Up-and-comers

Sporting News, The, Oct 9, 1995 by John Mullin, Ira Miller, Kevin Mannix

TSN correspondents John Mullin, Ira Miller and Kevin Mannix bring you the stories of three of the NFL's surprises this season -- players who weren't taken in the first round of their drafts, who didn't have hulking frames or eye-popping times in the 40 coming out of college. What they did have was strong fundamentals, a desire to work hard and an ability to compensate for their weaknesses.

The triple threat

Jim Flanigan can take a hint.

In his sophomore year at Notre Dame, two of the Irish's defensive tackles, Bryant Young and Eric Jones, suffered broken ankles in a game at Air Force. Flanigan was a linebacker at the time, not playing particularly well, and Coach Lou Holtz, suddenly in dire need of down linemen, approached Flanigan with an idea.

"Holtz told me I'd better learn to play with my hand on the ground or find a different flight home," Flanigan recalls.

Flanigan learned, and now it is his NFL career that is taking flight.

As he converted from finebacker to tackle, he went from 235 pounds to 270 at Notre Dame and is now at about 285. "I lifted like a madman, and I ate like a madman, too," he says, laughing. After a 1994 rookie season with virtually no plays from scrimmage, Flanigan hasn't merely opened the door to the Bears' starting lineup; he has blown it off its hinges.

He has become the Bears' most dominant defensive lineman and will make his first start this Sunday against the Panthers. His 4 1/2 sacks after four games rank among the league leaders, and his 20 tackles are tied for the team lead among linemen.

That production has forced Opening Day starters Carl Simpson and Chris Zorich to spend practices this week fighting for a job alongside him.

Flanigan's father, Jim, was a linebacker with the Packers from 1967 through '70. Now Flanigan is on the other side of the storied Bears-Packers rivalry and in a position other than what his father played, which was a disappointment at first.

After Holtz told him he was a tackle or else, "I tried it a couple of weeks, but I really resisted it," Flanigan says. "I didn't want to move at all. I wanted to stay at linebacker.

"My Dad was a 'backer and that's how I was raised, and I thought I was doing an OK job. But then after spring ball I realized I'd probably have a better shot at defensive tackle."

Flanigan has a particularly good shot in Chicago, where he is the prototype lineman for Coach Dave Wannstedt's defensive schemes. His added bulk has not cost him the speed that Wannstedt demands from his one-gap, penetration fronts. Instead of having responsibility for two holes, or gaps, on either side of an offensive lineman, Flanigan shoots a single gap.

"He is our quickest defensive tackle, with his hands and feet," player personnel chief Rod Graves says. "He uses his hands about as well as anyone we have, to get separation and disengage from blockers quicker than any defensive lineman we have."

To Wannstedt, the reason for Flanigan's success is more simple. "The difference in him really is the desire," Wannstedt says. "He just wants to get there."

Flanigan played a one-gap system at Notre Dame that had some similarities to Wannstedt's schemes, "but it was more read-and-react," he says. "Here we're just taught to get up the field right away and react to what we see. We're taught to get a lot more penetration here than we were at Notre Dame. We're freer now. And if s a lot more fun."

Flanigan's fun doesn't just come on the defensive line. He has become one of the rare three-way players in the league.

Last season, his offensive work included a touchdown reception in the Bears' playoff loss to the 49ers. He also returned two regular-season kickoffs for 26 yards. This season against the Packers he played fullback, catching another touchdown pass and serving as lead blocker on a Rashaan Salaain scoring run.

Not that Flanigan's particularly a stranger to end zones. He rushed for 2,075 yards and scored 30 touchdowns as a senior fullback (4,464 yards, 59 TDs for his prep career) at Southern Door High in Brussels, Wis.

He has not returned any kickoffs this season, but he has recovered a fumble on special teams. His insertion into the starting lineup will take him out of some special-teams duty, but not all, Wannstedt says.

The weight he put on since his conversion to tackle at Notre Dame has been critical and was even so before the Bears drafted him. Avannstedt and Graves had long talks before the 1994 draft and saw a bit of Steve McMichael in Flanigan and figured, correctly, that the size problem could be overcome. The Bears grabbed Flanigan in the third round.

"People were questioning his size," Graves remembers, "but we kept saying, `Hey, he's as tall as McMichael and at least 10 pounds heavier. Steve played his last year at 270 and Flannie's 285.'

"So that was the one thing that a lot of people might have been hung up on, his not being 300 pounds."

Wannstedt, in fact, has no 300-pound defensive linemen. What he wants are Flanigans.

"He's a winner, number one," Wannstedt says. "Number two, he's a playmaker. He has enough athleticism to make plays. He's not a big, stiff guy who gets locked on blocks. And three, he's a very intelligent person and you generally don't get him on things twice. You may trap him once, but the second time he understands what you're trying to do."