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Volume CXXXII, Number 23 |
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Welcome to the '03 NFL meat market
J.P. BOX
ORIENT STAFF
Did you enjoy the NFL meat market? For months prior to the 2003 draft, self-appointed "experts" poked, prodded, tested, and pried into the backgrounds of college's best and brightest football stars. After sifting through these prospects as if they were racehorses groomed for the Kentucky Derby, NFL execs gathered to draft the future of their respective franchises.
If you're upset that your team failed to address its needs in the draft, you need not look any further than the setup of the meat market. You see, scouts are great at recording 40-yard dash times and bench press reps, but they fail to grasp the bigger picture.
I mean, seriously, how often do you see a defensive tackle take off and run 40 yards during a game? And are running backs ever required to bench press at midfield? Although these activities are good measures of speed and upper body strength, they do not directly translate into on-the-field production.
Nevertheless, the obsession with clocking, measuring, and objectifying the abilities of college stars has become the norm in the draft. During the first two rounds, teams take the "best available athlete," often times regardless of team needs and the current nature of the league.
Let's start with the Cincinnati Bengals drafting Carson Palmer with the first overall pick, thus guaranteeing two more losing seasons under a struggling young quarterback. Palmer is a big QB at 6'5" and 232 pounds and runs a respectable 4.8 in the 40-yard dash. After throwing 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2001, Palmer exploded his senior season with 32 TDs and only ten picks.
Although first-year head coach Marvin Lewis lobbied for Kansas State cornerback Terrance Newman, team officials pushed for the prototypical All-American QB. Forgetting that the franchise failed to groom Akili Smith into a NFL-quality quarterback, the Bengals selected the fourth best quarterback in the draft with the first pick. As a reward, Smith and Palmer will soon be the most overpaid number two and three signal-callers in the league.
The Jacksonville Jaguars ended up getting the best QB in the draft with the number seven pick. Marshall's Byron Leftwich was passed over by six teams because of supposed "chronic shin" problems and slow feet. In 2001, Leftwich played half the season with a stress fracture in his shin but managed to throw 38 touchdowns with only seven picks. During the 2002 season, his production dropped off only slightly to 30 and ten.
In five years, Leftwich will be the best young quarterback in the league outside of Michael Vick. Why? He had the edge over Palmer in terms of intangibles, including leadership, courage under fire, and a will to win. However, these qualities are less significant to NFL scouts than arbitrary physical tests and "objective" statistics.
The most baffling pick of the draft, however, has to go to the Buffalo Bills who selected running back Willis McGahee with the twenty-third pick. After signing Travis Henry (a 1400-yard rusher in 2002) to a multi-year contract and signing Olandis Gary during the off-season, Buffalo drafted the Hurricanes' star after an impressive weight lifting, running, and jumping display at the combine.
Although the team has glaring holes that need to be filled on the offensive and defensive lines, the Bills gambled on McGahee's health despite already having two capable running backs. After tearing three tendons in his knee four months ago, the Bills are still uncertain how his surgically reconstructed knee will respond to the grind of NFL play. Nevertheless, he was the "best athlete available" at the twenty-third pick.
In the NFL, however, athleticism only goes so far. The game's most feared and talented linebacker, Ray Lewis, runs a slow time in the 40-yard dash. If he were a college prospect with his 4.8 time, he would drop to the second or third round. As a NFL linebacker, Lewis doesn't need to excel in the 40-yard dash. His excellent vision and ability to fend off would-be blockers makes him one of the game's greatest defensive players.
Or how about some of the NFL's all-time greats? Terrell Davis, a 1996 sixth-round draft choice with only average speed and strength, dominated the league for four seasons before a slew of injuries cut his career short. Relying on uncanny field vision and surprising acceleration, Davis broke the 2000-yard plateau in 1998 while averaging 5.1 yards-per-carry.
Drafted in the third round of the 1979 draft, Joe Montana was never supposed to become one of the best signal-callers in NFL history. Despite building up a college reputation as Comeback Joe, his size and weak arm were considered knocks. As a result, a lot of Carson Palmers were drafted before the man who ended up in the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame.
Regardless of how scouts and general managers evaluate upcoming classes of players, a few gems will slide to the lower rounds. However, the reliance on speed and strength tests inhibits a team's ability to draft the best players available.
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