I call it the Baseballization of Football, the decline of Major League Baseball has led to what used to be done among fans of baseball being applied to the NFL. Stats that mean next to nothing, I recently read one that the Dolphins were the 2nd best in the NFL at picking up 2yds!!!..stop it. Now with draft season rolling around, it is "he has a long stride problem" for pete's sake, can the man play football or not?!?! I love the draft process as much as anyone it is 2 months away for pete's sake, watching dudes parade on stage for a weigh in in their skvvey's is one of the more distasteful sights the NFL foists on the public..but people still watch and occasionally the sad sack pic of Tom Brady is posted: Oh and let us not forget this one: Do either of those poor schmoes look like a SB winning Qb or a key cog in a playoff game? If not, then what the hell is the point of going through this stuff? Going all the way down to "they hired his son as a Quality Control Coach!!!" A glorified gofer who will work monstrous hours doing grunt work for low pay is not exactly a patronage position, if one wishes to see patronage, look at the Colts, Irsay's son runs the team, Polian's son runs player personnel more or less. Cripes I suspect if there is a lockout folks will either resort to cannabalism, or watch games from the mid 90's that they do not recall the final score.
Wanny..that you? This time of yr as Charles Davis puts it "you like a player and you see things on film that you like about them, then you talk about them with someone else and they point out the flaws and you go back an look and see them then you stop liking them"
This time of yr though, players are rejected for some of the thinnest of reasons, say "poor footwork and subpar leg drive". Guy could have played with a bum knee he did not tell anyone about, meanwhile they had a string of solid games against good competition earlier, or later in the yr, but those one or two bad, or even good games, supposedly makes some huge difference. As an example, Shula was looking at some defensive linemen, there were guys who played at Notre Dame and other large schools, but he like a DT who played sparingly, had chopped off a part of his foot in a lawnmower accident and was not particularly productive. That was Tim Bowens, in today's Draft he would be undraftable and Shula would have been slammed for picking him
Stats can be a good thing, if used correctly and objectively, and presented correctly without an angle. Unfortunately, most fans use stats much like children look at the clouds. They see in them what they want to see. They bend, warp, and twist them to support their opinions and viewpoints.
Right, You could be stuck with some sap of a GM that has given a contract to: Some kid out of Hawaii that was too small and too slow to play (Devonne Bess UDFA) Some kid NOBODY had heard of from lowly Monmouth (Miles Austin UDFA) Some kid named Derek from the frozen wastelands (Cam Wake) Some quirky QB from U of Eastern Illinois (Tony Romo UDFA) Draft some kid in the 7th that is a tweener and doesn't project at the next level (Jay Ratliff picked 224 overall). . 4 of those 5 have been Pro Bowlers. The 5th is the best slot reciever in the league....and Ireland has collectively spent a late 7th rounder for all of them. - Not everybody gets it, but thank god one man does
Doesn't matter, see all he used was on 7th rd pick in all of that, which means he is not a good at drafting players.. See, that is how it works, the Draft is like a Season in and of itself, not a means to an end, but the end itself. THAT is the GMization of NFL fans, all of those positives mean nothing, just say "Pat White" 3 times.
If you care about something, and you feel it is being messed up by those in charge, then why not make an assessment of your own. A lot of times the measurables can set two close players apart. I think its mostly their body of work as college atheltes that gets players to where they are in the draft boards. Youre not going to see a player who cant catch get taken in the top 10 just because he's fast. Oh wait. If the Dolphins or Raiders are doing the picking then you might.
Well, it is not that in and of itself, it is caring if "we won the draft!" I think we both have been football fans long enough to have seen the "great pick just what they needed, he will win the job!" draft picks fall flat on their face. To me, just win the game, the Draft has become almost like it's own fantasy football league, but no one will know who has 'won" for 2 yrs at least. Look at Vince Young, "he is dumb, cannot read a defense..yadda yadda" I just want to win the game, if VY can win ballgames I could care less if he cannot quote shakespeare.
Your right. Alot of stuff IS overanalyzed and the draft is so hyped up these days that people cant wait to watch cone drills on the NFL network. But it sure is a fun to read in-depth write ups both good and bad on why someone thinks a player will or will not be an NFL star. People who are paid millions to make these decisions are wrong all the time so its best not to get to caught up in who's right or wrong. A little old man sat in his house and studied players ALL day everday and he didnt get a high % correct if you reference his articles. Its an inexact science but an entertaining one aswell.
Oh sure, the Draft and the Draft process is interesting, it is also 3 days long, it is also over the top to the point where the manner in which a 40 yd dash is run becomes some sort of dove entrail to decipher as if it holds the key to success or failure in the NFL. Players run the 40 at the combine, and at workouts, and never run it again if they make the NFL... And yet "eww, Ken, he clearly popped up out of his stance .00003ths of a second early so you cannot trust this 40 time" Now the actual drills are somewhat interesting, sort of like a strong man competition.