Misinformation

There should be some kind of media blackout on draft information between, say, the Senior Bowl and the NFL Draft. The general managers and coaches of the teams that will actually be selecting the players are the only people that know anything. They aren't saying anything. They shouldn't say anything. The people that say the most know the least. The talking heads in the media. Where are they getting their information? The most recent hooey comes from Chris Mortensen of ESPN. He reported that Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been shaky in his private workouts with teams. This is especially troubling due to his reportedly less than excellent Pro Day. The last time that I had read anything written by Mortensen was in 2001 so I had kind of lost touch with him. He used to write things longer than the average tweet. There's something funny about reporting that Bridgewater's private workouts have all gone shaky. They're private. I don't think that Morternsen is invited to these workouts so it seems pretty remarkable that he'd have accurate inside information to all of them. Especially since you can't trust anything that any of these teams say. Bridgerwater's agent, Kennard McGuire, responded to Mortensen's "breaking" news by mentioning that his client has had only one private workout. Bridgewater has visited with multiple teams but has had a singular private workout. According to his agent, this singular workout was described as "simply amazing and sharp." That stellar description of the workout should cancel out the "shaky" workouts reported by Mortensen. Why? Because you can't believe anything that these teams say.

The further that we get from the last time that these draft prospects were actually playing football the more we forget about how they actually play the game. Getting to know these kids, actually talking to them, getting to better know their medical history helps the 32 NFL teams. Beyond that, all of the crap that follows their last football game is way, way overrated. It's for the media to send the rest of us scampering to redo our mocks. I like Teddy Bridgewater. He was terrific at Louisville. That matters more to me than his Pro Day or decision not to throw at the Combine. Some have questioned his slight build. Some had that same question about Aaron Rodgers in 2005. Bridgewater was considered a potential #1 pick of the entire draft only weeks ago. Now, he might tumble out of the first round. What's changed? We've gotten too far away from his last meaningful pass. In that time away from meaningful football too many people like Mortensen, with their creepy little sources, have muddied the water. No team is talking. No team is saying anything truthful if they are talking. We can't believe any of it but we usually do as it's fed to us.

Adding two extra weeks to the draft evaluation process was an idiotic move.