Draft Talk: One take but not the only one

Draft Notes – One take but not the only one

I hear people arguing with each other all the time in relation to the NFL draft. About which prospects are sure things, which ones are busts and which ones should go where. How important private workouts are, how important Wonderlic scores are etc etc, you get the point. The problem is that nobody really knows. You can take educated guesses, but nobody can be sure which prospect will work out and which one wont. So with the discussion heating up this weekend, it’s important to remember that we’re all in the same boat. So listen to one and all, take in what you want and discard what you don’t. However stay respectful and lets have a lot of fun in the run up to the draft.

So here we go with a few topics that have recently caught my eye, but I’m only just having time to comment on.

Tyran Mathieu didn’t want to play in the BCS Championship game

So according to an ESPN the Magazine article, Tyran Mathieu told his girlfriend the week of the game that he didn’t even want to play in the game. Immediately analysts have rushed to question his desire to play football. Now we all know that Mathieu has a troubled past, kicked off the LSU football team for numerous failed drug tests. My opinion on this? If you are willing to believe in him and believe his troubled past is behind him, then this isn’t going to detract you at all. If you can get past the failed drug tests, you can get past a comment he made to his girlfriend about his desire to play in the most important game of his career.

Tavon Austin scores a 7 on the Wonderlic Test

It seems that every year around this time, some of the test scores are leaked. I really just don’t care, I may take a second glance if we are talking about a QB but at the receiver positions – I just don’t care. A.J Green scored a 10 and he isn’t doing too bad at all. Patterson scored an 11 and Justin Hunter a 12. Most people consider this test completely outdated, and nothing I have seen from Austin’s game leads me to believe that he’ll struggle learning an NFL route tree. Put simply, this news would not detract me from selection Austin. Not one bit!

Eddie Lacy Struggles in Pre-Draft Workout

Lacy missed the combine because of a nagging hamstring injury. He had two weeks to work out for his pro-day. Scouts in attendance commented that his conditioning was poor and he was struggling to get through the workout. Now there is no doubt for me that Lacy is the best back in the draft, he is the most complete back. While I do sympathise that he picked up an injury at the worst possible time, two weeks of hard graft should allow him to get through a workout for scouts. I didn’t see any evidence during the season to suggest that he has conditioning problems. So I’m not chucking a year of game film out the window for pre-draft workout on the back of an injury.

Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Rutgers wide receiver Mark Harrison Trash hotel room at combine.

A quick note to start, both players deny having anything to do with the incident. However they were in the room and it was fine, when they left the room it was trashed….so not sure how this one works. I said to Scott at the time of the incident, I would immediately remove both players from my board based on pure stupidity. You are at the most important job interview of your lives, and you do something so ridiculously immature and stupid as trashing your hotel room….no thanks, I want absolutely nothing to do with you.