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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/ZappaOMatic on 2026-04-21 21:42:05+00:00.

Original Title: [OC] In 1992, the Oilers drafted Air Force’s Joe Wood with the hope that he’d finally end their kicker carousel. They were apparently unaware he had to serve in the military, and he never played for them.

This is riffing on another write-up I posted here in 2020.

Kicker was a massive need for the Oilers after a disastrous 1991 season. The debacle is discussed in the above piece, but here’s a summary:

  1. Tony Zendejas broke his leg during the 1990 season and Teddy Garcia was signed to finish out the year.

  2. Garcia joined the WLAF in the spring of 1991 but things didn’t work out, while the Oilers decided to bring him back while letting Zendejas walk. Garcia then missed two PATs in the 1991 preseason opener and was immediately cut.

  3. The Oilers signed Raul Allegre to take his place, but he missed a FG in the next game.

  4. Ian Howfield was at a sports bar watching the preseason game where Garcia flamed out at a sports bar. He thought he could do better, so he tried out and got the job. Howfield looked alright to start the regular season before he started missing in October, then cost Houston the game in Washington and was released.

  5. Al Del Greco, who was going to join a packing company, took over for the rest of the season before the Oilers lost to Denver in the playoffs on “The Drive II”. He missed a kick in that game and his team lost by two, so he took responsibility. He was not protected in Plan B free agency, but they left the door open for a return if he’s available.

And thus, Jack Pardee had to find a new kicker. The 1992 draft had a decent crop of them too with guys like Jason Hanson, Carlos Huerta, and Roman Anderson. Houstonians liked Anderson, a London-born American from the University of Houston who set the NCAA career scoring record with 423 points and continues to hold several Cougars kicking records.[1][2] His father Billy Guy Anderson was an offseason a teammate of Pardee’s on the Rams in 1965 too, and he even played for the Oilers in 1967.

Others in the class included Arden Czyzewski, Kenny Stucker, and Joe Wood as possible late rounders.[1][2]

“The Oilers need at least one kicker to compete with Al Del Greco, but they hold little faith that a rookie can handle the job,” opined Al Carter of The Houston Post.[1] “If Huerta or Anderson is there in the seventh or eighth round, however, temptation may overwhelm them.”

Hanson went in the second round to the Lions, a pick that worked out pretty well for them in the end. Huerta was selected in the 12th round by the Chargers. The Oilers, with the 332nd overall pick, drafted Wood. Pardee said he “considered” taking Anderson and would “probably” pick him up as a UDFA, but Wood’s leg strength fully sold him.[3]

It seemed like a sensible pick too. Wood made 39 of 49 kicks and 104 of 108 extra points in college. His strong leg was the biggest sell, which included hitting one from 58 yards in 1991.[4] Pardee compared him to Jeff Jaeger because he had “great hang time, and he really gets his kickoffs deep.”[5]

There’s just one problem: he attended the Air Force Academy. At the time, service academy graduates must complete their military obligations.

Apparently, the Oilers didn’t know this. One team official, speaking anonymously, quipped, “If they’d drafted Mike Tyson, he’d be available sooner.”[6]

David Whitley of The Tampa Tribune recalled in 1997:[7]

Then-Oilers public relations director Chip Namias got Wood on the phone for a media conference call.

Woods [sic] told reporters he didn’t think anybody would draft him because of his five-year military commitment. Namias, sensing something was wrong, called the Oilers’ war room.

“Did you guys know about his Air Force commitment?”

“His what?”

Oh well. At least he wasn’t dead.

Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle wrote:[8]

Telephone call to the publicity office at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.: “Hello, this is the public-relations department with the Houston Oilers.”

(Pause)

Oilers voice: “Why are you laughing?”

So it went on Day II of the NFL draft with the Oilers, where the focus was on the future. And hoo, boy, do we mean the future.

When the Oilers finally got around to addressing their need in the area of placekicking, they took a flyer. And hoo, boy, do we mean flyer.

Meet Joe Wood, Air Force cadet, 12th-round draftee and maybe future Oiler. In 1996. Or 1997. Or 1998.

Don’t put away those Al Del Greco dartboards just yet. Before Wood, a lefty with good leg strength, can even suit up and try to make the 45-man roster, there is the matter of a commitment to another team. You’ve probably heard of it — the United States of America.

Wood, like all students at the service academies, has an obligation to serve active duty in the military before he may pursue a career in professional sports.

We’ve heard over and over how the Oilers brain trust puts such a low priority on the idea of drafting placekickers. But isn’t this a bit ridiculous even for them?

By the time Wood gets a chance to line up and try a field goal, coach Jack Pardee might have moved down the line to a new job and general manager Mike Holovak might be kicked back and living in Florida. Heck, by the time Wood gets a chance to boom one of his kickoffs deep into the end zone, Warren Moon might be a dues-paying member in AARP.

Set for the turn of the century…

Maybe the Oilers should have drafted Mike Tyson instead. He’ll be eligible to play sooner than Wood.

Or maybe this will solidify the Oilers’ kicking position well into the 21st century. After all, it worked out for the Cowboys with Roger Staubach, didn’t it?

This was a draft when the Oilers’ selections continued to get curiouser and curiouser.

In the third round, the pick was a running back — Corey Harris — whom the Oilers project as a slot receiver.

In an offseason when the exodus of receivers from the Oilers’ roster has been amazing, and in a draft when there was said to be an abundance of true wide receivers, it is a little surprising they would look to convert a player.

The fifth-round pick was linebacker Joe Bowden out of Oklahoma, and the question here is about his size. The draft experts have Bowden listed at 5-11½ and 227 pounds — well below the size the Oilers like in their linebackers. Al Smith is 251 pounds, Lamar Lathon 260.

Then there was eighth-round choice Bucky Richardson out of Texas A&M, a versatile and tough-enough kid, who went to the scouting combines and tried out at just about every position except quarterback. The Oilers drafted him as a quarterback.

But all those problems are of players simply having to turn some heads and win a spot on the roster. Before Wood can do that, he has to win his freedom from the Air Force.

“I was in a pilot-qualification program last year,” Wood said. “But I had to drop out, because I was having a lot of trouble with air sickness.”

…or of the stomach

Oilers kickers made some of us queasy last year, too.

Still, it was certainly curious when you consider that the Oilers could have brought in the unencumbered local favorite, Roman Anderson of the University of Houston, with their 12th-round pick. According to Pardee and Holovak, it was a matter of leg strength.

“He reminds of the Raiders guy (Jeff Jaeger),” said Pardee. “He has great hang time, and he really gets his kickoffs deep.”

Now, it is the Oilers who may have to go deep in order to pull strings and get Wood into camp before the next millennium.

“I believe you have that all wrong,” Holovak said. “I believe he has a five-year com- mitment, but that could be a lot less. In fact, it could be as little as zero. That’s what I got when I talked to his dad.”

But that’s not the answer that came from officials at the Air Force Academy. Maj. Rafael Frontaura, Wood’s commanding officer, said there definitely is a five-year commitment. Maj. Phillip Delaney of the public-information office said the commitment is for six years.

But there is a chance that could be shortened by two years. Of course, anything is possible when you have friends in high places. Didn’t President Bush declare his loyalty to the Oilers before last season’s game in Washington? It might be time to see how deep that loyalty runs.

Or, if Wood has to wait at least four years, that might be a favor Wood has to ask of President Quayle. One problem, though:

Isn’t Quayle a Colts fan?

Pardee admitted he knew “it’s no sure thing with Wood” but added “we’re not through looking at kickers.”[6] Still, he was hopeful to get Wood on the team similar to Napoleon McCallum playing for the Raiders while serving in the Navy. Likewise, Wood heard of rumors that the military might be scaling down which would mean shorter commitments for him and his graduating class. Additionally, being a kicker meant his expiration date wasn’t as bad as skill positions.[4]

“I think I’m in the perfect position for this kind of situation,” he proclaimed.[4] “As a kicker, I don’t think I’ll lose anything over three or five years, whatever the commitment will be.”

Wood t…

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