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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/05/08/adrian-peterson-nfl-minnesota-vikings-texas-flood
Adrian Peterson: A Flood and the Fight for a Ring
The Vikings running back reflects on a tragedy in his hometown and his quest to bring the Lombardi Trophy to Minnesota. Plus why the Titans traded down.
By Peter King
It’s a big offseason for Adrian Peterson, who spends his off months at his home in Houston. It was all football until the past few days.
He’s spent much of the past week tending to friends and donating money ($100,000, and growing) and clothes and food to those who’ve lost family and property in his hometown, the flood-ravaged town of Palestine, Texas. “That’s my neighborhood, where that happened,” he said Friday, still shaken. “One of the people who died was my high school football teammate. Two of the little kids that died played on the All-Day bantam football team that I sponsor. I’m just shocked, hurt right down to my heart.”
At a time like this, football seems so insignificant, and most of a 50-minute phone conversation the other day with the NFL rushing champion was about the tragedy in his hometown two hours outside Dallas, a place normally dry as a bone. That hometown was still coming to grips with flash floods that killed six people, including a grandmother and her four grandchildren, and Peterson’s former classmate Giovani Olivas. They were swept away by the flooding nine days ago.
“Giovani, man, a great guy,” Peterson said. “Always had a great spirit. When I close my eyes and think of him, I think always of that smile, always smiling. I knew him going back to elementary school. What I heard was he was in a truck, in the back of his truck, family trying to throw a rope to him, trying to pull him in, and the rope snapped. He got swept away.
“I don’t fear much, but drowning—that is a terrible way to go out. Four or five feet of water in a place that just never had that. Just blows my mind.”
Peterson will go to Palestine this week to give some hands-on help. He is partnering with the Salvation Army—text “AP28” to 51555 to donate, or go to this website—to help the families that have lost homes, or had homes severely damaged.
Asked if he’s closer to his town because they supported him unwaveringly during the incident of excessively disciplining his son two years ago, Peterson said that’s not why he’s doing this. “The support they gave me then, it was a given—because they know me,” Peterson said. “They knew me at my core. This is more about when tragedy hits, we come together. It’s in me to help—it’s in everyone there to help their neighbors. That’s just what people in Palestine do.”
* * *
Photo: Tom Dahlin/Getty Images
Adrian Peterson has 11,675 career rushing yards, 17th on the all-time list and second among active players (Frank Gore, 12,040).
There is no appropriate transition to talking football after what Peterson just riffed about. So I won’t try. We’ll just get into it.
At 31, he’s trying to stave off what time does to all running backs. Peterson said: “I honestly think I can do this, and do it at a high level, till I’m 40.” That would be historic, obviously. And highly unlikely. But just in case, consider that Peterson starts this season 6,681 yards behind Emmitt Smith for the all-time rushing record. That’s five years, averaging 1,337 yards per season, away from passing Smith. He’d have to have a run of unprecedented health to even have a prayer.
That, and other things, in Five Adrian Peterson Football Thoughts:
• On his new teammate, German receiver Moritz Boehringer, who started playing football in his hometown of Aalen, Germany after watching video of Peterson starring for the Vikings:
Peterson: “I heard about it last week during the draft. Like, We drafted a German receiver? I get home and pull it up on the computer, turn on NFL Network, and after two or three minutes, there he is, talking on the set. He was nervous, like this was his first time in the spotlight. They ask how he got into football, and my name came up. I watched Adrian Peterson, and I was a Vikings fan. The things I’ve been through and what I’ve overcome, it’s good to know I can inspire people and change people’s lives.
Here I am, a kid who grew up in Palestine, Texas and now lives in Minnesota, and there’s a guy in Germany who flips on YouTube one day and gets inspired by me, and now he gets to play alongside the individual that inspired him to get into football. That is amazing to me. Amazing! Look at how God works. This guy is playing football because of my highlights, living across the world, and now we’re teammates. Who can write a story like that?”
• On the newbie high draft picks, the Todd Gurleys and Ezekiel Elliotts, coming for his rushing crown:
Peterson: “Not to be cocky or anything, but I know, at 31, my end is going to be better than my beginning. One thing I know, and will remain true: These young guys will never outwork me. I put my body through the grind. Just knowing how my body remains healthy, age is not really affecting me. It’s my mindset. I don’t get into the 30-year-old running-back thing, that you’re done at 30. I am getting stronger with age. Honest, last year [when he won his third rushing title at age 30] was a disappointment to me, because I know I can do more. Honest, it was.”
• On his change in training from last year to this year:
Peterson: “I can reflect back now, and see how much better this off-season is for me. I opened up a gym closer to my house, and now I have one location where I can pretty much do everything. I used to have to drive to a gym, then get in the car to drive to the hill I ran at, then get in the car again to go to the track at Rice Stadium, and then go to the sand pit I used, and then it was a 45-minute drive home. It was all too much work, just going from one place to the next. Now I have one location where I can pretty much do everything—and there’s a track two miles away. You got the gym and yoga and pilates all under one roof. [The daily workout lasts] three-and-a-half to five hours.”
• On playing until he’s 40:
Peterson: “I can, but will I? Honestly, I don’t think I will. Mentally, I don’t know. Once I get to 38, I don’t think I’ll have the same love of the game. Sometimes I get tired of training camp. I think I can endure five more [camps], but after that, I don’t know.”
• On winning another rushing title:
Peterson: “I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. But it’s a seed planted in my brain, and it’s sticking there. Everything in me is championship, championship and then breaking records. It’s a part of me. I am pushing myself to the max to win a Super Bowl, and then to break Emmitt’s record and Eric Dickerson’s [single-season rushing] record. It is my everyday life, what I think of every day. Mostly it’s that Super Bowl. Then the whole world will remember you.”
One final thing Peterson thinks:
“We are going to have a good chance to win it this year—win everything,” he said. “Sit back and watch. Sit back and watch. You can be like, ‘I thought you guys were at least a couple of years away.’ Nope. You sit back and watch, this year.”
We will.
* * *
In his hometown of Palestine, Texas, Adrian Peterson sponsors and funds three select youth football teams. The youngest, the bantam team, wears uniforms with the maroon and white of Palestine High. The next team, the junior team, wears the red and white of Peterson’s Oklahoma Sooners. The oldest team, the seniors, wears the purple and white of his Minnesota Vikings.
* * *
“I want him to be here playing football and not being a celebrity. I’ve given him a hard time already about being on TV and not being a celebrity. It’s football now and it’s time to work. The feel-good story is over.”
—Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer, on the mega-story that sixth-round pick Moritz Boehringer has been in the last week, on Friday, the first day of Vikings minicamp.
* * *
Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP
Titans GM Jon Robinson (left) made two draft trades that landed the team, in part, offensive tackle Jack Conklin.
A draft thought I want to get off my chest
For virtually every team in the draft, we in the media really don’t know who’s going to get picked in the days and weeks before the draft. We might do mock drafts and have fun with projections of who goes where. We might know the top pick or two, because it’s so obvious—as it was this year, and last year too. But as for saying we know where most of the players in the first round are going? Educated guesswork.
I present the Titans in the first round this year as evidence. In the weeks before the draft, linking the Titans to Ole Miss tackle Laremy Tunsil and Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey was popular sport. Most in the media thought it most likely the Titans would pick another protector for young quarterback Marcus Mariota—and that protector was Tunsil.
Now that the draft is over, we can find out what really happened. This is it:
Tennessee never anointed Tunsil or Ramsey number one. Rookie GM Jon Robinson liked both but wasn’t convicted about handing either one the top-pick mantel. “We just kept plugging through the process after the season and through the combine and pro days,” Robinson said Saturday. “It’s a long process. To anoint a guy in January, or so early … there’s too much to be done. We don’t know. But then when we had a chance to make a trade [out of the No. 1 overall pick], we had to see if that made sense. We had a group of players stacked pretty close together. We decided we could do it, and then have enough ammo to get back up to probably be able to get one of those players.”
Robinson said there were “seven or eight” players in that cluster—presumably both Tunsil and Ramsey, and certainly Michigan State tackle Jack Conklin (the eventual top Titans’ pick), though Robinson wouldn’t talk about where he had any specific players stacked. So, Robinson determined before the draft that he would likely have to get into the top nine or 10 of the draft. “Seven or eight,” he said, “plus the two quarterbacks.”
So if he got into the top nine, surely he’d have enough ammo from the trade with Los Angeles to move up and still profit by taking someone from his cluster. The Titans had at least seven in that cluster, and that didn’t include a quarterback, because Tennessee had Mariota and wasn’t going to pick a passer. But Robinson knew quarterbacks were going 1-2, so that pushed down his seven. He’d have been happy with a pick down at eight or nine or 10, because that would mean Tennessee would get one of the players in its cluster.
Robinson felt he had three solid deals he could have made in the top 10, with a fourth that he could have done if he added a little more at the deadline of the night of the draft. The Titans decided to move up with Cleveland at number eight beforethe video surfaced of Tunsil with the gas-mask bong in the minutes before the draft. It also is true that Tennessee had Conklin in the same neighborhood as the top two tackles on many boards: Tunsil and Notre Dame’s Ronnie Stanley. Robinson on draft night said he wanted Conklin over Tunsil, and time will tell if that was a wise ranking.
In the end, this essentially is the decision Robinson made:
• Tennessee traded: the first pick in the 2016 draft (Jared Goff) and a second-round pick in the 2017 draft.
• Tennessee acquired: the eighth pick in the 2016 draft (Jack Conklin), defensive tackle Austin Johnson (43rd overall), running back Derrick Henry (45th overall), plus the Rams’ first-round and third-round picks in 2017.
Considering Tennessee had Conklin very close in grade to Tunsil, and considering Conklin was in the same grading cluster as Jalen Ramsey … getting a punishing running back aligned with the way Tennessee is going to play offensively, plus a rotation defensive tackle, plus an extra first-round pick next year, seemed to be a smart move by Robinson.
Of course, “seemed” is the operative word here. Because nothing is guaranteed in the potluck world of draft forecasting.
I asked agent Leigh Steinberg, who’s been absent from the first round for the past 12 years until repping Paxton Lynch this year, about the differences in the draft process. “One big thing is the emergence of the draft prognosticators,” he said. “Used to be there was one—Mel Kiper. Now … And the impact they have on heavily influencing the public perception of who will be picked where is huge. I love the growth of the draft as a cultural event. But I’m not sure the endless testing and analysis make for any better draft results.”
* * *
Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
Sam Bradford hasn’t been around the Eagles since the team traded up to draft a quarterback with the No. 2 pick.
“I cannot believe what Sam Bradford is doing with the Philadelphia Eagles. The impression that I get is this guy here doesn’t want to compete. He’s not interested in playing quarterback … He wants it handed to him on a silver platter. That’s not the way life is. If you think you’re that good, you should be able to beat out a rookie that has no early idea what the NFL looks like … Strap your chinstrap on, put your helmet on, put your jock on, and go out and compete like somebody who wants the job.”
—Joe Theismann, to Alex Marvez and Zig Fracassi on SiriusXM NFL radio Saturday.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think the NFL-as-family thing, which has gotten badly beaten up in recent years, needs some resuscitation. So Roger Goodell sending brownies to Eli Apple’s mother and then the league leaking it and Tweeting about it … smart move. A bit over the top, but not bad.
2. I think that’s a good extension by the Dolphins, signing pass-rusher Cam Wake through the end of the 2017 season. This is a player who’s overachieved for much of his career, averaging 10.8 sacks a year over the past six seasons—while missing 10 games over that period due to injury. Now Miami has Wake and Mario Williams as bookends to rush the quarterback this year and next, and that’s a good combination … assuming Williams brings it. Not sure he will; some in Buffalo think he’s simply lost his love of football. We’ll see. I know Wake, and I can tell you he still loves football.
3. I think this was an interesting comment by long-time Eagles beat man Reuben Frank on Comcast Sportsnet, regarding Sam Bradford and his desire to be traded, and not reporting to the Eagles in the off-season program: “The guy’s made what, $95-$100 million? I think he’s going to retire. I think he’s had enough. I don’t think he wants to be here. Honestly, I don’t think anybody else wants him. Maybe you get a [third- or fourth-round pick for him], but I doubt it. I think it’s done. I think it’s over with. I think Chase Daniel starts your season, plays five or six games.
And then Carson Wentz comes in and he’s your quarterback for the next 10 years. And this time next year, we’re sitting here saying, ‘Sam who?’” My take: Bradford saw what Carson Palmer did when he wanted out of Cincinnati, and forced the Bengals to trade him to Oakland by simply not showing up. Palmer has made so much money in his first six years as a pro that he can afford to do that—sit it out and force Howie Roseman to give him away, either this summer or when a quarterback gets hurt somewhere, or at the trading deadline in October.
4. I think if I may leave a postscript on the inner workings of the Dallas draft room last week … So there’s been some stuff out there in the past few days that really doesn’t represent what happened in the draft room accurately. As I wrote on Monday, the Cowboys offered several teams in the middle of the first round their second-round and third-round picks to move up, and then some teams in the bottom of the round their second-round and fourth-round picks to move up. They would have selected Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch had they been able to move up.
But no team would deal with them, and Denver ended up with Lynch. Somehow, this translated to owner Jerry Jones wanting Lynch desperately (which is true) and being overruled by his son and EVP of football operations Stephen Jones (which is not). Recall what I wrote about the passage of time just before the Denver trade to get Lynch, beginning with the Bengals turning down the Dallas overture to move up in the round:
Cincinnati on the clock; the Bengals, at 24, called to say no. Jerry Jones stood at the board near his seat, one observer saying he looked lost in thought as Stephen said to him: “Anything else? Want me to try something else?” Jerry Jones had no answers. The Chiefs called. Said they’d trade from 28 to 34 but only if Dallas included its three, not the four. No dice. Bengals picked cornerback William Jackson III. Steelers up. They never considered trading, and they made a pick quickly: cornerback Artie Burns. Now 9:54. Seattle GM John Schneider back on the phone.
The call was quick. Stephen Jones got off the phone, turned to Jerry Jones at the board, and as one eyewitness recalled son said to father: “No way with Seattle. Too much. They want our two and three.” Quiet in the room. “Thoughts?” Stephen Jones said to his father. “Any thoughts?” They had a minute, maybe, to up the offer to Seattle, which was the only fish on the line. But no new offer was forthcoming.
In other words, Jerry Jones was remorseful the next day that he didn’t press for including the third-round pick to get the pick with Seattle that would have made Lynch a Cowboy. But there was no overruling by Stephen Jones. Clearly, whatever Stephen Jones thought, he was inviting Jerry Jones to say, “Give ‘em the three!” And Jerry Jones didn’t do it. What would have happened if Jerry Jones had said that? Would Stephen have pushed back? Possibly. But If Jerry Jones wanted it, regardless of the perceived overpayment to get Lynch, it would have gotten done.
5. I think one of the cool things about the media business today is the number of ex-scouts and front office guys working in the media and bringing new ideas to it … such as this one from former Giants, Jets and Eagles scout Dan Hatman. He has a page following the movement of scouts and front-office officials, which is good to follow at this time of year, when there’s traditionally a lot of movement.
6. I think grading a draft a day or two after it ends is asinine.
7. I think I categorically agree with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk:Any legitimacy of the NFL Network’s top 100 players is tarnished badly when Andrew Luck is “voted” number 92. How is Luck seven in 2015 and 92 in 2016? Because he got hurt last year? I pay scant attention to this thing anyway, but the Luck thing makes it certain I will pay it zero attention this year. “The fact that he landed [at 92] is further evidence that the entire process is a waste of time,” wrote Florio.
8. I think this is one reason why Neil Hornsby and Pro Football Focusare pretty darned good: Last September, this is what Hornsby wrote about Jordan Reed, the up-and-coming tight end for Washington, for The MMQB: “It always surprises me no one seems to talk about Washington’s Jordan Reed. Drafted 22 places after [Kansas City’s Travis] Kelce, it often feels like Reed is an afterthought … Keep an eye on him because once Washington realizes what it has, he may not stay hidden much longer.” Reed got rewarded with a five-year, $46.5-million deal Thursday.
9. I think this will be on the Panthers’ locker room bulletin board, and soon: Bovada LV posted odds to win the Super Bowl last week, and the Panthers were fifth on the list of teams most likely to win, at 11-to-1. New England, Seattle, Green Bay and Pittsburgh all have a better shot to win the big one, Bovada says.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/05/08/adrian-peterson-nfl-minnesota-vikings-texas-flood
Adrian Peterson: A Flood and the Fight for a Ring
The Vikings running back reflects on a tragedy in his hometown and his quest to bring the Lombardi Trophy to Minnesota. Plus why the Titans traded down.
By Peter King
It’s a big offseason for Adrian Peterson, who spends his off months at his home in Houston. It was all football until the past few days.
He’s spent much of the past week tending to friends and donating money ($100,000, and growing) and clothes and food to those who’ve lost family and property in his hometown, the flood-ravaged town of Palestine, Texas. “That’s my neighborhood, where that happened,” he said Friday, still shaken. “One of the people who died was my high school football teammate. Two of the little kids that died played on the All-Day bantam football team that I sponsor. I’m just shocked, hurt right down to my heart.”
At a time like this, football seems so insignificant, and most of a 50-minute phone conversation the other day with the NFL rushing champion was about the tragedy in his hometown two hours outside Dallas, a place normally dry as a bone. That hometown was still coming to grips with flash floods that killed six people, including a grandmother and her four grandchildren, and Peterson’s former classmate Giovani Olivas. They were swept away by the flooding nine days ago.
“Giovani, man, a great guy,” Peterson said. “Always had a great spirit. When I close my eyes and think of him, I think always of that smile, always smiling. I knew him going back to elementary school. What I heard was he was in a truck, in the back of his truck, family trying to throw a rope to him, trying to pull him in, and the rope snapped. He got swept away.
“I don’t fear much, but drowning—that is a terrible way to go out. Four or five feet of water in a place that just never had that. Just blows my mind.”
Peterson will go to Palestine this week to give some hands-on help. He is partnering with the Salvation Army—text “AP28” to 51555 to donate, or go to this website—to help the families that have lost homes, or had homes severely damaged.
Asked if he’s closer to his town because they supported him unwaveringly during the incident of excessively disciplining his son two years ago, Peterson said that’s not why he’s doing this. “The support they gave me then, it was a given—because they know me,” Peterson said. “They knew me at my core. This is more about when tragedy hits, we come together. It’s in me to help—it’s in everyone there to help their neighbors. That’s just what people in Palestine do.”
* * *
Photo: Tom Dahlin/Getty Images
Adrian Peterson has 11,675 career rushing yards, 17th on the all-time list and second among active players (Frank Gore, 12,040).
There is no appropriate transition to talking football after what Peterson just riffed about. So I won’t try. We’ll just get into it.
At 31, he’s trying to stave off what time does to all running backs. Peterson said: “I honestly think I can do this, and do it at a high level, till I’m 40.” That would be historic, obviously. And highly unlikely. But just in case, consider that Peterson starts this season 6,681 yards behind Emmitt Smith for the all-time rushing record. That’s five years, averaging 1,337 yards per season, away from passing Smith. He’d have to have a run of unprecedented health to even have a prayer.
That, and other things, in Five Adrian Peterson Football Thoughts:
• On his new teammate, German receiver Moritz Boehringer, who started playing football in his hometown of Aalen, Germany after watching video of Peterson starring for the Vikings:
Peterson: “I heard about it last week during the draft. Like, We drafted a German receiver? I get home and pull it up on the computer, turn on NFL Network, and after two or three minutes, there he is, talking on the set. He was nervous, like this was his first time in the spotlight. They ask how he got into football, and my name came up. I watched Adrian Peterson, and I was a Vikings fan. The things I’ve been through and what I’ve overcome, it’s good to know I can inspire people and change people’s lives.
Here I am, a kid who grew up in Palestine, Texas and now lives in Minnesota, and there’s a guy in Germany who flips on YouTube one day and gets inspired by me, and now he gets to play alongside the individual that inspired him to get into football. That is amazing to me. Amazing! Look at how God works. This guy is playing football because of my highlights, living across the world, and now we’re teammates. Who can write a story like that?”
• On the newbie high draft picks, the Todd Gurleys and Ezekiel Elliotts, coming for his rushing crown:
Peterson: “Not to be cocky or anything, but I know, at 31, my end is going to be better than my beginning. One thing I know, and will remain true: These young guys will never outwork me. I put my body through the grind. Just knowing how my body remains healthy, age is not really affecting me. It’s my mindset. I don’t get into the 30-year-old running-back thing, that you’re done at 30. I am getting stronger with age. Honest, last year [when he won his third rushing title at age 30] was a disappointment to me, because I know I can do more. Honest, it was.”
• On his change in training from last year to this year:
Peterson: “I can reflect back now, and see how much better this off-season is for me. I opened up a gym closer to my house, and now I have one location where I can pretty much do everything. I used to have to drive to a gym, then get in the car to drive to the hill I ran at, then get in the car again to go to the track at Rice Stadium, and then go to the sand pit I used, and then it was a 45-minute drive home. It was all too much work, just going from one place to the next. Now I have one location where I can pretty much do everything—and there’s a track two miles away. You got the gym and yoga and pilates all under one roof. [The daily workout lasts] three-and-a-half to five hours.”
• On playing until he’s 40:
Peterson: “I can, but will I? Honestly, I don’t think I will. Mentally, I don’t know. Once I get to 38, I don’t think I’ll have the same love of the game. Sometimes I get tired of training camp. I think I can endure five more [camps], but after that, I don’t know.”
• On winning another rushing title:
Peterson: “I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. But it’s a seed planted in my brain, and it’s sticking there. Everything in me is championship, championship and then breaking records. It’s a part of me. I am pushing myself to the max to win a Super Bowl, and then to break Emmitt’s record and Eric Dickerson’s [single-season rushing] record. It is my everyday life, what I think of every day. Mostly it’s that Super Bowl. Then the whole world will remember you.”
One final thing Peterson thinks:
“We are going to have a good chance to win it this year—win everything,” he said. “Sit back and watch. Sit back and watch. You can be like, ‘I thought you guys were at least a couple of years away.’ Nope. You sit back and watch, this year.”
We will.
* * *
In his hometown of Palestine, Texas, Adrian Peterson sponsors and funds three select youth football teams. The youngest, the bantam team, wears uniforms with the maroon and white of Palestine High. The next team, the junior team, wears the red and white of Peterson’s Oklahoma Sooners. The oldest team, the seniors, wears the purple and white of his Minnesota Vikings.
* * *
“I want him to be here playing football and not being a celebrity. I’ve given him a hard time already about being on TV and not being a celebrity. It’s football now and it’s time to work. The feel-good story is over.”
—Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer, on the mega-story that sixth-round pick Moritz Boehringer has been in the last week, on Friday, the first day of Vikings minicamp.
* * *
Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP
Titans GM Jon Robinson (left) made two draft trades that landed the team, in part, offensive tackle Jack Conklin.
A draft thought I want to get off my chest
For virtually every team in the draft, we in the media really don’t know who’s going to get picked in the days and weeks before the draft. We might do mock drafts and have fun with projections of who goes where. We might know the top pick or two, because it’s so obvious—as it was this year, and last year too. But as for saying we know where most of the players in the first round are going? Educated guesswork.
I present the Titans in the first round this year as evidence. In the weeks before the draft, linking the Titans to Ole Miss tackle Laremy Tunsil and Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey was popular sport. Most in the media thought it most likely the Titans would pick another protector for young quarterback Marcus Mariota—and that protector was Tunsil.
Now that the draft is over, we can find out what really happened. This is it:
Tennessee never anointed Tunsil or Ramsey number one. Rookie GM Jon Robinson liked both but wasn’t convicted about handing either one the top-pick mantel. “We just kept plugging through the process after the season and through the combine and pro days,” Robinson said Saturday. “It’s a long process. To anoint a guy in January, or so early … there’s too much to be done. We don’t know. But then when we had a chance to make a trade [out of the No. 1 overall pick], we had to see if that made sense. We had a group of players stacked pretty close together. We decided we could do it, and then have enough ammo to get back up to probably be able to get one of those players.”
Robinson said there were “seven or eight” players in that cluster—presumably both Tunsil and Ramsey, and certainly Michigan State tackle Jack Conklin (the eventual top Titans’ pick), though Robinson wouldn’t talk about where he had any specific players stacked. So, Robinson determined before the draft that he would likely have to get into the top nine or 10 of the draft. “Seven or eight,” he said, “plus the two quarterbacks.”
So if he got into the top nine, surely he’d have enough ammo from the trade with Los Angeles to move up and still profit by taking someone from his cluster. The Titans had at least seven in that cluster, and that didn’t include a quarterback, because Tennessee had Mariota and wasn’t going to pick a passer. But Robinson knew quarterbacks were going 1-2, so that pushed down his seven. He’d have been happy with a pick down at eight or nine or 10, because that would mean Tennessee would get one of the players in its cluster.
Robinson felt he had three solid deals he could have made in the top 10, with a fourth that he could have done if he added a little more at the deadline of the night of the draft. The Titans decided to move up with Cleveland at number eight beforethe video surfaced of Tunsil with the gas-mask bong in the minutes before the draft. It also is true that Tennessee had Conklin in the same neighborhood as the top two tackles on many boards: Tunsil and Notre Dame’s Ronnie Stanley. Robinson on draft night said he wanted Conklin over Tunsil, and time will tell if that was a wise ranking.
In the end, this essentially is the decision Robinson made:
• Tennessee traded: the first pick in the 2016 draft (Jared Goff) and a second-round pick in the 2017 draft.
• Tennessee acquired: the eighth pick in the 2016 draft (Jack Conklin), defensive tackle Austin Johnson (43rd overall), running back Derrick Henry (45th overall), plus the Rams’ first-round and third-round picks in 2017.
Considering Tennessee had Conklin very close in grade to Tunsil, and considering Conklin was in the same grading cluster as Jalen Ramsey … getting a punishing running back aligned with the way Tennessee is going to play offensively, plus a rotation defensive tackle, plus an extra first-round pick next year, seemed to be a smart move by Robinson.
Of course, “seemed” is the operative word here. Because nothing is guaranteed in the potluck world of draft forecasting.
I asked agent Leigh Steinberg, who’s been absent from the first round for the past 12 years until repping Paxton Lynch this year, about the differences in the draft process. “One big thing is the emergence of the draft prognosticators,” he said. “Used to be there was one—Mel Kiper. Now … And the impact they have on heavily influencing the public perception of who will be picked where is huge. I love the growth of the draft as a cultural event. But I’m not sure the endless testing and analysis make for any better draft results.”
* * *
Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
Sam Bradford hasn’t been around the Eagles since the team traded up to draft a quarterback with the No. 2 pick.
“I cannot believe what Sam Bradford is doing with the Philadelphia Eagles. The impression that I get is this guy here doesn’t want to compete. He’s not interested in playing quarterback … He wants it handed to him on a silver platter. That’s not the way life is. If you think you’re that good, you should be able to beat out a rookie that has no early idea what the NFL looks like … Strap your chinstrap on, put your helmet on, put your jock on, and go out and compete like somebody who wants the job.”
—Joe Theismann, to Alex Marvez and Zig Fracassi on SiriusXM NFL radio Saturday.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think the NFL-as-family thing, which has gotten badly beaten up in recent years, needs some resuscitation. So Roger Goodell sending brownies to Eli Apple’s mother and then the league leaking it and Tweeting about it … smart move. A bit over the top, but not bad.
2. I think that’s a good extension by the Dolphins, signing pass-rusher Cam Wake through the end of the 2017 season. This is a player who’s overachieved for much of his career, averaging 10.8 sacks a year over the past six seasons—while missing 10 games over that period due to injury. Now Miami has Wake and Mario Williams as bookends to rush the quarterback this year and next, and that’s a good combination … assuming Williams brings it. Not sure he will; some in Buffalo think he’s simply lost his love of football. We’ll see. I know Wake, and I can tell you he still loves football.
3. I think this was an interesting comment by long-time Eagles beat man Reuben Frank on Comcast Sportsnet, regarding Sam Bradford and his desire to be traded, and not reporting to the Eagles in the off-season program: “The guy’s made what, $95-$100 million? I think he’s going to retire. I think he’s had enough. I don’t think he wants to be here. Honestly, I don’t think anybody else wants him. Maybe you get a [third- or fourth-round pick for him], but I doubt it. I think it’s done. I think it’s over with. I think Chase Daniel starts your season, plays five or six games.
And then Carson Wentz comes in and he’s your quarterback for the next 10 years. And this time next year, we’re sitting here saying, ‘Sam who?’” My take: Bradford saw what Carson Palmer did when he wanted out of Cincinnati, and forced the Bengals to trade him to Oakland by simply not showing up. Palmer has made so much money in his first six years as a pro that he can afford to do that—sit it out and force Howie Roseman to give him away, either this summer or when a quarterback gets hurt somewhere, or at the trading deadline in October.
4. I think if I may leave a postscript on the inner workings of the Dallas draft room last week … So there’s been some stuff out there in the past few days that really doesn’t represent what happened in the draft room accurately. As I wrote on Monday, the Cowboys offered several teams in the middle of the first round their second-round and third-round picks to move up, and then some teams in the bottom of the round their second-round and fourth-round picks to move up. They would have selected Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch had they been able to move up.
But no team would deal with them, and Denver ended up with Lynch. Somehow, this translated to owner Jerry Jones wanting Lynch desperately (which is true) and being overruled by his son and EVP of football operations Stephen Jones (which is not). Recall what I wrote about the passage of time just before the Denver trade to get Lynch, beginning with the Bengals turning down the Dallas overture to move up in the round:
Cincinnati on the clock; the Bengals, at 24, called to say no. Jerry Jones stood at the board near his seat, one observer saying he looked lost in thought as Stephen said to him: “Anything else? Want me to try something else?” Jerry Jones had no answers. The Chiefs called. Said they’d trade from 28 to 34 but only if Dallas included its three, not the four. No dice. Bengals picked cornerback William Jackson III. Steelers up. They never considered trading, and they made a pick quickly: cornerback Artie Burns. Now 9:54. Seattle GM John Schneider back on the phone.
The call was quick. Stephen Jones got off the phone, turned to Jerry Jones at the board, and as one eyewitness recalled son said to father: “No way with Seattle. Too much. They want our two and three.” Quiet in the room. “Thoughts?” Stephen Jones said to his father. “Any thoughts?” They had a minute, maybe, to up the offer to Seattle, which was the only fish on the line. But no new offer was forthcoming.
In other words, Jerry Jones was remorseful the next day that he didn’t press for including the third-round pick to get the pick with Seattle that would have made Lynch a Cowboy. But there was no overruling by Stephen Jones. Clearly, whatever Stephen Jones thought, he was inviting Jerry Jones to say, “Give ‘em the three!” And Jerry Jones didn’t do it. What would have happened if Jerry Jones had said that? Would Stephen have pushed back? Possibly. But If Jerry Jones wanted it, regardless of the perceived overpayment to get Lynch, it would have gotten done.
5. I think one of the cool things about the media business today is the number of ex-scouts and front office guys working in the media and bringing new ideas to it … such as this one from former Giants, Jets and Eagles scout Dan Hatman. He has a page following the movement of scouts and front-office officials, which is good to follow at this time of year, when there’s traditionally a lot of movement.
6. I think grading a draft a day or two after it ends is asinine.
7. I think I categorically agree with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk:Any legitimacy of the NFL Network’s top 100 players is tarnished badly when Andrew Luck is “voted” number 92. How is Luck seven in 2015 and 92 in 2016? Because he got hurt last year? I pay scant attention to this thing anyway, but the Luck thing makes it certain I will pay it zero attention this year. “The fact that he landed [at 92] is further evidence that the entire process is a waste of time,” wrote Florio.
8. I think this is one reason why Neil Hornsby and Pro Football Focusare pretty darned good: Last September, this is what Hornsby wrote about Jordan Reed, the up-and-coming tight end for Washington, for The MMQB: “It always surprises me no one seems to talk about Washington’s Jordan Reed. Drafted 22 places after [Kansas City’s Travis] Kelce, it often feels like Reed is an afterthought … Keep an eye on him because once Washington realizes what it has, he may not stay hidden much longer.” Reed got rewarded with a five-year, $46.5-million deal Thursday.
9. I think this will be on the Panthers’ locker room bulletin board, and soon: Bovada LV posted odds to win the Super Bowl last week, and the Panthers were fifth on the list of teams most likely to win, at 11-to-1. New England, Seattle, Green Bay and Pittsburgh all have a better shot to win the big one, Bovada says.
