Raiders : Hester, Moffett and Adams Provide Receivers to Burn

The Raiders, who had suggested an interest in various defensive players, went for a relay team instead, starting with their first-round pick--wide receiver Jessie (the Jet) Hester of Florida State--in Tuesday’s National Football League draft.

Hester is 5 feet 10 3/4 inches and weighs 172 pounds.

The Raiders say they timed him in the 40-yard dash at 4.45 seconds. Hester says he has run a 4.33.

His agent says he has a 38-inch vertical leap.

You could assume he was born to go deep.

The Raiders then used their next two picks, consecutive third-round selections, for two more burners, 6-1, 177-pound Tim (Bottle Rocket) Moffett, a wide receiver from Mississippi, and 5-10, 189-pound Stefon Adams, an East Carolina wide receiver recently converted to free safety, whom the Raiders plan to convert again, to cornerback. So far, Adams has no nickname.

So, the Raiders have three picks who have been timed in 4.5 or under for the 40-yard dash, suggesting that their long-standing policy of picking the best available athlete had been modified, for half a day at least, to the best available wide receiver.

The Raiders list Cliff Branch, Malcolm Barnwell and Dokie Williams as their top three wide receivers. But Branch will be 37 in August, was hurt much of last season and caught no touchdown passes. Barnwell, though promising, hasn’t achieved Branch’s status.

“We like speed and we like size,” Coach Tom Flores said. “We didn’t go for size here because there wasn’t someone there who excited us as much as these particular players.

“We’ve always talked about attacking, the ability to strike, putting fear in people with our brand of ball. These people have the ability to help us do it.”

Immediately? The Raiders also have a long-standing policy of bringing young players along slowly.

“I hope so,” Flores said. “In the modern-day football we play, where you try to keep everybody fresh and you go to three wide receivers, we think you have to have more than just one or two explosive weapons. With the three wide receivers and four wide receivers going against you, if we’re going to continue to play the way we like to play (with man-to-man coverage in the secondary), we had a need for fast people.

“I don’t consider these guys projects. They’re accomplished college players with speed. How fast they develop in our program, I can’t say.”

Hester, chosen with the 23rd pick of the draft, was generally regarded as the No. 4 receiver in the draft, behind Al Toon of Wisconsin, Eddie Brown of Miami and Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley State, who went 10th, 13th and 16th, respectively, after the big early run on linemen.

Hester remained available for seven more choices, including some surprises, such as the one by the Bears. Chicago, picking just ahead of the Raiders, chose the Human Refrigerator, William Perry, Clemson’s 300-pound-plus middle guard.

“It feels wonderful,” said Hester in a conference hookup from Tallahassee. “I’m just overwhelmed. I just can’t believe I’m part of this organization.”

Actually he isn’t yet. There is his signing to be accomplished, but Hester is already leaning.

“We did get a phone call from John Bassett of Tampa Bay (of the United States Football League),” said Hester’s agent, Mike Blatt, from his Stockton, Calif., office. “They had him as a territorial pick. They want him quite a bit. He (Bassett) said if he got drafted by a team that he didn’t want to go to. . . . We’ve got a little bit of leverage.

“Jesse wants to be a Raider. He likes warm cities. And he likes the style they play.”

Hester alternated at wide receiver for three years at FSU with Weejie Thompson, now a starting wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a senior last season, Hester caught 42 passes for a 19.8-yard average and nine touchdowns.

Moffett is taller, although Flores said Moffett has “that ability to strike,” which makes him more than a mere possession receiver. In four seasons at Ole Miss, he caught 82 passes for a 15.5-yard average.

Adams was a wide receiver until his coach switched him to free safety midway through his senior season.

“Silver and black?” he said. “I think I’ll look real good. “

And playing the corner on a team that already has Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes?

“I’d rather be playing with them than against them,” he said.

Raider Notes The Raiders’ second-round choice went to New England, as had their first in ‘84, for Mike Haynes. . . . The fourth-round pick, 6-3, 246-pound linebacker Jamie Kimmel of Syracuse, became the first draftee of the day who couldn’t break 4.5. Said Coach Tom Flores: “He’s a very good looking, strong looking athlete. We feel we got a pretty good choice.” . . . The Raiders took Dan Reder, a running back from Delaware, in the fifth round and Rusty Hilger, a quarterback from Oklahoma, in the sixth round. The Raiders had four seventh-round picks, taking Kevin Belcher, an offensive tackle from Wisconsin; Mark Pattison, a wide receiver from Washington; Bret Clark, a defensive back from Nebraska, and Nick Naden, a center from Penn State.

Raiders Draft Picks

Rd. Player College Pos. 1. Jessie Hester Florida St. WR 3. Tim Moffett Mississippi WR 3. Stefon Adams East Carolina DB 4. Jamie Kimmel Syracuse LB 5. Dan Reeder Delaware RB 6. Rusty Hilger Oklahoma St. QB 7. Kevin Belcher Wisconsin T 7. Mark Pattison Washington WR 7. Bret Clark Nebraska DB 7. Nick Haden Penn St. C 8. Leonard Wingate South Carolina St. DT 9. Chris Sydnor Penn St. DB 10. Reggie McKenzie Tennessee LB 10. Albert Myres Tulsa DB 11. Steve Strachan Boston Col. RB 12. Raymond Polk Oklahoma St. DB