NFL & Jon Gruden vs. Me
You want a reality show? I’ll give you a reality show, pitting an experienced former NFL coach (Jon Gruden) against me evaluating players for the draft. Let’s do it. Let’s see if experience in coaching has anything to do with evaluating talent for the NFL. I believe coaching a team and analyzing the talent to evaluate players at the college level for the NFL are two different skills and the history of 1st round busts in the draft proves it. I believe because you have the ability to be good in one aspect does not mean you automatically have the ability to be good at the other skill. Let’s see if I’m right!
Right now, the NFL is trying to control their product (the draft) and in doing so has rolled out former players, coaches and GM’s to provide the expert evaluations of the draft in prime time. In doing so, they now have control over what is being said and the information that is distributed about the players teams are about to draft. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the money (of course), and second, the NFL does not want their coaches criticized and/or embarrassed on the air. This year after the draft in prime time was over, the former players, coaches and GM’s were sent out to intimidate those of us who had the nerve to suggest that a team did, or did not, do well in the draft.
Tim Tebow was no longer a mistake. Jimmy Clausen is in a lucky situation and should become the starter in Carolina even though teams needing QB’s ahead of Carolina passed on him – some more than once. Dez Bryant is no longer the immature player who has not played for a year and listens to the wrong people and advice. In fact, he is now the steal of the draft and is being considered the best WR ever to play the game of football before he steps on to an NFL field. Jason Pierre Paul is no longer a boom or bust player like he was being considered before the draft. The Bills did not leave player after player on the boards to draft small college players and division two players. Now the story reads that the Bills picks are all steals and the QB in the 7th round is a franchise QB for the future. Then, after all that, we get article after article suggesting that Todd McShay, Mel Kiper and others (I’m considered as one of the others) do not know what we are talking about because we never coached, played, or managed the draft for a team in the NFL. In my opinion, thinking that only people who have played at the NFL level, coached at the NFL level or been a GM at the NFL level are the only people who are qualified to be experts about the draft may indicate that those in charge of the teams in the NFL do not realize that the talent to evaluate a players ability to be successful at the next level is a talent all on its own.
So, I’m throwing a challenge out to all those experts but the truth is I believe only one has the guts to pick up the challenge. I think Jon Gruden and I should go head-to-head on a reality show evaluating talent for the draft. I’ll do it off film and gathering information and he can do it from up close and personal. Here’s the catch. We both evaluate the same ten players. We don’t use names to evaluate the players because I’m going to speak my mind and the truth. I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I’ll do it from film just like I do right now and Jon can spend the big bucks and travel and do whatever he wants to do. The playing field will be the same for me and him just like he was still coaching. The fun part will be when we meet up in a room and go at each other over one of those players. I would have loved to break down Tim Tebow film with him. There would have been some big time fireworks for sure. My goal will be to show Jon and all the former players that analyze the draft for the networks that just because they may have been great players and coaches doesn’t mean they automatically have the ability to accurately evaluate a college player for the next level. Being able to evaluate talent has nothing to do with how well you played the game or coached the game.
So, the glove has been thrown down for Jon or anyone else to pick it up. Draftniks against Experts, of course I’ll play the part of the draftnik but who will be the expert? I don’t think for one minute that this challenge will be picked up and accepted and I think I know the reason why… I’m sure the reason is the “experts” are afraid I might embarrass myself! Yeah right! It’s time guys … it’s put up or shut up time!
Drew – that would be amazing if it happens… good luck!
This would be very interesting, but it will NEVER happen. Neither the NFL nor ESPN is not going to put one of its “stars” in a situation where he could be embarrassed.
ok say this were to play out…as you know, it takes at least three or more years for the results to truly be known. For this reason, no one would care except diehards. Like me and others who pay to subscribe to a site like this. The “expert” would have nothing to gain, as in what would Gruden say,…”I correctly predicted that Andrew Luck was blah, blah and draftnik Drew Boylhart disagreed with me?”
You hold all the cards here Drew. What would be more interesting to see is the final draft board of every team turned in and revisited after three years by whomever would like to see it. It doesn’t mean the team drafted those players, but where did they have them rated. I’m sure teams do this internally now to evaluate their own drafting, but to publicly display that would be fascinating to me.
Honestly Drew, the NFL network is so dry now, I would be more than happy to see you, Mel, Todd ShinyFace McShay, Walter from walterfootball.com and Rick G from the Dallas paper to debate this years draft and grade each pick and overall performance of each team. I would watch that. Listening to PorkChop Dukes, and some of the other clowns debate this years draft would be entertaining to say the least.
Maybe this will help. I’m sitting in a room one on one with an expert. He has evaluated a player and identified that player as a 1st round draft choice. The expert gives you all the reasons behind why this player is a potential 1st round pick. He talks about his workout numbers and pulls highlight film of the player looking like a beast blocking. The expert proceeds to tell us all how this player can play any position on the offensive line. The expert then goes through his workout numbers and tells you what a great kid he is and also tells you a story of how hard this kid’s life has been.
Then I start and give everybody the real truth. I question that expert’s motives and contact with the players parents and coaches and if he has personally interviewed all the people who say that player is a great kid or if he is listening to hearsay. I question why he thinks anybody who knows the player would go out of their way to tell him anything bad about that player. I question why a coach thinks he can “coach up” a player who shows athletic talent but that talent doesn’t translate to the field at the college level. I question (just through the film) the player’s football intelligence because he has started for three years. I use the experts highlight film to show him problems he is over looking like techniques that should be further along at this stage of a player’s college career. I question why this player is not a starting Left Tackle for his college team. I show the expert how this player is missing blocks play after play in the Senior Bowl when he was trying to pass block. I ask this expert, who do you think will lose their job first if this player is not a starting Left tackle sometime in the first year of his contract? I believe that a first round draft pick should be ready to start at some point in the first year of his contract. I treat this expert as if he was spending my money and put him on the spot to justify this profile (before the draft) and convince me that this kid is worthy of being rated as a first round player and I do not stop until he can convince me or I convince him. The reality is to bring opposite opinions of players out into the open without agents, networks, player’s parents or anybody else trying to edit how a player is truthfully being evaluated. I will come from the premise that I’m an owner and a professional Draftnik and this “expert” is spending my money and I want some questions answered because there are too many “experts” that seem to be wrong about drafting players to the NFL. How is that for a reality draft show? The player is not the show. How the “experts” are profiling the players is.
What about youtube? You take clips from ESPN, NFL Network in lieu of in person representation and then present your case.
Great idea and put it on the NFL Network. Tebow is a bad example because Gruden loves him. I’m trying to think of a guy that Gruden loved that you were not too high on – Iupati, Matthews or Pouncey. Anyways, great idea and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
JTO,
Youtube would not work. This is not a show on profiling players. This would be a show on the way “experts” in the NFL are profiling players. They would tell us what they see on film. How they gather information and assimilate from that information a profile of a player. I would challenge that thinking because the history of drafts 1st round failures tells us it is flawed and the fans deserve a better product on the field. Prices go up because the NFL is wasting money and selecting players in the draft who can not play in the NFL. Out of a 7 round draft a team is lucky if it finds three starters and most of the time those three starters are only starting because of politics. It’s simple…. their old way of doing business is flawed and I’m willing to point it out. They are making money in spite of themselves and this always comes back to bite you.
Hell yes, bring it on!! This would be awesome!