NFL Offseason 2014: Buildup to the Draft

[DanteGabriel]

I already said I think Manziel is a superior player to Tebow as an NFL prospect. I'm only talking about the media portrayal. Tebow was fucking POPULAR as SHIT even without ESPN, and not only in Florida. wayyyyy more popular than manziel IMO.

He was a cultural phenomenon that I feel is trying to be duplicated with Johnny Football. Even the johnny football nickname is a registered trademark, the whole image feels forced and business-y to me.

I agree the whole nickname and brand-building is forced and cynical, but I think the most significant difference between Manziel and Tebow is that Manziel can actually throw a football competently.

[Pimphand Giantfinger]

I really don't care about Johnny Manziel. The media is overhyping him, but that's what the media does. I expect he will fail in the NFL, but lots of great college quarterbacks fail in the NFL. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but since I'm not invested in his failure, that would be fine too.

However, your comment about potentially a rich man's Tony Romo is right on. And somehow, if the Cowboys were to get him, it seems almost inevitable that that's exactly what he would become. Because Johnny Football in Dallas is just too irresistible.

I am a P1. If anybody is from Dallas, they know what this means. IF Johnny is available at our pick, JERRY JONES THE OWNER NOT THE GM will take him. SKY MIRROR COMMANDS IT and Steven A. Smith will be calling for Romo's benching week 1.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/24/top-10-nfl-jabs-from-game-of-thrones-author-george-r-r-martin/

GRRM's thoughts on football.

[balefired-ed]

Every story I see about Teddy Bridgewater's stock falling widens my grin a little more.

If he gets to #4, I want him.

It seems like all these retarded media members have forgotten the game film, which clearly shows that he is the best QB in the draft.

[Maithanet]

Every story I see about Teddy Bridgewater's stock falling widens my grin a little more.

If he gets to #4, I want him.

It seems like all these retarded media members have forgotten the game film, which clearly shows that he is the best QB in the draft.

Totally agree, I have trouble believing that this "Bridgewater falling narrative" is going to really play out on game day. Either in the next couple of weeks the narrative will reverse back to "Bridgewater is great, we were just being silly" or the NFL teams are going to show the draft watchers that they don't know shit about shit. If Bridgewater isn't a top 8 pick, and one of the first 2 quarterbacks taken, I will be really really surprised.

[DanteGabriel]

I assumed all the Bridgewater anti-hype came from two sources:

1. Inevitable picking apart of well-discussed QBs when sports media has so much goddamn time and space to fill about the draft.

2. Smokescreens from GMs who want to increase the likelihood he falls to their spot.

[Mexal]

I assumed all the Bridgewater anti-hype came from two sources:

1. Inevitable picking apart of well-discussed QBs when sports media has so much goddamn time and space to fill about the draft.

2. Smokescreens from GMs who want to increase the likelihood he falls to their spot.

Agreed and I mostly believe it's #2. I cannot imagine that anyone could turn on the tape and watch Bortles, Manziel or Savage (for fuck's sake) and say they're better than Bridgewater.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I assumed all the Bridgewater anti-hype came from two sources:

1. Inevitable picking apart of well-discussed QBs when sports media has so much goddamn time and space to fill about the draft.

2. Smokescreens from GMs who want to increase the likelihood he falls to their spot.

The smart money's on this, methinks. I'd bet the mortgage that he's the first QB off the board.

[Mexal]

I wonder if anyone's ever really analyzed whether there's any relationship between Pro Day performance and actual performance in the NFL. I buy the narrative that it doesn't mean much, but it seems like a testable claim.

His Pro Day really was kind of awful, but I also agree that his game film looks great (er, not that I've crunched film, just having watched games on the tv).

There probably isn't much of a correlation given you hear every year how so and so had an awesome pro day. I mean, Jamarcus Russell had the best pro day that Todd McShay has ever seen. Gabbert's pro day had Mayock calling him the best player in the draft. Ponder was sharp at his. The list goes on. It's more rare to hear about a poor pro day and really, the tape completely disagrees with how Bridgewater's pro day went. It really could have just been the grip due to not wearing a glove.

[DanteGabriel]

There are lots of pro day wonders who bombed in the NFL. I'd be curious to see who had a "bad" pro day that ended up being a quality NFL player.

[Mexal]

There are lots of pro day wonders who bombed in the NFL. I'd be curious to see who had a "bad" pro day that ended up being a quality NFL player.

Vontaze Burfict.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Pro days seem so choreographed that I really can't see how they have much value at all when applied to the real game, at real speed. Seems like mostly just pomp and circumstance.

[Ziggy Targdust]

Manziel had a special Nike jersey for pro day that went up for sale immediately afterward. I'd say pro day isn't much more than an all star game.

All star game might be better since you actually have to make decisions in them.

[Maithanet]

There probably isn't much of a correlation given you hear every year how so and so had an awesome pro day. I mean, Jamarcus Russell had the best pro day that Todd McShay has ever seen. Gabbert's pro day had Mayock calling him the best player in the draft. Ponder was sharp at his. The list goes on. It's more rare to hear about a poor pro day and really, the tape completely disagrees with how Bridgewater's pro day went. It really could have just been the grip due to not wearing a glove.

There are lots of pro day wonders who bombed in the NFL. I'd be curious to see who had a "bad" pro day that ended up being a quality NFL player.

Yeah, there's tons of examples of "workout wonders" who were decent, but not dominant college players, but who somehow convince scouts that they'll be great based on workouts, only to completely fail. The converse gets less attention. I feel like more common is guys who were excellent college players, but who "don't have a pro skill set" and who post poor workouts, who then go on to have solid pro careers. London Fletcher went undrafted because he wasn't big/fast enough, and I think he's a hall of famer.

The only thing that a bad pro day tells me about Bridgewater is that it would seem he didn't want to coreograph and manufacture a "perfect" looking session. Presumably because he thought that his tape speaks for itself. It's possible that some scouts will interpret that as "not a team player" or "doesn't want to put in the work", but that seems like the worst kind of nitpicking to me. He prepares for what matters, not bullshit PR crap.

I am more and more hoping that Bridgewater succeeds. I've liked him ever since that awesome Florida game, and this nonsense gives him a weird sort of underdog vibe that I'd never imagined in a top NFL prospect.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I am more and more hoping that Bridgewater succeeds. I've liked him ever since that awesome Florida game, and this nonsense gives him a weird sort of underdog vibe that I'd never imagined in a top NFL prospect.

Eh, not sure that I'd go so far as calling it an underdog vibe. Seems to me this is as manufactured as Johnny Footballs hype.

[Maithanet]

Eh, not sure that I'd go so far as calling it an underdog vibe. Seems to me this is as manufactured as Johnny Footballs hype.

I don't know if I'd go that far. ESPN wants Manziel to be a star. I don't see Bridegwater's fall as "we want this to be a story", so much as sportswriters desperate for a story jumping on the idea that Bridgewater's pro day actually matters. But regardless, I still think it contributes to an overall underdog sort of thing, because this nonsense would at the very least be stressful, and could possibly cost him a lot of money.

[Ziggy Targdust]

Darius Heywerd Bay is the name I always think of when pro day misleads.

[Howdyphillip]

I am a P1. If anybody is from Dallas, they know what this means. IF Johnny is available at our pick, JERRY JONES THE OWNER NOT THE GM will take him. SKY MIRROR COMMANDS IT and Steven A. Smith will be calling for Romo's benching week 1.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/24/top-10-nfl-jabs-from-game-of-thrones-author-george-r-r-martin/

GRRM's thoughts on football.

The Ticket is by far the best sports radio program in the world, and if Manziel is still there when tge Cowboys pick, I am positive he will be taken. I am almost resigned to this kind of stupidity

[DanteGabriel]

Darius Heywerd Bay is the name I always think of when pro day misleads.

Sure, but that's also mostly on "Al Davis liked to draft speed."

[Ziggy Targdust]

Sure, but that's also mostly on "Al Davis liked to draft speed."

I think it was mostly on Al Davis being a little too old to be making draft decisions, but still it was the pro day that got DHB that attention and moved him way up in the draft.

He was a relative unknown before he ran that fast 40 time at his.

[Kalbear]

I think if you just insert the word 'on' so that you can read it as "Al Davis liked to draft on speed" the last 25 years make an absurdly larger amount of sense.