Browns announce eleven undrafted free agent signings
May 12, 2014So, Mike Brown was fired: While We’re Waiting
May 13, 2014It’s been quite a while since I talked to Jon on the podcast, but I asked him to keep tabs on the NFL draft as a passive Browns fan who is married to a real Browns fan.
We ended up talking a lot about draft value, trades, Johnny Football, Josh Gordon’s impending suspension and the cultural moment of Michael Sam being drafted.
In addition we talked about the Miami Dolphins’ punishment of Don Jones for his two tweets about the Michael Sam kiss on television.
2 Comments
Great podcast today. One comment i’d like to make on the Michael Sam story. The tone seems to suggest that the US is so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to things like this…but European soccer is still dealing with horrible racism, and have yet to really tackle the issue of gays in soccer…so while it doesnt make the US ok to ignore it, but i dont think we should be so down on ourselves.
what a fine podcast, Craig and Jon. So effortlessly smart. A few just-sports things:
– There is evidence for blaming Holmgren rather than Heckert for some of the infamous draft gaffes – he implicated himself afterwards. He said he told Heck that if he really liked Richardson to do what it takes to make sure you get him. He said before drafts he was going to be an activist in drafting QBs because that was his area of expertise. Drafting Weeden, keeping Mangini a wasted year out of fellow coach sympathy and hiring Shurmur were probably that regime’s most damaging decisions, and it’s fair to put them all on Holms.
– “Fetishization of value.” I love that, Jon. It’s in the same family as Chris Grant’s constant boasting about asset accumulation. The bottom line job for a GM is to identify and procure good players. If you don’t you’re just leaving extra draft picks and a crappy team for your successor.
– It’s true, Banner did great on the Richardson trade. And Jim Paxson convincing Portland to assume the huge contract of fat, drug-addled Shawn Kemp is a forgotten but historically great sales job. But they were both bad executives because they didn’t do the most important part of their job well.
– Craig, respectfully disagree with your theory about why NFL drafting is so imprecise (physical beat down and partying). I think it’s hard to project college performance at NFL warp speed, size and strength. A guy can have more than enough to be productive in college but scouts have difficulty projecting whether what they see is enough for better competition. Hence, the array of objective tests against tape measures and stop watches to attempt apples to apples analysis. And the current popular tests don’t project all that well. I’m not saying your factors are irrelevant, but I’d argue the example of a possibly worn down Trent Richardson is less common than the “no relevant skills” examples of guys like Brian Robiskie and Weeden. Joe Haden and Josh Gordon did pretty well with their rookie lifestyles. Hard work and sound bodies matter, but it’s a talent thing mostly.