Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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NFL draft decisions changed by an inch

Robert Ferguson was and still is exactly one inch taller than Chris Chambers.

Never mind the fact that Ferguson had only played one year of major college football and had racked up gaudy numbers against substandard competition. Overlook that Chambers was a polished product, a better physical specimen, had local ties and a solid character that epitomized a player prepared to make an impact on the NFL.

Nope, it was all about that one inch that could perhaps give Ferguson a better line of sight over the cornerback on a flag route. One inch so he could have better leverage when reaching for a first down and fighting for those extra yards.

When their final statistics were tabulated for their rookie campaigns, Chambers had 883 more receiving yards than Ferguson, which to the trained eye is a tad more than an inch.

That inch that former Packers General Manager Ron Wolfe deemed so influential exhibits one of the most peculiar and downright perplexing psychoanalyzations in sports: the mind of the waffling GM and his cabinet in the war room on draft day.

Sure, the draft can always be referred to as a crapshoot. Cade McKnown was the next Steve Young, and now he’s the next John Freisz. But nowhere in any other industry will such human-resource decisions be made with the fine mix of caprice and excessive scrutiny as the NFL draft is.

The hall of shame reads like bad jokes with decent punch lines. Keith McCants over Junior Seau because the former was 10 pounds heavier. Akili Smith and Rick Mirer have great size and can throw the rock over the Atlantic, which is where both of them will end up finishing their careers. Lawrence Phillips likes to throw women down flights of stairs by their hair, and the Rams think he just needs the unconditional love of Dick Vermeil.

The fact is, the majority of the selections on draft day can be reasoned out and spun with a positive light, with all the smoke spewing from the mouths of Mel Kiper Jr. and the hordes of other draft experts. Teams address their pressing needs, and half the battle to the playoffs comes from free agency, the coaching system and the leadership of veterans.

But without fail, there will be at least four times come this Saturday afternoon when general managers and the general public will be scratching their heads, frozen in utter bafflement or yelling profusely at the pick of a player who is getting in on the ground floor but is undeniably headed to the mail room. From the minute the commissioner reads the card, it’s a pretty good bet that these guys won’t be invited to a training camp in five years.

The role of the general managers and player personnel in the NFL is to always keep an objective and realistic view of the organization and the needs and talents that are required to get this team playing into January. But come that Saturday in April, many of these solid businessmen and football gurus just stick their heads in a toilet and flush their reputations down the drain.

Once rumors start circulating about the minutest details of a player’s wingspan or the nanoseconds of their shuttle times, a handful of GMs try to put on smocks and become physicians rather than football authorities.

The fascinating facet of this mental suicide is that the majority of “reaches” occur in the later rounds of the draft, by the teams that are at or near the top of their division. Players who are no better than late second-round picks are given first-round nods and first-round rookie contracts.

Notorious for such gaffes are the usual suspects of Jerry Jones and Al Davis, who have peddled away valuable second-round picks to select the likes of Shante Carver and Ricky Dudley, neither of whom made a long-term impact worth their costs. Trev Albert was picked by the Colts with only one good knee. Mike Mamula, currently not on an NFL roster, is known merely for his vertical jump seven years ago. And did the Browns really think with the ninth pick in 1992 that they could build an offense around Tommy Vardell?

Much like stockbrokers when choosing what to put in their portfolios, NFL GMs waffle when they have to be decisive, relying on ancillary and rather inconsequential details rather than just going with their gut.

Imagine if Ron Wolf would have gone with his gut and Chris Chambers were picking up first downs rather than riding the pine like Ferguson.

Truly amazing what another inch can do to someone’s judgment.

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