A sickening article in NFL.com: Compares Dez to Hernandez

[Romonater]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...bryant-had-worst-background-seen-exscout-says

NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently estimated that NFL area scouts now devote 75 percent of their time to background and character research.

When push comes to shove, though, separating the wheat from the chaff is a guessing game. When queried about his philosophy on character evaluation, Baltimore Ravensgeneral manager Ozzie Newsome once said, "I think gut feeling has a lot to do with it."

Before Dez Bryant's 2012 breakout season and newfound maturity, the Dallas Cowboys were roundly criticized for ignoring a laundry list of red flags trailing the troubled Oklahoma State star. In fact, former Cowboys scout Bryan Broaddus told KRLD-FM last week that Bryant had the worst background of any player he had ever seen coming out of college.

Bryant was raised by a single, often absentee mother who spent 18 months in prison for selling crack cocaine. He grew up impoverished and without direction, which explains his "lack of life skills" and ignorance of basic adult responsibilities entering the NFL.

For all of the concern over Bryant's checkered background, he had never run afoul of the law for issues relating to drugs, alcohol or violence. Was he a neglected and undisciplined kid who would thrive with structure and tough love or a bad seed who would end up haunting the Cowboys?

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Honestly, this is just trash and the guy should not be allowed to post anymore. I believe this will get deleted soon.

 

[Hoofbite]

You should probably read it again.

 

[RastaRocket]

Daniel Jeremiah has some growing up to do. What a completely unnecessary article to write. Dez is a young man trying to do the right thing so no need to bring him down.

 

[brymatt94]

Daniel Jeremiah has some growing up to do. What a completely unnecessary article to write. Dez is a young man trying to do the right thing so no need to bring him down.

I actually don't think Jeremiah wrote this article or contributed to the analysis of Dez. He was just quoted on the scouting of a player's background. It is indeed however poorly written article that gives an inaccurate assessment of Dez.

 

[RastaRocket]

I actually don't think Jeremiah wrote this article or contributed to the analysis of Dez. He was just quoted on the scouting of a player's background. It is indeed however poorly written article that gives an inaccurate assessment of Dez.

Ah ya that was my bad.

 

[Hoofbite]

Daniel Jeremiah has some growing up to do. What a completely unnecessary article to write. Dez is a young man trying to do the right thing so no need to bring him down.

I guess I see more of a contrast than a comparison.

Sure he notes that Bryant had red flags but he also says that none were from legal, drugs or alcohol and that his prior behavior of a strong work ethic, good heart and love of the game should be the indicator and not the happenstance of his crappy upbringing.

Hernandez had red flags that were because of drugs, IIRC.

I think his last sentence is pointing out that red flags can't be viewed all the same which is why he said it's more art than science. Dez's upbringing undoubtedly impacted him and because he hadn't diverged down the route of criminal or addict, his upbringing should be considered into the equation.

I dunno, I guess I sort of viewed their respective positions as more of an indicator that he was going for a message of not all red flags are the same. Dez looking to better himself each and every day and seemingly now putting his off the field stuff behind him. Hernandez have just committed murder, possibly for the 3rd time.

 

[RastaRocket]

I get what the writer is trying to say but all he is really doing re-hashing things that have been written a million times about Dez in light of the Aaron Hernandez situation. I think it is disrespectful to Dez Bryant that his name and situation has to be brought up because Aaron Hernandez is being charged with Murder and had some red flags coming out of college as well.

 

[sacase]

I find it funny that they say scouts spend 75% of their time looking at background. Fact of the matter is, if you have first round talent, more than likely you will get drafted in the first round. Maybe you will fall to the second. But players with red flags still get into the NFL. Please show me one first round talent guy that was not drafted at all due to red flags.

 

[Sarge]

I find it funny that they say scouts spend 75% of their time looking at background. Fact of the matter is, if you have first round talent, more than likely you will get drafted in the first round. Maybe you will fall to the second. But players with red flags still get into the NFL. Please show me one first round talent guy that was not drafted at all due to red flags.

Background and character are, and will always be an issue. If you're a true first round talent, you may get in in the later rounds, but if you're a 5/6th round talent with serious background/character issues, you could be out a LOT of money by not getting drafted. Also, I would venture to say that almost every year, a first round talent slips to the second round as a result of background/character issues.

 

[Alexander]

Daniel Jeremiah has some growing up to do. What a completely unnecessary article to write. Dez is a young man trying to do the right thing so no need to bring him down.

Actually, he basically was just spinning off something Broaddus was quoted as saying, so if you want to tell someone to grow up, tell Broaddus. He did not come up with the concept for the article on his own. Scouts in particular are just like Broaddus, they take that work they do on player backgrounds seriously. That still does not stop teams from gambling on talent despite the red flag downgrades.

Instead of being hypersensitive, take pride in the fact that it appears that Bryant is part of that small 10-20% of players that actually overcome the issues that red flagged them to begin with.

And be honest. Were this written a year ago, there is not much that could be in dispute. It is not as if he is far removed from the domestic violence dramatics.

 

[TheCount]

You should probably read it again.

Yeah, I read it and came away with the same impression. They aren't comparing the two, he's distancing the two. The point is that Dez had a past worthy of throwing up red flags and he's overcome them while others have not, such as Hernandez. For a scout, it's hard to predict which way a prospect with flags could go, which is why they devote so much time to it.

 

[Doomsdayblitz]

I find it funny that they say scouts spend 75% of their time looking at background. Fact of the matter is, if you have first round talent, more than likely you will get drafted in the first round. Maybe you will fall to the second. But players with red flags still get into the NFL. Please show me one first round talent guy that was not drafted at all due to red flags.

Da'Rick Rogers, WR, Tennessee Tech comes to mind.

 

[Miller]

Yeah, I read it and came away with the same impression. They aren't comparing the two, he's distancing the two. The point is that Dez had a past worthy of throwing up red flags and he's overcome them while others have not, such as Hernandez. For a scout, it's hard to predict which way a prospect with flags could go, which is why they devote so much time to it.

Agree with this. I read it and took it to mean they are showing Dez as a guy who had red flags but they weren't legal in nature, more maturity, and he was able to overcome them vs Hernandez failing with his background. Didn't see a negative.

 

[erod]

Nothing wrong with the article whatsoever. It's discussing the risk of drafting players with questionable backgrounds, which both Dez and Hernadez had.

 

[mugsybows]

There was an article on yahoo that i just read that cited the broaddus interview that this quote was taken from too. Except that article was titled something like "scout says dez bryant's background was the worst hes ever seen". Broaddus also said some stuff about larry allen being addicted to pain killers in the same interview.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Broaddus quotes:

“The worst I had ever seen of a background is the kid Dez Bryant,” Broaddus said. “When you look at what he went through and then you're talking about these players, and it's hard for them to get away from these people in their lives because these people have been with them when they were nothing, when they were nobodies. All of a sudden you're thinking, ‘OK, I'm going to turn my back on my three buddies here. I have to change, but they ain't changing.' I think if Dez Bryant was playing in St. Louis or Baltimore or Seattle, I think the fact that his family is here with him, I think that was a really hard adjustment for him. Hopefully from what we've seen, he's managing that well. That's the important thing.”

As NFL.com points out, "Bryant was raised by a single, often absentee mother who spent 18 months in prison for selling crack cocaine. He grew up impoverished and without direction, which explains his 'lack of life skills' and ignorance of basic adult responsibilities entering the NFL."

“On Dez…that's the thing as a personnel guy,” Broaddus said. “You wake up. You don't sleep at night. And when you wake up, you're thinking did he go off the reservation today. That was something that we had to deal with. You deal with ok what happened, check TMZ, nothing happened, ok, we're good for a day. You're constantly worrying about players because they get put in terrible situations, sometimes by their own doing.”

 

[InDakWeTrust]

What would it take for Dez to file a slander lawsuit verses Broadus?

 

[slomoxn]

Dez is kinda P.O.d that his name is being brought our again, IMO Broadus is way off base airing out these players business. If it were me,? I don't know if he has access to the locker room, but he definitely would get more than cursed out...

 

[mugsybows]

He tweeted this:
I just wanted to know why is my background relevant right now? I promise there is more **** to talk about in this world than my background

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) July 1, 2013

 

[Questfor6]

He tweeted this:
I just wanted to know why is my background relevant right now? I promise there is more **** to talk about in this world than my background

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) July 1, 2013

Don't blame him for being upset one bit, he came from nothing and now has it all in the palm of his hand. So far this off-season everything I've seen from Dez has been that he's working on becoming the best WR in the league and via twitter he seems to be spending a lot of quality time with his kids. He's still a youngster learning how to grow into an adult and for the most part he's a completely different person then he was 1 year ago.