By Ray Buck
SportsLine National Columnist

The NFL scouting process seems to be a warm, simple, benign sort of annual rite of spring ... unless you're a player involved in it.

Then it can be as frustrating as it is demeaning.

Cade McNown, the UCLA quarterback who merely won 20 of his last 22 college games, is high on the draft boards of several teams -- including Tampa at No. 15, Miami at No. 24 and San Francisco at No. 27.

But when he is interviewed, the barely 6-foot, 211-pound quarterback is made to look like Eddie LeBaron ... with Mrs. LeBaron's arm.

"At this point in my career, it's a business," McNown said at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. "We (players) are starting to realize that. Teams are trying to look for flaws ... (because) they're trying to figure out a way to pay you less."

McNown isn't a malcontent. Quite to the contrary, he has a dynamic personality with good insight and intuition to go along with an uncanny ability to win games.

"Maybe not all clubs are this way," he said, "but they want to find all the flaws in your game so when they go to the (negotiating) table, they can say, 'You can't do this, you can't do that.' It makes you wonder: So why do you want me? It's a little negative.

"It helps if you can sit back and laugh at it."

HE WASN'T LAUGHING WHEN A STORY BROKE last month that the FBI was investigating McNown's possible association with an alleged mobster and convicted felon named Dominic "Donny Shacks" Montemarano, who has done prison time for racketeering.

Cade McNown continues to try to prove his detractors wrong.(Allsport)

McNown and several other UCLA players had been seen in Montemarano's company, according to the FBI report. The FBI later absolved McNown, and all other UCLA players, of any wrongdoing.

But for a guy who is expected to be drafted in the first round April 17, the damage -- guilt by association -- was already done.

Nobody is sure what effect, if any, this will have on McNown's selection. Not even McNown, who has been able to handle most of the criticism about his ability.

"I'm not going to throw the ball as hard as Brett Favre," McNown said. "But I have a strong enough arm to make any throw that is asked of me. Sometimes it's better to have a guy who can anticipate rather than a guy who has to wait, see something late, then drill it in there.

"THAT'S HARDER ON THE RECEIVER, plus it's unnecessary."

How does McNown rate his arm?

"I think I have above-average arm strength," he said. "I don't feel I have to compensate for anything. I think my strengths are preparation and competitiveness. As for being a leader, I think it's by listening. Any good leader is going to be a good listener.

"What's going on with your team? What chemistry is brewing around you? If you're listening to people, there's a lot better chance they'll listen to you when you have something to say."

The Ryan Leaf Factor

NFL teams need only to look back 12 months ago to see how important mental preparedness is in selecting a quarterback out of college to be your No. 1 QB.

Peyton Manning had the mental makeup; Ryan Leaf did not.

Manning, No. 1 pick overall by Indianapolis, went on to set NFL rookie records with the Colts.

Leaf, whom San Diego traded away two firsts and two players to move up one spot to take him at No. 2 overall, lost more than just his cool with the media. He bombed and lost his starting job.

Leaf enters the second year of a $31.25-million contract that paid him an $11.25-million signing bonus. He will begin the '99 season as a backup to the nearly acquired Jim Harbaugh, who recently signed a two-year, $2.75-million deal.

Eagles are flying

No team has been busier than the Philadelphia Eagles in preparing for this draft.

On Monday, coach Andy Reid and director of football operation Tom Modrak spent 90 minutes with Oregon QB Akili Smith during a private workout at San Diego State.

On Tuesday, they joined about 75 other coaches, scouts and front-office personnel in attending Texas RB Ricky Williams' workout at University of California-San Diego.

On Wednesday, University of Miami RB Edgerrin James was brought to Philly for a visit with Reid and Modrak.

Draft shots

• The Cincinnati Bengals brought in Kentucky QB Tim Couch for a visit Tuesday. Couch was given a tour of Paul Brown Stadium, now under construction. Couch grew up about 3½ hours from Cincinnati -- in Hyden, Ky.
• Wisconsin's 374-pound OT Aaron Gibson wowed every coach at the NFL Combine in February with his size. Cincinnati's Bruce Coslet called him "the biggest man I've ever seen." But now teams are questioning Gibson's ability to stay healthy. In two scheduled workouts, Gibson has had to cancel because of a muscle pull and, more recently, had to cut short a workout because of a groin strain.
• Agent Leland Hardy gets the "Overzealous Award" for the week. During Williams' UCSD workout this week, Hardy was heard to exclaim that his client is "Jerome Bettis-size with Deion Sanders-speed." The Bus goes 245-250. Williams weighed in at 224, then ran wind-aided times of 4.45 and 4.48 seconds, and 4.62 against the wind. Deion jogs that.
• Williams visited the Washington Redskins on Thursday. GM Charley Casserly has no intention to trade up from No. 5, but said he would take the Heisman winner if he fell in the Skins' lap. More likely is the projection that Washington will end up with Georgia CB Champ Bailey.