PFT: Russell Shepard says he “signed” with Eagles during draft

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...pard-says-he-signed-with-eagles-during-draft/

Isn't this "violating the spirit of the draft" Mr Mara?

Since this is an actual, you know, violation of rules, the Eagles should be punished by Goddell and Mara, right?

This year, it’s LSU receiver Russell Shepard, who claims that he agreed to terms with the Eagles before the draft ended.

“I actually took myself off the draft board during the draft,” Shepard told WNXX radio, via LouisianaDaily.com. “Teams started calling me probably in the middle of the sixth round asking me ‘Is it true that you’ve signed with a team already?’ and I actually got it out of the way before the draft was over, because that was the perfect fit for me.”

“I signed with them before the draft was over,” Shepard said, explaining that after he fell through round five he decided to focus on the Eagles. Shepard believes he’ll play receiver, running back, and Wildcat quarterback in Philly’s offense, and that he’ll return kicks and punts and play gunner on the punt team.

Link for rest

 

[Blue&Silver]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...pard-says-he-signed-with-eagles-during-draft/

Isn't this "violating the spirit of the draft" Mr Mara?

Since this is an actual, you know, violation of rules, the Eagles should be punished by Goddell and Mara, right?



Link for rest

If he actually signed a contract his agent, and the Eagles organization would be in big trouble. I would say they probably lose draft picks, and a nice hefty fine. Apparently all he did was verbally commit "if he wasn't drafted". All the teams start to get verbal commitments before the draft is over. That's how they are able to move so fast and bring free-agents in right after the draft ends.
This was a nonstory.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Actually, I'm not so sure this is a none-issue. I mean, it could end up being that way and that would not surprise me at all but it may not. This was a simple case of the young man not knowing or understanding what was going on. The Eagles, as I understand it, intended to draft him but elected to trade up instead and lost lower round picks? Now, if the Eagles Coaching Staff lead the player to believe that he would be under contract, then that's a problem. You would expect the player's agent to know better but if he didn't have an agent, then perhaps there is something there. IDK.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Would be kind of funny if Chip leaves Oregon due to violations and comes to the Eagles starting it off with a violation before they even have one game.

On a related note. I hate it that college coaches can do things to get their programs in trouble but can leave scott free and join another team whether in college or in the NFL.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Would be kind of funny if Chip leaves Oregon due to violations and comes to the Eagles starting it off with a violation before they even have one game.

On a related note. I hate it that college coaches can do things to get their programs in trouble but can leave scott free and join another team whether in college or in the NFL.

Well, the Eagles did hire him to bring his style of coaching to the NFL.

I agree with you again BP. It flat out sucks that coaches can screw over programs and then just up and leave. There should be rules that prevent a coach from ever coming back to the NCAA if they are caught for major program violations but thats just my opinion.

 

[joseephuss]

Well, the Eagles did hire him to bring his style of coaching to the NFL.

I agree with you again BP. It flat out sucks that coaches can screw over programs and then just up and leave. There should be rules that prevent a coach from ever coming back to the NCAA if they are caught for major program violations but thats just my opinion.

It should be rather easy to set up a penalty for coaches within college football. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lifetime ban as you suggest, but a time frame that suits the level of infraction. I don't know why the NCAA has waited so long. Wait, I do know why, they are a bunch of hypocritical idiots.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

It should be rather easy to set up a penalty for coaches within college football. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lifetime ban as you suggest, but a time frame that suits the level of infraction. I don't know why the NCAA has waited so long. Wait, I do know why, they are a bunch of hypocritical idiots.

I don't get how so many get away with it but they did ding Jim Tressel (sp?) for a little bit.

 

[Doomsday101]

It should be rather easy to set up a penalty for coaches within college football. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lifetime ban as you suggest, but a time frame that suits the level of infraction. I don't know why the NCAA has waited so long. Wait, I do know why, they are a bunch of hypocritical idiots.

same thing with players who they find out after the fact and they are gone from college and the ones getting punished are the student players still playing college ball.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

It should be rather easy to set up a penalty for coaches within college football. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lifetime ban as you suggest, but a time frame that suits the level of infraction. I don't know why the NCAA has waited so long. Wait, I do know why, they are a bunch of hypocritical idiots.

No, I don't think that would work Josee. The problem is that if you set it up for a period of say 5 years, then a HC can simply jump to the NFL and work for 5 years there and then just come back. What you want is to stop the practice of NCAA coaches jumping from the NCAA to the Pro's in order to avoid punishment of improper activities or rules violations. You can't really prevent them from leaving for the NFL but you can prevent them from every coming back.

 

[joseephuss]

No, I don't think that would work Josee. The problem is that if you set it up for a period of say 5 years, then a HC can simply jump to the NFL and work for 5 years there and then just come back. What you want is to stop the practice of NCAA coaches jumping from the NCAA to the Pro's in order to avoid punishment of improper activities or rules violations. You can't really prevent them from leaving for the NFL but you can prevent them from every coming back.

You are assuming every coach is qualified to coach in the NFL. Not every guy is going to have an opportunity to go to the pro level.

There are no perfect solutions and banning them for life just doesn't apply to every situation.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You are assuming every coach is qualified to coach in the NFL. Not every guy is going to have an opportunity to go to the pro level.

There are no perfect solutions and banning them for life just doesn't apply to every situation.

Not at all. I'm suggesting that the Big Time programs, and in my opinion, these are the programs that typically do that but the other side of this is that they can't do this kind of thing alone. The NCAA has to be complicit with the entire thing as well and with these big time programs who are in the National Limelight, the NCAA seems to do this a lot. The NCAA seems to allow these coaches to operate outside the lines, if you will, and only after their run of championship quality teams ends do they drop the hammer, at which time the coach jumps to another job and all too often, it's the NFL.

Obviously, if the Coach stays in the NCAA, then things can be done but if they jump to the NFL, nothing at all can be done. You want to discourage that practice but you really can't do much if the NFL comes calling. What you can do is make the penalty for jumping so sever that coaches are discourage from doing so and will make the decision not to head for the NFL rather then face the penalty.

At the outset of this discussion, I stipulated that this should be in place for MAJOR VIOLATIONS. Obviously, I'm not talking about somebody accidentally making a cell phone call to a recruit by accident. I'm talking about situations like Oregon or USC etc. Those were major violations and their HC's will simply skip on those penalties. The Universities will get hit with them but in a couple of years, if those coaches do not succeed in the NFL and decide to accept a job in the NCAA, they are free to do so with no penalty, what so ever.

So again, we are not talking about banning everybody for life here. We are talking about very specific situations.