for the job because they were certain that the team would hire Steve Mariucci, which it did.
Winslow Jr. said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February that he would be happy to play for whichever team chooses him, including the Lions, and Winslow Sr. said this week he won't try to discourage Detroit from selecting his son. Otherwise, Winslow Sr. was reluctant to answer draft-related questions, suggesting he wants to give the spotlight to his son.
"I want to be the complete tight end," the younger Winslow said at the combine, "and I want to be the best ever."
Many executives around the league expect Winslow to go to the Washington Redskins with the fifth choice, the Lions with the sixth pick or the Cleveland Browns with the seventh selection. The Redskins and a few other teams appear wary of Winslow's choice of agents Kevin and Carl Poston, brothers with a reputation for conducting combative contract negotiations. There are no questions about Winslow's abilities, however.
"He's the best tight end out there," Millen said at the combine. "He's a talented, talented kid. He blocks. He runs well. He gets up the field."
Winslow was raised by his father, who played for the San Diego Chargers between 1979 and '87, after his parents split up when he was 3. Winslow Sr. urged his son to have varied interests. He pushed his son toward basketball and didn't permit him to play football until high school.
But Winslow Jr. made his way to football at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego, and his gifts quickly were apparent. He was heavily recruited and was set to announce his college choice of Washington on a live television appearance before his father refused to sign the letter-of-intent, which requires a guardian's signature if the student-athlete is younger than 21. Winslow Sr. declined to discuss the matter this week, but he has said in the past he felt it was his duty as a parent to raise such issues with his son.
The Winslows settled on Miami a week later. Winslow Jr. was switched from wide receiver to tight end during his freshman season in 2001 and backed up all-American Jeremy Shockey, now with the New York Giants, then had 57 catches as a sophomore and 60 receptions last season as a junior. Shockey became another mentor, and Winslow Jr. just kept getting better. He had 11 catches for 122 yards in the Hurricanes' January 2003 Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State for the national title. The showing reminded some of his father's unforgettable performance in a 41-38 overtime triumph over the Miami Dolphins in a January 1982 NFL playoff game, in which a dehydrated and exhausted Winslow Sr. had to be helped off the field three times but had 13 catches for 166 yards and blocked a would-be winning field goal at the end of regulation.
Winslow Jr. inherited his father's competitive spirit, although he hasn't always channeled it properly. After a loss to Tennessee in November, Winslow unleashed a profanity-laced locker-room tirade in which he assailed the referees, called football "war" and said he was "a soldier." The TV cameras were rolling, and the scene was replayed for days.
"You don't want a soft guy on the field," Winslow Jr. said at the combine. "I'm a real passionate guy. . . . Off the field, you know, I learn from my mistakes. I just blew up. We lost two games in a row. I learned from that. I'm young. It was dumb."
He says he isn't out to revolutionize his position. That's already been done -- by his father. He just wants to pick up where the elder Winslow left off.
"I used to watch my dad play when I was little, and it's always something I wanted to do ever since I was about 4 or 5," Winslow said. "As long as I can remember, I've been waiting for this day. . . . I used to want to be like Jerry Rice, like my dad. So that's where my passion comes from."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Apr16.html
that Joe, Dan, & Vinny come through.