furley
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
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These are some very harsh comments toward Bryant. I guess time will only tell whether or not they've merit.
I can see Denver selecting him at eleven. But, if Seattle doesn't select him at fourteen, he and agent can forget about being selected in the top fifteen.
Dez Bryant an enigma to NFL personnel - JSOnline
I can see Denver selecting him at eleven. But, if Seattle doesn't select him at fourteen, he and agent can forget about being selected in the top fifteen.
Tom Landry used to have a separate grade on the Dallas Cowboys' draft board labeled star or bust.
"That's what Dez Bryant is," one personnel man said. "There's no in-between. He'll be a star or he'll be a bust."
Based on ability, Bryant probably should be a top-five pick. But his uneven individual workout March 30 in Lufkin, Texas, only exacerbated reservations about his work habits, ability to learn and level of maturity.
This spring, 16 personnel men were asked by the Journal Sentinel what number pick, if any, they would be comfortable selecting Bryant.
Five said that their answer was none.
"Even if he was the only receiver in the draft I would never bring him into the building," a personnel director for a playoff team said. "Our locker room is pretty good right now. He's going to be hard to sign and he's going to be hard to deal with when he gets there. He is what he is, a tremendous player, but I wouldn’t have him on a bet."
Two hypothetically listed picks No. 36 and No. 40 in the second round.
"The top receivers aren't inconsistent guys who do bonehead things," another personnel director said. "His play is like his personality - flashes of brilliance and flashes of awfulness. Bad routes, dropped passes, headache both on and off the field."
Five others said Bryant would be worth it later in the first round, choosing fictitious picks 20, 20, 25, 25 and 26.
And four scouts all said they'd have him at No. 10.
"He's got a little bit of Randy Moss in him where if you don't hit him with the ball early he will get mouthy and maybe shut it down," one of them said. "Is he going to work hard? I doubt it. He's never had to, but neither has Randy Moss. I think he is a true No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL, and there's just a handful of those guys."
Unlike Moss, who was arrested more than once, Bryant doesn't have a rap sheet. Bryant did lie to the NCAA about his relationship with mentor Deion Sanders and was suspended for the final 10 games last season. In an interview with Sports Illustrated last week, Bryant said, "I don't smoke weed, don't drink and have never committed a crime."
Oklahoma State accepted Bryant because his third and final attempt at the ACT met the NCAA qualifying standard. Although he did score 16 on the Wonderlic intelligence test (Moss had 12), teams have good reason to wonder if he can handle an NFL offense.
"They could only play him at one position there," one scout said. "They lined him up on the side closest to the bench so they could talk to him. If he gets with a real sophisticated offense, he's going to have problems."
Maybe it's best that Bryant slides. Of the 17 wide receivers taken with top-10 picks in the last 10 years, nine have been busts.
Scouts selected these adjectives to describe this class of wide receivers: "yuck," "awful," "bad" and "poor."
The smart guys say wait until 2011, when Georgia's A.J. Green, Alabama's Julio Jones, Notre Dame's Michael Floyd and Pittsburgh's Jonathan Baldwin are expected to declare and might all be top-15 choices.
"Each one of the guys this year has a negative that you don't like," said one scout. "There's Dez Bryant, and the rest are just guys."
Dez Bryant an enigma to NFL personnel - JSOnline