Dez Bryant talk today

[Chocolate Lab]

If any of you guys care to listen, I emailed into the Sports Animal radio station in Oklahoma City asking about what they hear about Dez Bryant. I got an email back from the show host that they'll be talking a lot about him and his workout today... The guy even LOL'd at him forgetting his shoes.

Pat Jones, the old OSU coach from the Barry Sanders era, is on with him as well and has a lot of good inside kind of talk about how the whole scouting and drafting process works from his time as TE coach of the Dolphins under Jimmy, plus some time with the Raiders.

Of course they will get some usual dumb questions from callers about random subjects and I'm sure will talk OU basketball and college football and whatever else as well, so I don't know exactly when the draft talk will be.

Anyway, if you want to listen in, the show is from 10:00-12:00 central time. Just google 640 WWLS for the link.

 

[DFWJC]

Have to admit, watching that workout (or at least what was shown on NFL Channel) and listening to him talk to Mayock afterward left me scratching my head a bit on this guy.

Most of the good drafting teams will tell you that their draft boards are pretty much set well before the combine. They may slighty tweak something here or there after the combine, but that's about it. The mock drafters moving players up and down is a bunch of fluff (they know no more than anyone else), until we get to the week before the draft. That's when information starts leaking out (some on purpose, some not).

Players "drop" very year...or at least compared to what we think going in. But many times, the ones that supposedly dropped were already lower on team's boards going in. Randy Moss was an example. He did not drop per se, he just got picked in hindsight much lower than he should have been due to character questions that were kow long before the draft.

Someone will bite on Bryant. But I have to admit, I see him as slightly more risky now than I did a few days ago. I still say he has very good success at the next level.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The biggest question I have on him is whether he really loves football and will work hard at his craft. Did he show up late for practices because he's just immature and goofy, or did he show up late because he's a loafer who thinks he can get by taking shortcuts? The former I can live with, but not that latter.

Speaking of which, I would take Anthony Davis off my board. Todd McShay and Mel Kiper have a draft podcast up and McShay said that when people talk to his former teammates they say his antics in the draft process are nothing new. He strikes me as the loafer kinda guy.

 

[Gaede]

Speaking of which, I would take Anthony Davis off my board. Todd McShay and Mel Kiper have a draft podcast up and McShay said that when people talk to his former teammates they say his antics in the draft process are nothing new. He strikes me as the loafer kinda guy.

Agree. I don't like the guy at all

 

[Chocolate Lab]

FWIW... I turned it on at about 10 after and they were talking about it... So I missed some of it. But from what I heard, Pat Jones pretty much said this workout created more questions than it answered, and said this is exactly the kind of player who drives evaluators nuts. He said you know he's a player from his work on the field... What you don't know is if this goofy behavior will continue.

He said that the workout wasn't very good. He said yes, the VJ and BJ numbers were great, but you expect a better 40 than that from a first round NFL WR. Then again, he said he was at Miami when they passed on Anquan Boldin in the second because they had him down for a 4.7 and instead took some LB from Tennessee who got hurt and never played much. But Boldin had no character flags, either. So it's a tough call.

He did say that he'd heard that Bryant had a little family entourage at the workout, and that rumors were that some of these people weren't very good influences.

He also talked about how the owner will ask scouts and/or coaches about players like this, and basically demand to know if they will sign their name to the player. And he said you better not waffle, because these people are paying you a lot of money to make tough decisions like this, and if you can't give them a hard answer you might get fired. That's probably why these types of players slip so badly on draft day, because scouts are reluctant to tie their reputations to players they aren't sure about.

Later on, he was talking about draft rooms in general, and talked about a time when he was a guest of Jimmy and Jerry in the draft room when not even any scouts were in there. He said Jimmy wanted to get Joe Gibbs on the phone, and they worked out a trade that Gibbs was fine with. But he had to run it by Jack Kent Cooke first. Pat said Gibbs called back in a few minutes and said, "Sorry, can't do the deal." And Pat said that kind of thing wasn't uncommon at all.

Kind of shows that owners do have the final say on most big moves in many cases... Even for the most respected coaches like Joe Gibbs.

 

[JBS]

For better or worse for the sake of the cowboys, Dez Bryant is going to fall and fall right into their laps. We will see which player he ends up being. One thing that does afraid me is getting another Marty B. That wouldn't be good.

 

[garyv]

Marty B never was rated like Dez Bryant is as far as talent goes. No Comparison between the two whatsover.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

Anyone think he's tanking the workouts on purpose to play on a contending team?

Either way, the dude is going to get paid. Maybe he thinks he will get paid AND play for the Cowboys.

 

[DFWJC]

Anyone think he's tanking the workouts on purpose to play on a contending team?

Either way, the dude is going to get paid. Maybe he thinks he will get paid AND play for the Cowboys.

It crossed my mind for about 1/2 a second. Of course no way...as that would cost him many, many millions on his first contract and there is no guarantee how the next round of contracts will go.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The difference between Marty B and Bryant is that Marty was just a mediocre football player in college. He's always loved the attention that comes from football more than actually playing football.

Bryant was a phenomenal player in college and while he may do not-so-smart-things he's not actively looking for attention. In fact it looks like his name being in the headlines.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

It crossed my mind for about 1/2 a second. Of course no way...as that would cost him many, many millions on his first contract and there is no guarantee how the next round of contracts will go.

I know, and I'm completly grasping at straws here, but maybe he knows that playing with a really good QB will get him paid.

If he goes in the top 15..look at the QB's he has to play with.

 

[casmith07]

If I were drafted in the Top 15, I'd play my butt off for the length of my deal and then become a free agent. I wouldn't blow workouts just so I could maybe get drafted by the Saints or something. Two max contracts (one rookie, one free agent) are better than maybe one if you're lucky enough to not be garbage on your first team.

If you get drafted high and you're garbage, at least you get paid (Jamarcus Russell).

 

[CanuckCowboysFan]

Anyone think he's tanking the workouts on purpose to play on a contending team?

Either way, the dude is going to get paid. Maybe he thinks he will get paid AND play for the Cowboys.

I was thinking that too...a SB contender might mean more to him then money. I doubt it though.

 

[InmanRoshi]

If any position should blow a workout, it should be WR, considering how much of an impact the QB you're playing with is going to have on your career. According to Deion that was one of the main reasons Crabtree held out, because he didn't think the QB situation in San Francisco would give him the opportunity to put up numbers big enough for a huge payday on his 2nd contract.

... not that I believe Bryant (or anyone) would intentionally blow a workout.

 

[cowboyjoe]

Dez Bryant would be wise to quit talking until after the draft
Posted by Mike Florio on March 31, 2010 4:22 PM ET
Rosenthal posted an item earlier today regarding receiver Dez Bryant's recent comments to the Associated Press. Rosenthal seemed to like Bryant's bravado.

I don't.

Bryant could very well end up being a phenomenal NFL player. But if he flames out, the warning signs were present.

It started with the decision to lie to NCAA investigators regarding his relationship with Deion Sanders. And it was magnified by the report -- not rumor, as the AP now tries to describe it -- from Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports regarding multiple instances of tardiness for various activities, including games.

Bryant put his credibility firmly on the line when he responded to the report by claiming he's never been late for anything. Any team that is able to confirm Cole's report with a phone call to an Oklahoma State assistant coach, teammate, or roommate should think seriously about taking Bryant off the board, because it will mean that Bryant cannot be trusted, ever.

More recently, Bryant blew his chance at a buzz-building Pro Day by not bringing his best cleats to the event. And while he scoffs at our report that he forgot to bring cleats at all by pointing out he brought six pairs but didn't bring the best ones, does he really think that his explanation makes the situation any better?

Bryant forgot to bring the shoes he wanted to wear. The fact that he brought a bunch of other shoes makes him look even more scatterbrained and disorganized.

His response? "What do this got to do with me playing football? Even if I did forget my cleats, what do that have to do with me playing football? I don't think it has anything to do with me playing football."

Technically, it doesn't have anything to do with playing football. But the kind of character flaw that makes a guy tell a lie whenever he thinks the truth would hurt his interests and the kind of knuckleheadedness that makes a guy show up late (allegedly) or forget to bring his best shoes for the biggest 40-yard dash of his life will manifest itself in other ways.

Plaxico Burress was constantly late for stuff. And he eventually blew a hole through his leg and landed in jail for 20 months.

Burress wasn't a criminal. But he did something criminally stupid. And Bryant is supplying the football-following world with evidence to reinforce the time-honored maxim that stupid is as stupid does.

Plenty of stupid guys can play football very well. But stupid guys can also do things that keep them from being available to play football. And it can happen because they slept too late or because they carried a loaded gun into a Manhattan night club or because of one of many other potential reasons in between.

So whoever decides to take a chance on Bryant will have to account for the possibility that he might do something to affect his ability to play football -- and they'll need to be able and willing to spend the money and time necessary to protect Bryant from himself.

Our advice to Bryant? Quit trying to explain these events. It's only making the situation yet.

Better yet, don't say anything at all until after you're drafted.

 

[Chief]

The biggest question I have on him is whether he really loves football and will work hard at his craft. Did he show up late for practices because he's just immature and goofy, or did he show up late because he's a loafer who thinks he can get by taking shortcuts? The former I can live with, but not that latter.

Speaking of which, I would take Anthony Davis off my board. Todd McShay and Mel Kiper have a draft podcast up and McShay said that when people talk to his former teammates they say his antics in the draft process are nothing new. He strikes me as the loafer kinda guy.

Good points.

Teams seem to miss on this quite a bit, but if you ask the right people, you should be able to get a pretty good idea.

I also put stock in the "brain type" testing. I don't know why more teams don't do that.

 

[cowboyjoe]

Good points.

Teams seem to miss on this quite a bit, but if you ask the right people, you should be able to get a pretty good idea.

I also put stock in the "brain type" testing. I don't know why more teams don't do that.

Bingo, this is one third part of the draft,
How player works at practice, his life, family,
His measurables, size, stats
His production on the field