DRAFT WEEK THIS AND THAT..........THURSDAY
When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA Executive Director, DeMaurice Smith & the other $1,000 suits get together after this season to try to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement, one thing they will address is the rookie pay scale. When a college player, with his first contract, can instantly make more money than a 10-year veteran makes in his entire career, 'Houston, we have a problem'. I heard Howie Long say that his son would make more in his rookie contract than he made in his entire Hall of Fame career & his son, Chris, hadn't played a single snap in the league. I understand the time lapse involved but Howie makes a good point. Unfortunately, there are 4 parties in this negotiation. The owners want a rookie salary cap, the veteran players want a rookie salary cap but the NFLPA isn't wild about it & it goes without saying, the agent community is totally against it. They want the owners to come up with more money to boost the veteran pay scale that was instituted in the last CBA. I think the NFLPA will eventually move off this position somewhat in deference to their membership. The vets deserve a better shake, their base pay scale should be inflated by at least 10% across the board. JeMarcus Russell got a $57 million dollar contract, with $34 million guaranteed, as the first overall pick in 2007. Think Oakland got their money's worth? I've heard & read that Russell cashes his checks, that about capsulizes his effort in the NFL to be a starting quarterback. He shows up on time, doesn't complain, but he's just going thru the motions. How about it if he received a 5-year, $15 million deal with $10 million guaranteed? If the top 12 deals were all reduced like this, those deserving vets could have a proper pay increase. It's something that needs to get done.
Quarterback Mathew Stafford & his agent Tom Condon, currently in negotiations with the Detroit Lions to become the first overall pick in Saturday's draft, better get a deal done by tonight. Any protracted contract hassles over $2-3 million could be suicidal for this kid in his relations with Lions' fans. The state of Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the entire country, I don't think hearing about a 21-year old rookie & his mercenary representative holding the team for ransom won't endear him locally, plus I think if it goes beyond tonight, the Lions are liable to sign LB Aaron Curry. Lion management announced they have a tentative deal already in place with Curry's agent, they want the same thing with Stafford & OT Jason Smith(also represented by CAA, Condon's company) so they can sign the player before the draft.
I'm hearing Michael Crabtree's trip to Cleveland to interview with management of the Browns didn't go well at all. He may be totally off their draftboard. The word "Diva" kept coming up. It was said Crabtree was more concerned with which suit he was going to wear at the draft on Saturday. He's also been all over ESPN, the NFL Network & talk radio, it hasn't gone well there either. Everything from how great he is, over & over & over, to comparing himself to Larry Fitzgerald. I understand it takes a lot of confidence to play WR at this level but all he has to do is play 3 years & the comparison will be made for you Michael. He might have talked his way out of the top-5.
Speaking of comparisons, the draft each year is basically graded on the curve, players are rated against other players at their positions. But how do they compare to others at their positions in other drafts? Looking at the last 5 drafts plus this year's crop, I ranked them 1-6, I think the 2009 draft class falls in almost a dead-heat tie for third with the '08 draft class. I have the '04 class on top with Eli, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Fitzgerald, Tommie Harris, Steven Jackson, Jared Allen & the late Sean Taylor. I like '07 in second with JaMarcus Russell, Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Patrick Willis, Brady Quinn & about 20 DB's who've made it. Third as I said, is this year's class, maybe slightly better than last year's group that included 8 OT's in the first round, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco & Glenn Dorsey. The '05 group finishes fifth with Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Jason Campbell, Frank Gore, Shawne Merriman & DeMarcus Ware. Bringing up the rear is the 2006 draft class with Mario Williams, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Vince Young & Jay Cutler. I'll tell you that the top four OT's in this years draft, Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, Michael Oher & Andre Smith, graded out considerably lower than last year's trio of Jake Long, Ryan Clady & Brandon Albert. The linebackers this season grade out much higher & the wide receivers are ranked way better this year as not one was taken in the first round last year. What I'm saying is that just because a player your team drafts is ranked best at his position & say 9th best overall, doesn't mean they're even 20th best in the last 6 drafts, much less where they end up ranking against every player at their position in the NFL. They could be out of the league in three years because they can't hack it for one reason or another & the final grade they got the day before the draft is still correct, it was just a bad year for players at that given position.
Percy Harvin continues to fall on draftboards league-wide. An unnamed team official said his club was shocked when Harvin showed up for an interview with his posse of 4 friends. Couple that 'job interview' with his positive test for marijuana & teams are starting to get a glimpse of what life in 'Percyland' might be like. I said it yesterday & I'll say it again today, you're either cluelessly arrogant or truly stupid to fail a drug test at the combine. You know the date almost a year in advance, it's a urine test, not a hair test, stop smokin' for 10 days & you're clean. Whenever he's drafted Saturday, he'll say he's got a lot to prove, he's gonna show the teams that passed on him that they were wrong & the team won't be sorry they drafted him etc. etc. I watched Cedric Benson cry live on ESPN during the draft because he had dropped all the way to #4 in the first round. He said he'd show those teams that passed on him, the Bears were getting a man who understood what it took to be the best, not a boy with a checkered past. He was a bust, had two DUI's last year & wasn't much of a teammate according to many of the Bears. Does Pacman Jones ring a bell? He said all of those things too. When a pattern of questionable behavior develops before they get the money, what makes anyone believe it will change with millions in your pocket?
I'll have another update later tonight.
Quarterback Mathew Stafford & his agent Tom Condon, currently in negotiations with the Detroit Lions to become the first overall pick in Saturday's draft, better get a deal done by tonight. Any protracted contract hassles over $2-3 million could be suicidal for this kid in his relations with Lions' fans. The state of Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the entire country, I don't think hearing about a 21-year old rookie & his mercenary representative holding the team for ransom won't endear him locally, plus I think if it goes beyond tonight, the Lions are liable to sign LB Aaron Curry. Lion management announced they have a tentative deal already in place with Curry's agent, they want the same thing with Stafford & OT Jason Smith(also represented by CAA, Condon's company) so they can sign the player before the draft.
I'm hearing Michael Crabtree's trip to Cleveland to interview with management of the Browns didn't go well at all. He may be totally off their draftboard. The word "Diva" kept coming up. It was said Crabtree was more concerned with which suit he was going to wear at the draft on Saturday. He's also been all over ESPN, the NFL Network & talk radio, it hasn't gone well there either. Everything from how great he is, over & over & over, to comparing himself to Larry Fitzgerald. I understand it takes a lot of confidence to play WR at this level but all he has to do is play 3 years & the comparison will be made for you Michael. He might have talked his way out of the top-5.
Speaking of comparisons, the draft each year is basically graded on the curve, players are rated against other players at their positions. But how do they compare to others at their positions in other drafts? Looking at the last 5 drafts plus this year's crop, I ranked them 1-6, I think the 2009 draft class falls in almost a dead-heat tie for third with the '08 draft class. I have the '04 class on top with Eli, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Fitzgerald, Tommie Harris, Steven Jackson, Jared Allen & the late Sean Taylor. I like '07 in second with JaMarcus Russell, Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Patrick Willis, Brady Quinn & about 20 DB's who've made it. Third as I said, is this year's class, maybe slightly better than last year's group that included 8 OT's in the first round, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco & Glenn Dorsey. The '05 group finishes fifth with Alex Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Jason Campbell, Frank Gore, Shawne Merriman & DeMarcus Ware. Bringing up the rear is the 2006 draft class with Mario Williams, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Vince Young & Jay Cutler. I'll tell you that the top four OT's in this years draft, Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, Michael Oher & Andre Smith, graded out considerably lower than last year's trio of Jake Long, Ryan Clady & Brandon Albert. The linebackers this season grade out much higher & the wide receivers are ranked way better this year as not one was taken in the first round last year. What I'm saying is that just because a player your team drafts is ranked best at his position & say 9th best overall, doesn't mean they're even 20th best in the last 6 drafts, much less where they end up ranking against every player at their position in the NFL. They could be out of the league in three years because they can't hack it for one reason or another & the final grade they got the day before the draft is still correct, it was just a bad year for players at that given position.
Percy Harvin continues to fall on draftboards league-wide. An unnamed team official said his club was shocked when Harvin showed up for an interview with his posse of 4 friends. Couple that 'job interview' with his positive test for marijuana & teams are starting to get a glimpse of what life in 'Percyland' might be like. I said it yesterday & I'll say it again today, you're either cluelessly arrogant or truly stupid to fail a drug test at the combine. You know the date almost a year in advance, it's a urine test, not a hair test, stop smokin' for 10 days & you're clean. Whenever he's drafted Saturday, he'll say he's got a lot to prove, he's gonna show the teams that passed on him that they were wrong & the team won't be sorry they drafted him etc. etc. I watched Cedric Benson cry live on ESPN during the draft because he had dropped all the way to #4 in the first round. He said he'd show those teams that passed on him, the Bears were getting a man who understood what it took to be the best, not a boy with a checkered past. He was a bust, had two DUI's last year & wasn't much of a teammate according to many of the Bears. Does Pacman Jones ring a bell? He said all of those things too. When a pattern of questionable behavior develops before they get the money, what makes anyone believe it will change with millions in your pocket?
I'll have another update later tonight.
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