Barry Jackson Sports Buzz - 02/09/14

[spiketex]

Dawson sounds like the perfect mix of being wholly unqualified and a douche. He never should even have been brought in for an interview.

Have you seen him interviewed? He's extremely articulate and some of finheaven members who love a good talker would have seriously embraced him.
I think that we need someone with good player evaluation skills to get the right players. A lower key GM like Hickey, seems a better selection to me.

 

[spiketex]

at asking them about Michigan players.

Can we please try to convince Steve that Gus Malzahn is actually a Michigan grad?

Alas, Gus is not a Michigan graduate. He went to Arkansas (so his future is more likely in Dallas).
Actually have no problems about Ross asking about Michigan players. He is an old Wolverine and takes an interest in the players. Actually when Bill Parells/Jeff Ireland selected Jake Long and Chad Henne in the 2008 Draft, I made a comment that they were wanting to get off to a good start with the new owner and I got smashed by many who said that Big Tuna would never do anything like that.
Asking prospective GMs about some players is pretty good. If the candidate doesn't know much about the players he should be honest and say that he doesn't know much, but the bigger mistake would be to try to b/s his way through an answer and get it wrong.
Ross is predominantly a hands off owner, but he needs a GM who has strong player knowledge and evaluation skills. It is good to challenge the candidates by asking detailed questions that they wouldn't expect. I like it a lot.

 

[Hayden Fox]

If a guy is the 3rd overall pick, and you traded UP to get him, he should be strong in ALL areas, should not require "creativity" and just about ANYTHING you do with the guy should be correct.

More excuse making for the coaching staff.

The guy is rookie…utilize what he does well as he figures out the game.

---------- Post added at 07:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------

So Taylor Lewan has a chance to be a Fin based on Ross' questions, eh?

 

[thefranchisedef]

Dion Jordan wasn't a liability at any point. He's a gamer. You play talents like him, no excuse.

 

[thefranchisedef]

If a guy is the 3rd overall pick, and you traded UP to get him, he should be strong in ALL areas, should not require "creativity" and just about ANYTHING you do with the guy should be correct.

This makes no sense. He was a top 3 pick because of his TALENT level. The guy has all the tools, this was his first year as a defensive lineman.

 

[Mogwai]

Have you seen him interviewed? He's extremely articulate and some of finheaven members who love a good talker would have seriously embraced him.
I think that we need someone with good player evaluation skills to get the right players. A lower key GM like Hickey, seems a better selection to me.

I like personnel men who project intelligence through the way they speak, but I faaaaaar prefer the ones who exhibit intelligence through what they've accomplished and Dawson hasn't done jack. Not to mention making it so public that he somehow rejected us when we never formally made him an offer reflects very, very poorly on him. I'm also way happier with the Hickey hire.

 

[phinfan40353]

In hindsight, it appears the brain trust ignored the adage of not drafting projects in the first round. No matter the logic, Jordan was treated a luxury pick. We had glaring needs on the OLine and instead we overlooked it and drafted another project to help with the OLine.

Philbin needs to understand that his policy of not starting rookies is not a good philosophy to aid in drafting decisions; especially in 1st and 2nd rounds. Our 2nd round drafting is horrible. And I think we are placing to little value on it's criteria and importance to the success of this organization.

1st and 2nd round guys should be low risk players who can contribute immediately. Projects should be graded near the bottom of the draft. Our roster does not afford us "luxury picks". But that does not preclude BPA. BPA is always a better long term drafting solution. And let's face it, there were BPAs on the board much better than Jordan that could have started immediately and minimized the carnage on the OL.

Please don't preach about "fit" and "scheme" players. We did not use the "fit" and "scheme" model with the eventual players we acquired. So, it is not applicable to the drafting discussion. Starters were on the board on OL, we looked away.

I hope lessons were learned. It's one year later and we NEED more OL than last year. This "luxury pick" has set us back at least one draft. And we have fewer picks in this draft. That's the draft kicking us while we're already down.

While I know it won't happen, I wouldn't be opposed to drafting 3 or 4 OL to help us dig out of this problem.