I'm not bashing Leary anywhere here. He's a fine player, we're lucky to have him, and I'm not interested in trading him. But I have also seen the talent demonstrated by La'el Collins and I feel he can be an upgrade over Leary this year.
Not as 'silly' as trying to justify their overpaying of an average tackle as validation that he's this great player.
They vastly overpaid a TE that Peyton Manning made and a backup cornerback too, so Parnell has company in the vastly overpaid department.
Collins might be better than Leary this year, but even if he is, it will be a minimal difference this year.
The issue that I'm pointing out is that probably less than 1 in 100 fans actually studied Collins college game footage and also studied Leary's game footage from 2014. The vast majority just assume a player rated as a 1st rounder will be an immediate upgrade over a guy that was a udfa. That's fan logic. The media didn't build up Leary's success so fans generally need somebody telling them what to think.
The reason I posted as much as I have about Parnell was really not about the player per se, but the fact that he fit the profile of a player that I wanted to make a point about. That point being the fan-logic concept whereby most fans can't really evaluate players for themselves and make assumptions based on factors like media opinions, draft status, time on the team without starting, etc..
Fans definitely have problems with any player that does not fit a standard profile. It was inevitably going to take a long time for a player lime Parnell to develop based on not really playing college football, but that is too much logic for most fans to deal with. For many if Broaddus is not hyping a player, then that player must not be any good. Most fans won't spend time studying OLinemen but will remember if they ever see them make a mistake.
Another example of Fan-logic is this issue where a player that gets drafted earlier than the draft media rankings must be a reach. We've heard it with Fred, with Hitchens and now with Green.
Fan-logic also dictates the Cowboys must be screwed because they didn't draft a RB or sign a big name Free Agent.
Fan-logic dictates the Cowboys are screwed at DT because they don't have high draft picks or big name free agents at that spot. Again, probably less than 1 in 100 of the fans that make these proclaimations have ever really studied the players that they are proclaiming can't play.
Wilcox is another player in the cross hairs of fan-logic. They see him appear to be out of position while watching the game in real time while drinking a few beers and proclaim that he sucks without ever going back and reviewing the game footage in detail.
Fan-logic says a fan is entitled to an absolute opinion that should be repeated and emphasized with chants of "he sucks, etc.." despite never actually putting in any effort to having a truly educated opinion.
