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http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/sto...ewater-manzeil-pro-day-stock-rise-fall-mayock
Pro days are now getting a bad reputation — the weight they're being given in draft evaluations, that is. Count Kurt Warner among those who isn't a fan of this trend. Last week he knocked the latest rumors about Teddy Bridgewater, and a few weeks before that told Sporting News that Johnny Manziel was good enough without his pro-day hype.
On NFL Network last Wednesday, Warner chided the gradual drop in Bridgewater's stock since the Louisville quarterback's March 17 pro day, which was universally graded as subpar. Mike Mayock, Warner's NFL Network colleague Mike Mayock gave the Bridgewater downgrade more momentum when he told a radio station that he now thought Bridgewater wouldn't even go in the first round, and that his pro day "made me question everything I saw on tape because this was live.”
MORE: Latest mock draft | Manziel going No. 2?
Warner said he wasn't buying that.
"I see and understand those questions Mike was talking about there,'' he said, "but the flip side of that is, I just watched more tape on all these guys this morning, and there is no question when you watch the tape, Teddy Bridgewater is the best quarterback in this draft with what he did on the football field.
Teddy Bridgewater (AP Photo)
"It's just amazing to me that so many people had him number-one on their board, or maybe a close second to Johnny Manziel, through the whole process. until his pro day. I was there, I saw the struggles, it was disappointing — but again, I go back to the film, and I see what he did week in and week out, and his consistency. And it amazes me that so many teams have dropped him based on what's happened in this pre-draft process.''
Warner also attended Manziel's pro day about two weeks after Bridgewater's — and, likewise, saw his stock rise after a spectacular workout complete with music and celebrity onlookers. Last month, he told Sporting News that while he understood why pro days were part of the evaluation, it wasn't obvious how much they told of what kind of prospect a player was.
"Just the circus that came around was very strange, the atmosphere, everything that surrounded it. It kind of amazes you,'' Warner said. "All these guys are doing is throwing against air. I think I can go out there and throw against air. You kind of sit back and say, 'Wow, this is what it's become.'''
Yet he believed that Manziel had an "it" factor — though it was one that he said was clear on game film and was only enhanced by the pro day. "All the elements of his game were there that you had seen when he played, just in a different environment. If he wanted to show a certain side to him, present himself in a certain way, then he accomplished that, and that's what pro days do. But the film showed all of that already,
"But,'' Warner added, "it's the NFL we live in today. You smile at it. You know it's good for the game.''
I wholeheartedly agree with Warner.
BS! Warner was a undrafted FA QB. How would he know?
