You Got Mel?

It doesn’t take very long for a team to know its destiny in a particular season. Often by the end of September or mid October all hope can be abandoned for a Super Bowl parade in 10 cities. From that point on, life is a little less interesting as the beatings become almost routine. Once Thanksgiving rolls around, getting up on Game Day and throwing on the jersey, drinking before noon, and eating garbage loses its luster. You no longer talk trash to friends, there are no words to say. One finds himself throwing away paychecks on Caribbean online betting sites just so there is some reason to watch the games Sunday. But we (fans of the bottom feeders) have something to hold on to. Being a fan of a bad team has its own reward, the Draft in April. It’s the LIONS getting all the headlines on NFL Live, and the Browns making news concerning their top 10 picks. No one mentions Dallas, New England, or Pittsburgh; they are an afterthought. We fans of the low level franchises end up checking the Todd McShay Mock Draft Versions 1.0 – 6.0, and if we are privileged enough we will get to see what Mel Kiper has to say in his Blue Book, or ESPN Insider Mock Draft.
Yes, that is correct. Mel Kiper published a book annually detailing what each player who will be drafted has to offer; a complete, in depth analysis of these athletes that borders obsession. He is on ESPN nightly from Super Bowl Sunday to Draft Day, and then never heard of again. He has three months of fame, and 9 months of research. And all for what? MY entertainment. The NFL scouts do not need a member of the media’s assistance in their draft preparation. An NFL franchise knows its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as their opponents. They are at the combines, they are at the private workouts, they hold sit downs, they do research, they even create false Facebook accounts to trick potential draftees into revealing potentially harmful information about themselves. Is there even the slightest chance John Fox and Mike Tomlin are texting each other about the latest Mock Draft on espn.com? NO. Secondly, Mel Kiper has no critics, no contemporaries, and most importantly no competition. Therefore, there is no way to tell whether Mel is doing his job well at all. No one compares the real draft to Mel’s draft. ESPN doesn’t care whether or not Mel goes 32 for 32, only that we watch. I can tell you one thing, I am sick of watching. You are wasting my time Mel, and your expertise is being called into question. I can tell you the Lions need a quarterback, the Browns could use defensive help, and the Bengals most likely will not select a player with legal issues. I watch the college game, and can tell you who the top 32 players are, particularly after seeing combine numbers. Does this make me an expert? No, and it doesn’t make you one either.
Today, as I listened to Fox Sports Radio for my draft coverage, I was introduced to Mel’s counterpart: a man by the name of Jay Glazer. Glazer works for FSN as their hybrid version of John Clayton and Mel Kiper, the man who breaks news AND can analyze the draft. Glazer was on the radio with a panel of three or four other FSR regulars to break each selection is it occurred. It was almost comical the connections Jay Glazer had to executives of almost every NFL team. He broke the Jets Browns trade several minutes before ESPN did. He reported that a 49ers exec had told him that San Fran would take Michael Crabtree at ten overall while the Oakland Raiders were still on the clock, two picks ahead. I sat there thinking to myself THIS is what the media guru of the NFL draft should be doing. He was getting the information strait from the horse’s mouth, and he was not wrong. Glazer does not publish a book, and does not pretend to be a scout. He in turn reports what the scouts are saying and builds relationships that result in breaking news. All I know is top level NFL executives are texting Glazer while they are on the clock, not Mel.
Give me Jay Glazer, his text message inbox, and all the information he is able to report over Mel’s blue book any day. If you were that good Mel, you would be an NFL scout. You most definitely are not, so instead, work on being a reporter, because Jay Glazer is taking you behind the wood shed.