Red Mosquito

Orpheus wrote:They have those, they're called interviews. A typical wonderlic question is "STALE is to STEAL as BREAD is to _________." Wouldn't a better question be "what is the first responsibility of a slot corner in cover 3: curl, flat, or seam?" I guarantee you a good CB will know that, and it actually pertains to football.

And, I have two degrees and I guarantee you I'd struggle to score a 7 on the test you're proposing.

Doesn't make me an idiot.

In other words, yes. You're nailed it.

Bread is to Bred. Anyways. I can see where you are coming from but I have no problem putting any player of any background through the wringer before they make the big bucks.

Orpheus wrote:

Green Habit wrote:

Orpheus wrote:The situation with Morris Claiborne last year comes to mind. Sure top ten pick, no character issues, sterling combine, great tape. Comes out that he scored a 6 on the wonderlic and for two weeks you hear "sure he's a great player, but is he a dumbass?" Gets drafted top ten anyway, is probably going to turn into a great player, so what was the point? Everyone calling Morris Claiborne a dumbass on national TV for two weeks? I just think it's pointless.

I agree with everything you said here. I don't see what the race angle is, though--unless it's one of those dog whistle things that as an ignorant Western American I just don't hear.

It's always a black player. It was horrible with Vince Young (going way beyond the wonderlic) and white players are never really subject to same type of scrutiny. FWIW, Dan Marino also had a pretty shitty wonderlic score.

Wasn't Marino the first poster child for bad Wonderlic scores? I always hear his name come up when the test is discussed, further confirming that it means jack shit.

What's the correlation between poor Wonderlic scores and Super Bowl rings?

Here's my annual mock draft of what teams should do, not what they will do.

1 Chiefs Matt Barkley QB USC
2 Jaguars Dion Jordan DE Oregon
3 Raiders Ezekiel Ansah DE BYU
4 Eagles Lane Johnson T Oklahoma
5 Lions Bjoern Werner DE Florida State
6 Browns Dee Milliner CB Alabama
7 Cardinals Eric Fisher T Central Michigan
8 Bills Ryan Nassib QB Syracuse
9 Jets Cordarrelle Patterson WR Tennessee
10 Titans Sharrif Floyd DT Florida
11 Chargers Jonathan Cooper G North Carolina
12 Dolphins Jamar Taylor CB Boise State
13 Jets (from Bucs) Jonathan Banks CB Mississippi State
14 Panthers Tavon Austin WR West Virginia
15 Saints Jesse Williams DT Alabama
16 Rams Kenny Vaccaro S Texas
17 Steelers Eddie Lacy RB Alabama
18 Cowboys Barrett Jones G Alabama
19 Giants Manti Te'o LB Notre Dame
20 Bears Kevin Minter LB LSU
21 Bengals Alec Ogletree LB Georgia
22 Rams (from Redskins) Keenan Allen WR California
23 Vikings Sylvester Williams DT North Carolina
24 Colts Desmond Trufant CB Washington
25 Vikings (from Seahawks) Xavier Rhodes CB Florida State
26 Packers Giovani Bernard RB North Carolina
27 Texans Zach Ertz TE Stanford
28 Broncos Jonathan Cyprien S Florida International
29 Patriots DJ Swearinger S South Carolina
30 Falcons Sam Montgomery DE LSU
31 49ers DJ Hayden CB Houston
32 Ravens DeAndre Hopkins WR Clemson

i'm thinking eifert gets picked before ertz. maybe the jets at #13.

and i'd hope the Pats would take Star Lotulelei if this is how things fell.

elliseamos wrote:i'm thinking eifert gets picked before ertz. maybe the jets at #13.

and i'd hope the Pats would take Star Lotulelei if this is how things fell.

I just think that Ertz is a more complete TE, while Eifert is more of a pass catching option. Both should have good NFL careers, though.

The Pats could be a good fit for Lotulelei since they have Wilfork in the other spot to do most of the work. I'm just worried that if he's drafted too high that teams will ask too much out of him and won't develop properly.

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:i'm thinking eifert gets picked before ertz. maybe the jets at #13.

and i'd hope the Pats would take Star Lotulelei if this is how things fell.

I just think that Ertz is a more complete TE, while Eifert is more of a pass catching option. Both should have good NFL careers, though.

The Pats could be a good fit for Lotulelei since they have Wilfork in the other spot to do most of the work. I'm just worried that if he's drafted too high that teams will ask too much out of him and won't develop properly.

i agree, but i just don't see a team passing up eifert for ertz. who wants a solid blocker & receiver, when you could have a great receiver? especially when you have a team taking a TE that already runs multiple sets and has solid blocking/receiving TEs on their roster.

again, i don't necessarily disagree, but if the vikings are going to take a DT to replace williams, why wouldn't they take lotulelei over williams (and don't say they'll save money on jerseys in the giftshop)?

elliseamos wrote:i agree, but i just don't see a team passing up eifert for ertz. who wants a solid blocker & receiver, when you could have a great receiver? especially when you have a team taking a TE that already runs multiple sets and has solid blocking/receiving TEs on their roster.

Fair enough, Eifert would work just fine on the Texans as well. And I agree that in real life Eifert will be the first TE off the board.

elliseamos wrote:again, i don't necessarily disagree, but if the vikings are going to take a DT to replace williams, why wouldn't they take lotulelei over williams (and don't say they'll save money on jerseys in the giftshop)?

Nah, I want to see a new Williams Wall get built.

I just keep hearing about stamina being a concern with Lotulelei. If so, if may take him a while to get acclimated to the NFL, and in this day and age, you usually need your first rounders to impact right away.

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:i agree, but i just don't see a team passing up eifert for ertz. who wants a solid blocker & receiver, when you could have a great receiver? especially when you have a team taking a TE that already runs multiple sets and has solid blocking/receiving TEs on their roster.

Fair enough, Eifert would work just fine on the Texans as well. And I agree that in real life Eifert will be the first TE off the board.

elliseamos wrote:again, i don't necessarily disagree, but if the vikings are going to take a DT to replace williams, why wouldn't they take lotulelei over williams (and don't say they'll save money on jerseys in the giftshop)?

Nah, I want to see a new Williams Wall get built.

I just keep hearing about stamina being a concern with Lotulelei. If so, if may take him a while to get acclimated to the NFL, and in this day and age, you usually need your first rounders to impact right away.

i think the downturn on lotulelei is bogus, but what do i know.

elliseamos wrote:i think the downturn on lotulelei is bogus, but what do i know.

Yep, the crapshoot element is always there, but it doesn't stop us from enjoying the moment. I think my most embarrassing prediction was that Vernon Gholston was going to be good.

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:i think the downturn on lotulelei is bogus, but what do i know.

Yep, the crapshoot element is always there, but it doesn't stop us from enjoying the moment. I think my most embarrassing prediction was that Vernon Gholston was going to be good.

on the other hand, who saw this guys career?

elliseamos wrote:

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:i think the downturn on lotulelei is bogus, but what do i know.

Yep, the crapshoot element is always there, but it doesn't stop us from enjoying the moment. I think my most embarrassing prediction was that Vernon Gholston was going to be good.

on the other hand, who saw this guys career?

Man, that was one where absolutely everyone was completely wrong. I remember being so happy when the Chiefs passed on him. The only explanation that I can think of is that he was smart enough to realize that he already got $34 million guaranteed to him, and that if he spent wisely he could coast through the rest of his life without having to risk his body playing professional football.

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:

Green Habit wrote:

elliseamos wrote:i think the downturn on lotulelei is bogus, but what do i know.

Yep, the crapshoot element is always there, but it doesn't stop us from enjoying the moment. I think my most embarrassing prediction was that Vernon Gholston was going to be good.

on the other hand, who saw this guys career?

Man, that was one where absolutely everyone was completely wrong. I remember being so happy when the Chiefs passed on him. The only explanation that I can think of is that he was smart enough to realize that he already got $34 million guaranteed to him, and that if he spent wisely he could coast through the rest of his life without having to risk his body playing professional football.

that's some occam's razor shit right there.

Nice interview with Schefter over all the furor of him and his counterparts spoiling draft picks:

http://www.shermanreport.com/qa-with-ad ... nfl-draft/

What do you all of you think the policy should be? Here's what I've come to:
--I agree with the league that having Schefter, et al. blurt out the pick on TV is a buzzkill. There's nothing really compelling with that.
--However, I say that on Twitter, anything should go. As Schefter said, it's easy enough to unfollow him during the draft if you want to (in fact, I just might). Hell, the official Twitter accounts of teams (especially the Patriots) have been tweeting their picks before the commish announces them.
--I also think that one of the more unfortunate casualties of these new rules are that we no longer get to see the joy of the actual players when they get the phone call from the team that drafted them. That, to me, is compelling enough to override the moment of when the pick is announced on the podium, and they should bring it back.

If you are on twitter then you are looking for the quickest news, so you should expect to hear the pick before its announced, but on tv they should not spoil it, but show the replay basicly of the player getting the phone call.

Oh, and one other complaint that I have from last year: If you're going to have all these interviews and pageantry with the players on the stage, then increase the length of the first round back to 15 minutes. It was super annoying when, say, the fourth overall pick was still being interviewed and the team with the seventh overall pick was already on the clock.

Green Habit wrote:Oh, and one other complaint that I have from last year: If you're going to have all these interviews and pageantry with the players on the stage, then increase the length of the first round back to 15 minutes. It was super annoying when, say, the fourth overall pick was still being interviewed and the team with the seventh overall pick was already on the clock.

yep, and that would also hopefully give them time to get all of the trade details out there fairly quick, last year when tampa traded back a few picks i remember it taking forever to hear what they actually gained in the trade, and also when they traded back up into the first, it was again a pretty long time before they took the time to show all the details. now i know all that might not be the networks not having time to show the details, it could be the teams not getting them the info quicker, but that is somehting i would like to see faster if possible, announce the trade and atleast before the next team after the traded pick makes a choice then let us know what all went down.

even with tampa no currently having a first rounder, i cant wait for thursday night

It bothers me that the all the speculation around the Lions seems to have totally dismissed Millner. Signing a good safety to supplement your already always injured safety does not mean your historically awful secondary is fixed. Taking Millner gives the Lions an actual strength back there. I prefer Millner over anyone but Fisher or Joekel.

its weird the first pick after the andy reid era im hoping we draft the best o lineman available.