April 30, 2020
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ONE AND ALL AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR WAY SAFELY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
How about that NFL draft? Having something new to devour in the sports world was as enjoyable as I expected, but I didn’t expect to learn so much. Here are some of the things I, and I think we all learned.
First, everyone has some measure of tragedy in their life story. The line that ESPN walked was whether they told the whole story or just blasted tragic news from a person’s past to try and make the coverage interesting. I think it is beneficial to share how an athlete may have been shaped or motivated by their personal experience. Those stories can impact and help others. On the other hand, a quick blurb noting relatives who made their own mistakes without any context has no place on NFL draft coverage.
Second, the NFL has taken themselves way too seriously for many years. The “war rooms” have been antiquated for some time now. These teams don’t need to lock themselves in a room for days and pretend they are splitting the atom. I am pretty sure we saw a general manager’s tween making a 7th round pick. I am only slightly joking.
Third, as expected, we have now confirmed that Goodell is a cyborg. My goodness that was painful to watch. I am completely at a loss to try and understand why the NFL forced him to carry the first three rounds moving him around his basement into uncomfortable positions trying to make him look comfortable. In recent years, the NFL has been brilliant in getting him off the stage by having former players and people from the community announce selections. With all the technology available, why would they not have Bobby Hebert join the Zoom meeting and announce the Saints have selected Cesar Ruiz? They came very close to accomplishing this with introductions from community members, only to go back to Goodell awkwardly telling fans to get louder. No bueno.
Fourth, the draft is much more enjoyable (for me) when it is showing video and highlights of football than interviewing players to answer the same tired questions. “How do you feel being drafted?” “Are you excited to be headed to Buffalo?” “What message do you have for Jacksonville fans?” Thankfully, without the green room, we were saved.
Instead, we were able to see more college highlights of the players. Even better, we were able to see more high school highlights. I loved seeing Henry Ruggs dunk in high school like he was Russell Westbrook. In many cases we were able to be reminded for the 100th time why high school recruiting rankings don’t correlate very well to the NFL draft. 17-18 year old boys are not done growing and maturing physically. That is why I enjoy seeing a slow tight end in high school grow into a dominant offensive tackle in the college that gets drafted.
Fifth, I am guessing the Falcons have given up on beating the Saints? In the first round, they selected AJ Terrell from Clemson. I hope Terrell has a nice career, but against LSU we saw a player with very little desire in tackling Edwards-Helaire or the ability to stay with Chase.
The Saints version of Helaire and Chase are Kamara and Thomas. I like the Saints chances.
Sixth, and I warn you that this one will sound like me bragging, but facts are facts. LSU has done well in the draft for years in having skill players drafted. Many different sources have noted many times that the problem over the last 8 years is that Alabama produces linemen that get selected in the draft and LSU does not. A year or two ago, I chronicled the linemen Alabama had drafted since 2012, while LSU had very few (especially almost no offensive linemen). We all wondered when LSU was going to beat Alabama, but we all knew, and Coach O said, it would happen when LSU was able to win in the trenches. So here is our reminder.
This year, LSU had Burrow, Chase, Jefferson, Helaire, Fulton, and so on. Bama had Tua, Juedy, Ruggs, Harris, Diggs, and so on. The skill players were just about equal (yes, Tua was hurt). But, LSU was finally able to match Bama on the line, and the NFL draft verified that with Cushenberry, Lewis, Charles, Chaisson, and Lawrence being selected in the first 4 rounds.
LSU had three offensive linemen drafted in the first 4 rounds this year. LSU has had 6 offensive linemen drafted since 2010! Ethan Pocic, Joe Barksdale, Trai Turner, and Jerald Hawkins were drafted in rounds 2-4, while Vadal Alexander and Will Clapp were picked in round 7.
While Cushenberry, Lewis, and Charles certainly have talent, I firmly believe those other offensive linemen and a few who didn’t get drafted were held back by the offense LSU ran. Spreading the field to where the defense could not put 8 and 9 players in the box gave this year’s line a fighting chance and that was all they needed. Thank goodness, LSU finally gave their talent on the offensive line a chance.
As for the Saints, I agree with most everyone else. I was taken back at first by the first round selection, but I understand the reasoning now. The Saints are better at evaluating their roster than I am, and that evaluation becomes evident after the draft process. The Saints are in the position to draft for quality, not quantity, and they achieved quality. The Saints draft cannot be evaluated without taking into account the bigger picture of free agency.
The roster would certainly be better if the Saints had another productive wide receiver and corner. But those issues can be overcome if a few young players develop. In the salary cap era, the “perfect” rosters are a myth. Usually the teams that come the best rosters have quarterbacks on rookie contracts. The Chiefs are riding that wave with Mahomes for one more year. The Saints have done a very good job staying with these teams with the amount invested at the quarterback position. Now, I just hope everything starts on time so we can see the roster in action.
HEY REF
Let’s get right to it! If you’re not used to what’s going on in the NFL let me tell you what’s happening. Call it what you want but this is another chapter in the quarterback shuffle. There shouldn’t be anyone asking themselves what’z going on. This little adventure should tell you nobody’s indispensable. Allow me to define this little word as it’s written in the English dictionary; in short “Indispensable means someone or something that is so good or important that you could not manage without it or them”. Hence Tom Brady was sent packing after winning six Super Bowls.
Green Bay will shortly do the same to their golden super hero Aaron Rodgers; Carolina told Cam Newton he’s no longer wanted. Seattle will keep their once mighty Russell Wilson one final year before putting him on the trading block. The list is getting longer but it’s something that’s always been around and it’s just getting more attention since the owners that allowed the salaries to explode are now fed up with the constant losing and want to get away from it all. The younger generation is taking over and the changes they’ll bring with them will cause a mutiny of these spoiled entertainers.
Yes, the era of professional athletes is over. No more will you see players put out 150% to win a championship. Today what you see on NFL fields throughout the league is nothing more than wanna-be heroes. Just about every time a team scores a touchdown everybody runs to the endzone so they can pose for the cameras. How can the NFL allow its entertainers to take time out from practicing their craft? When did this behavior make it into a team’s playbook? I’m sorry but I find it offensive to see a bunch of idiots acting like they belong with the Three Stooges.
O. K., I’m getting off my high horse. I don’t watch the NFL anymore. If you’ve read my column then you know I’ve been saying the NCAA should pay its employees. Just this past week the NCAA powers that be are trying to find a way their players can make some money. I had to stop everything I was doing to find out if this was true. Well, to be honest this latest story is not what you think it is. While you might think this latest story coming out by the NCAA is finally changing their opposition to players being paid then you’d be thinking wrong.
If you take a very short time reading what’s in this so called turn around in their refusal for salaried NCAA players then you’ll understand this is just another stalling stance. On one hand they tell the press that players could make money on their likenesses used in computer games. They (NCAA) make it sound like they’ve finally found their hearts and understand why their players should be able to earn a salary. But not so fast grasshopper. As it is written right now anything and everything a player may want to get involved in MUST BE APPROVED BY THE POWERS AT NCAA HEADQUARTERS!
WHAT? You say a player can make a dollar or two but they can only make a buck if it’s approved by the NCAA. Does that sound like the players are free to make some lunch money? The players won’t be paid from funds they generate through the playing the games. NCAA basketball players won’t get a dime from the BILLION dollars of revenue they make from the little tournament which is known as March Madness. The NCAA is still saying to its players that “they won’t allow the players to share any of the billions of dollars they generate from the TV contracts and promotions but might throw them a bone by giving the players a dollar for putting their face on a cereal box.
For what its worth about the only way the NCAA will finally break down and right this horrible wrong is if the players go on strike. I hate to say it but its past time the players get serious and stop all the money from going into the bank accounts of those that don’t deserve any part of it. Usually nobody wins by going on strike but this (going on strike) will be the only way for the players to final get what’s rightfully theirs.
Till next week…
FINE IDEAS By Jon Fine
Jordan Love’s selection by the Green Bay Packers is noteworthy on a number of different levels. Love, a junior quarterback from Utah State, was the 26th pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Certainly, the Packers were in the market for a backup quarterback to Aaron Rodgers. Tim Boyle, #2 on the Pack’s depth chart heading into the draft, does have a 75% completion rate in 2 years with Green Bay. Unfortunately, that comes on 3 completions in 4 attempts. And, as the cliché goes, the backup quarterback is one hit away from being the first team quarterback. If Rodgers does go down to injury, this would be a definite need for Green Bay if they did not address this position. Yet, to expend a number one draft pick on Love is foolhardy. Other quarterbacks selected later in the draft (Jalen Hurts, Jacob Eason, Jake Fromm), available in free agency (Cam Newton or Jameis Winston--since signed by the New Orleans Saints) or soon to become backup quarterbacks possibly available in a trade (Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tyrod Taylor or Andy Dalton) would all seemingly be better bets than using a #1 pick on what is a project. Love regressed in 2019. He had a much better season as a sophomore in 2018.
Now, perhaps the Packers are just in love with Love and saw him as someone who would be the perfect heir apparent to Rodgers. Yet, with a lot of other needs to fill—if you are not a fantasy football player I defy you to name another skilled position player on Green Bay besides Rodgers and Davante Adams—why select your quarterback of the future a good 2 to 3 years before he’d be in position to take over? Rodgers, it would seem, should be the guy in Green Bay until at least 2022, one would think. Heck, with Brady and Brees playing into their 40s, this might be 2025 for the present 36 year old Rodgers.
Finally, one wonders whether Rodgers will be a mentor to Love or treats Love the way Brett Favre treated Rodgers, his future successor. Rodgers, selected #24 in 2005 out of Cal by the Packers, was largely ignored by Favre the 3 years they played together (2005—2007) in Green Bay. Does Rodgers learn from this and be a good teammate or does history repeat itself?
What was disappointing was one aspect of ESPN’s coverage of Love’s selection. In an otherwise brilliant Draft presentation under extremely adverse conditions, ESPN whiffed in reporting the death of Love’s father. Orbin Love Jr committed suicide in 2013, when Jordan was 13. Anchor Trey Wingo stated that the Love family wanted the public to know that Orbin committed suicide only after changing medications. Then, Wingo pretty much repeated himself for emphasis. The implication was that the Love family felt Orbin was not “normally” a depressed person, which they felt would have been a sign of weakness. And, that his death was not due to depression, but to the change in medication.
As someone who battles depression, I try to use whatever small platform I have to try to destigmatize this illness. What the Love family did, with Wingo as their mouthpiece, was to further stigmatize depression. The family’s opinion that Orbin had not been depressed prior to changing his medication is irrelevant. It’s as if the family wanted it understood that Orbin was not a weak man. Yet, depression is not an indication of weakness. Depression is an illness. If you have it, you are not weak, you are just ill. At best, under control, it can be a minor nuisance. Unrecognized and/or untreated, depression can be terribly debilitating, if not fatal (via suicide).
Although the world is getting a lot more knowledgeable about depression, there is still a lot of ignorance about the illness. Love’s family’s statements (granted via heresay) and ESPN’s coverage of such, are perfect examples of such unenlightenment. They perpetuate a dangerously inaccurate portrayal of depression.
Moving forward, I hope that one of the first things the Packers do is put Love in contact with a trained mental health professional who sheds Love the light on the true darkness of depression. And then, ideally, Love, is able to convey what modern psychiatry knows about depression to his family. In a best-case scenario, the tragic suicide of Orbin Love Jr. can serve as a valuable teaching lesson that Jordan Love and his family use in the future to speak out and educate the masses about the real story of depression.
Otherwise, it was Bingo Wingo Lingo on the draft! Yes, at times, every draft pick was an “interesting” story according to ESPN’s draft anchor. Yet, to me, this was a positive. Wingo, who was extraordinarily well prepared, was just displaying his genuine enthusiasm in disseminating his nuggets of information. His six person on-air assistant team included the nonpareil Mel Kiper Junior, with Booger McFarland and Daniel Jeremiah also standing out. Even Commissioner Roger Goodell showed (just a little bit of) some personality, in self-deprecating fashion encouraging the virtual fans to boo him.
4th round draft pick Anthony McFarland Jr. (Maryland), selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers, is not related to Anthony “Booger” McFarland. Both Maryland and LSU (where Booger played) sports information officials confirmed this… Antoine Winfield Jr. (2nd round Tampa Bay selection out of Minnesota) is the son of former NFL standout db Antoine Winfield (an Ohio State product). But, I don’t think he is related to all time Gophers athletic great Dave Winfield, who played baseball and basketball at Minnesota. Winfield was selected by 4 different teams in drafts (MLB, NBA, ABA and NFL—even though he never played football in college). He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
SEC SEC SEC
Almost ½ of the first round selections (15 of 32 picks) were from the SEC. All told, the Southeastern Conference accounted for close to 25% of all selections—63 of 255. LSU had 14 players picked, including 5 in the first round. The first pick of the draft (Joe Burrow) and last pick of the first round (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) were from LSU. Even Mr. Irrelevant, Toe Crowder (#255) was from an SEC school—Georgia. The New York Giants selected him with the last pick of the draft.
I believe Jalen Hurts (Alabama, then Oklahoma) will ultimately be an excellent NFL football player. Will it be quarterback? I don’t think he’ll get that shot with Philadelphia, unless the Eagles think that Carson Wentz is not their long-term answer. That would be kind of strange, considering the financial investment they made in him. Have they soured on Wentz? If not, did the Eagles draft Hurts for another position or as an even better Taysom Hill? This is one of the biggest question marks of the draft. Philly, very readily could be another stop in the itinerant football career of Hurts.
Zach Moss (Utah), taken on the third round by Buffalo, was as good a running back as I saw in college football the last couple of years
Cole Kmet (Notre Dame), a 2nd round tight end drafted by Chicago, was a steal
Derrick Brown’s #5 was always on my television screen whenever I saw Auburn play. The DT--#7 overall pick by Carolina, was the most disruptive defensive force I watched play in 2019 next to Chase Young of Ohio State
Anfernee Jennings (LB, New England, third round) was a big-time playmaker for Alabama.
Jennings is the 10th player Bill Belichick has selected who played for Nick Saban in college (Michigan State, LSU, Alabama… none at Toledo in 1990!). This is a modern draft record. Belichick and Saban coached together once--in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns (1991-94). Saban left his DC position with the Browns in 1995 to coach at Michigan State. Belichick, who coached the Browns for 5 years—1991-1995, was wildly unpopular and run out of Cleveland after the 95 season.
LSU fans hope that the third time is the charm for #1 overall picks. JaMarcus Russell (Oakland Raiders) was a bust in 2007. Billy Cannon was a fine player in the AFL. However, he never did play for the team that selected him #1 overall in the NFL Draft in 1960, the Los Angeles Rams. Cannon signed with both the Rams and the AFL’s Houston Oilers, but suited up only with the Oilers
Cannon’s son, Billy Cannon Jr., was a first round pick in 1984 (Dallas Cowboys) out of Texas A&M. He played only 8 games for the Cowboys and in his NFL career, felled by spinal stenosis.
The 2020 NFL Draft continued a streak of the New Orleans Saints having never utilized a first round selection on an LSU player. This is surprising, but not for the reason you might think. For many years during this span (1966 to present), LSU was not a powerhouse program. Poorly run football teams (which the Saints were for many of the years prior to Sean Payton taking over in 2006) will often tend to select players for their marketing impact. So, although I have no empirical evidence to back this up, me thinks that teams (in all sports) that are not well run will be inclined to value the Home-town pick more so than the best player to select. That the John Mecom and Tom Benson owned teams, which were not well run most of the time (none of the time in Mecom’s case), have never gone down the road to Baton Rouge for their first round pick is counter-intuitive to me.
I’m proud to have something in common with Jerry Jeudy. The Alabama WR, selected in the first round by Denver, according to Trey Wingo (who found it “interesting”) that Jeudy once had a B+ in a class and he went to the professor and had it changed to an A.
Bernie Federko was a star player for the St Louis Blues in the late 1970s. His family did business in Daytona Beach with a college friend of mine’s family. Federko got “Magic” some front row ducats to a Philadelphia Flyers vs St Louis Blues game at the Spectrum in December 1978, when I was a freshman in college. Magic invited me to go to the game with him and some other buddies. I was undeterred by the fact that I had a Calculus Final the next day. My roommate at Penn, Ralph, opted to stay home and study, eschewing the hockey game, and chided me for my decision. Great Game. Great Seats. The Broad Street Bullies won. Sorry Bernie! The next day I did real well on the calculus exam. Yet, a few weeks later, when the Final grades were posted, I was shocked to see B+ listed next to J Fine. A mistake had to have been made. Ralph could hardly contain his glee, as justice was served for my attending a hockey game, instead of studying the night before the Calculus Final. There was a happy ending for me. I went in to meet with the professor. It turned out he had made a mistake. I actually had gotten an A on the Final and an A for the course. I remember how I opened up the first phone call I made after true justice had been rendered. “Ralph, I have some bad news for you… ”. This would be the one and only A I ever got in my illustrious college career. From top 5 percent in high school to top 75 percent in college… with a GPA lower than Steve Carlton’s ERA. But I got that B+ changed to an A. And, I didn’t have to call Harry Gamble, Penn’s Football coach to help me out. (Penn was 2-6-1 in 78 and I did a pre game radio interview with Coach Gamble in 1979 and 1980). Not to imply that Coach Saban had any roll in changing the grade of Jeudy.
Arrested Development Sports Trivia Question
Last week’s question: What year and with what organization was Bill Walsh’s first head coaching job?
Answer: Bill Walsh’s first head coaching position was in 1967, his only year with the San Jose Apaches, a semi-pro football team.
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