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Cool stuff about Dan Morgan and Miami last week. People forget how dominant he was in the early 2000s. And that was probably the best draft class in franchise history, with him, Kris Jenkins, and Steve Smith. Who do we give credit for that one, since they fired George Seifert after a 1-15 season? — Will, Rock Hill, SC

Well, you can’t absolve George of any credit just because the season left the rails early and never got back on them. He was the boss and ultimately in charge of the entire football operation at the time. (Also, let’s not act like George was bad at his job. When he came here, he had two Super Bowl trophies and the highest winning percentage of any coach in league history. Now, going 1-15 spoils that a little, but he still has a .648 winning percentage [higher than all the guys who are finalists in the coach category for the Hall of Fame this year, including Bill Belichick]. And honestly, going 8-8 with Steve Beuerlein and his 1999 team here might have been as good a coaching job as anything he did in San Francisco. But we digress. [And that’s the longest parenthetical digression in the league this year.])

But according to the people who were there at the time, the architect of that draft and the reason it came together like it did was former director of player personnel Jack Bushofsky.

Bushofsky was the scout’s scout, a guy who knew them when he saw them, hard-boiled in all the best ways. He was also an incredible racquetball player.

When we caught up with him last week, the 88-year-old Bushofsky was driving from his home in New Port Richey, Fla., back to his native Pittsburgh to visit family, and was passing through Charlotte. He’s still healthy and active, still playing a lot of golf.

“I’m getting around OK; still kicking, not quite as high as before, but still kicking,” Bushofsky said with a laugh. “I’m trying to stay young, think young, and be young, try to stay active.”

And he loved circling back to talk about Morgan and that draft class. When I mentioned that he might be one of the more underrated figures in franchise history, he replied: “Well, I tend to agree with you.”

But as any lifelong scout recognizes, credit isn’t something you can count on, and there’s a lot of luck involved as well. They had a second-round grade on Smith (which was justified by time), and were fortunate that no one else took him in the 72 picks that came before they acquired what should be a future Hall of Famer. And taking Morgan with their first-rounder was a great call, giving them the kind of defensive centerpiece and signal-caller and worker that team needed in the years to come.