OT: Laremy Tunsil

[intlzncster]

He takes the mask off at the end of the video. It is clearly him, he had no choice but to admit it.

That said, it was smoking weed 2 years ago. The texts about getting money are a much bigger deal. Neither would have stopped me from drafting him.

Not to pro teams though. For players in the SEC (and other big time schools), a conservative estimate to those receiving cash and gifts would be about 50%. It's accepted practice, and I don't think coaches would think twice. Vince Wilfork--and those Miami teams--took cash, and he's one of the NFLs model citizens.

I think it's fair, if you are looking at it from an unbiased perspective, that NCAA football is essentially a semi pro league.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Not to pro teams though. For players in the SEC (and other big time schools), a conservative estimate to those receiving cash and gifts would be about 50%. It's accepted practice, and I don't think coaches would think twice. Vince Wilfork--and those Miami teams--took cash, and he's one of the NFLs model citizens.

I think it's fair, if you are looking at it from an unbiased perspective, that NCAA football is essentially a semi pro league.

I meant it is a bigger deal in the big picture (i.e. Mississippi). Kid got drafted #13, I don't think it was that big a deal to anyone. Could he have gone sooner, sure but I wouldn't call it a free fall either.

 

[Deepster]

I personally think Gordon and Manziel are outliers. Hell, they even managed rooming together at this late stage. Their cases are mind boggling.

I don't know. I remember when the Falcons dealt with all the Vick dogfighting fallout. When it came time to draft in 2008, they were staring at Matt Ryan or Darren McFadden. McFadden was a 2 time runner up on the Heisman and the stories came out about his mother's past drug problems. Who knows if taking choirboy "face of the franchise" Ryan was part of resurrecting the team's image and playing it safe with the #3 pick? These guys are investments. How much time and money will it take to recover from a Manziel outlier? Pushing the reset button on your franchise has a ripple effect.

 

[intlzncster]

I don't know. I remember when the Falcons dealt with all the Vick dogfighting fallout. When it came time to draft in 2008, they were staring at Matt Ryan or Darren McFadden. McFadden was a 2 time runner up on the Heisman and the stories came out about his mother's past drug problems. Who knows if taking choirboy "face of the franchise" Ryan was part of resurrecting the team's image and playing it safe with the #3 pick? These guys are investments. How much time and money will it take to recover from a Manziel outlier? Pushing the reset button on your franchise has a ripple effect.

I won't disagree with you there. That's definitely how teams operate, and I can see how a team like Atlanta would want to play the PR game.

I guess my opinion was a personal one. I don't think you should draft for image purposes. As you are then not trying to put the best product on the field, but off of it. Yes, when guys have these things on their record, you have to do your due diligence to the best of your ability. You have to accept that you can't find out every thing though, and that will cause you to make mistakes on some guys.

My personal view is that, with a first rounder, I'm taking a slam dunk guy: talent on the field, character off it, smart, hard worker, 4 down player, loves football...etc etc. Can't miss on first rounders often if you want to be successful. But from late 2nd and back, I'll take risks both from an injury and character perspective, assuming things check out vis a vis due diligence. The draft is such an inexact science, that you need to take some high upside gambles in that regard. imo of course.

 

[Kitaman]

Yes, but you don't want to waste a pick on the next Johnny Football

Still early but I think the two kids are way different. Tunsil is responding like a man, Johnny's response is still giving us his middle finger.

 

[methodology]

Kid probably lost close to $7 million because of that video. Sucks someone would attack him that way. I wonder how many teams knew about the video before it was released to the public. I have to believe it was known to be out there since it was being shopped around to deadspin 2 weeks prior.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Point and case as to how crooked college athletics is. Guys like him are the main component of the engine that is college sports, yet he has to come to his coaches, who make millions of dollars, to ask for money so his mother won't get the lights shut off.

 

[KemBuckets21]

Im a raven fan and I hoped we would take him at 6. We addressed the need but I don't think Stanley has the same upside. With the character issues we had I can see why Ozzie shys away from anyone remotely resembling a headache.

 

[Kitaman]

Point and case as to how crooked college athletics is. Guys like him are the main component of the engine that is college sports, yet he has to come to his coaches, who make millions of dollars, to ask for money so his mother won't get the lights shut off.

True or not I hope it opens up to a broader and intense discussion, and one that needs to be had. Scholarships ain't enough. that's like a bank giving a mortgage rep employee free food at their cafeteria. The 'free classes, food and room' are a minuscule investment that reaps huge profits and residuals.

Many kids come from poor backgrounds and they are susceptible to money crunch and all that leads to. There has to be a better way because they are being exploited.

 

[huskyinfl]

Sure they don't want a Johnny Football but what they really don't want is Aaron Hernandez or Rae Caruth... Ray Lewis, that might work.

 

[TasteofUConn]

. . . . when peoples entire past has been recorded since they were 16 years old.

16? More like pre-vag-expulsion anymore.

 

[uconnphil2016]

True or not I hope it opens up to a broader and intense discussion, and one that needs to be had. Scholarships ain't enough. that's like a bank giving a mortgage rep employee free food at their cafeteria. The 'free classes, food and room' are a minuscule investment that reaps huge profits and residuals.

Many kids come from poor backgrounds and they are susceptible to money crunch and all that leads to. There has to be a better way because they are being exploited.

Especially when the classes don't mean anything. Being a division one college football player at a school like Ole Miss, you think you have the time to be a decent college student? They just pick classes for you and have tutors walk you through everything. And plenty of kids don't want the education to begin with; take Cardale Jones for example--tweeting that he doesn't care at all about school. So at that point what's the point of paying for the kids education? Where's the value in it for the player?

 

[Kitaman]

16? More like pre-vag-expulsion anymore.

Yeah, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram minimum age is 13, so I guess the others follow suit. Not to mention the underground social media accounts. That said I have to imagine there are single digit kids all over social media. Let's not forget email, skype (or other group chat). And this phenomenon is so new there is no real guidance or rules, and parents are busy and not as clever/knowledgeable as their kids.

Essentially starting at being a kid their life is a public record along with finger printing programs, injection thingees, security cameras everywhere, mobile phone GPS, school badges to swipe, etc... Oh and the cloud is 'permanent'.

Its no wonder kids remain inside nowadays, but even that is dangerous with phone/computer. We had it good even when we were bored. And I was nowhere near a mature 10-13 year old boy, so I was protected. I am so glad. . . . . . . .

Just saying the youth have it tough and they didn't ask for all of this especially without directions.

 

[huskymedic]