June arrives and we await a further break in the iceberg separating Owners and Players…or more accurately, the lawyers representing either side… but the Eastern Division rivalry continues…
Casey Matthews has a huge following in New York City, apparently… because yesterday, Giants fans rose up in large numbers to protest the G-Men management’s failure to draft the linebacker ahead of the Eagles…
We’ve had silly and facetious pieces here in the past about teams leap-frogging rivals to get players in the Draft… but I never could have predicted that Giants fans wanted Casey Matthews as badly as they did in this year’s Draft.
The evidence arrived yesterday. I received a piece from UltimateNYG.com that stated:
“We had been a big fan of Matthews in the third or fourth round as he is a better player than most think, as demonstrated in the championship game where he was dominant for Oregon. Philly grabbed him right before us and we should have moved up a few spots to make sure that didn’t happen…Do we err at times? Of course we do. I felt I owed it to our readers to fess up on a mistake.”
Giants fans reacted in droves in agreement—-and criticized Big Blue for choosing Greg Jones at LB in the 6th round instead of getting Matthews…
Now the biggest independent fan and scouting blog for the Giants is having to explain its own lobbying campaign for Greg Jones over Matthews…
“We study many hours of tape, look at workouts, stats, practicalities, speed, desire, off the field issues, schedule, and our own separate methods of evaluation,” said lead blogger Pete Furman of Ultimate NYG.com. “I had Jones projected at 49th pick overall…I was wrong…”
“I made a MISTAKE with Jones, as after reviewing my work, I came to a different conclusion….We should have taken Matthews…”
Jones was a 4-year starter at Michigan State. Statistically, his tackles were off-the-charts impressive. His ability to move in space was good. He played Big Ten football— and Michigan State, although not great, was solid at times.
“When a guy makes so many tackles and can cover, you look,” said Furman. “I thought I had actually (nailed a top prospect), but I erred.”
“The problem with this guy is that he is too short at 6′, a little too light at 243, but most importantly— has great difficulty shedding blockers.”
Jones went from a monster junior year to a very mediocre (bust would not be a stretch) senior year. He did manage a couple of INT’s his senior year, but tackles dropped noticeably upon second look.
Well, I say— don’t beat yourself up too much, Giants fans. Drafting top players in the 4th round is a very subjective art…and not yet a science.
“I am dropping him from my top 100”, said Furman, “as the only way he (Jones) makes the Giants now is on special teams or as a situational player in the quasi-linebacker ‘Tampa Two’ we run.”
“We follow a lot of kids. We do it over a career. Scouting is an imperfect science with thousands of variables. The fact is, everything matters more in today’s game than in years past.There are always extra-ordinary men who overcome height, weight, s peed, even age deficits. The Wes Welker’s or the 6′ MIKE’s are rare indeed.The guy went 6th round, for God’s sake! This kid went from making a lot of tackles for three years to almost none as a senior! 6th vs my 2nd ? My bad!”
Props to Furman and our rival Giants fans for recognizing a strong draft decision by the Eagles in snagging Casey Matthews in the 4th.
Meanwhile, our friends down in D.C. are actually helping the Eagles out for a change—well, at least the Eagles rookie draftees. The Redskins organization is actually sending volunteers to help arrange a “substitute” Rookie Symposium which will be open to all players picked in the 2011 NFL Draft, and will focus on financial planning, personal security, dealing with the media, and how to be a professional on and off the field.
As you probably know, the official NFL version of this Rookie Symposium was cancelled by the NFL Owners a week and a half ago due to issues associated with the current lockout. But now the former Players Association contingent has stepped in…and ‘The Business of Football: Rookie Edition’ will be held June 28-29 in Washington, D.C. Remarkably, unpaid volunteers from the Redskins organization have stepped forward to help organize the event.
Now why can’t “3d” (formerly known as “DDD”) get with that kind of “Peace Train” spirit? As Drew Brees and Fran Tarkenton have both stated recently, it’s time we all “perk up”…and calm down…and start working together to get back to football.
ANOTHER FAN LETTER FROM ENGLAND— We received this nice note from yet another Eagles fan in the U.K.——- Andrew Broome <[email protected]> :
“Hey guys at Eagles Eye. I am a massive Eagles fan from the UK. To find something for my Ipad which has up to date info and insight into my team without other NFL team’s fans’ silly comments is great—- keep up the good work. GO EAGLES!! “
Thank you, Andrew. It’s humbling to me that we actually have an international audience here. We will do our very best to carry on and earn your continued interest. Nice work, commenters and Bored members…
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