Kiper on Pats During ESPN Conference Call

[PatriotsDaily.com]

ESPN held a Conference Call with NFL Draft Expert Mel Kiper Jr. on Wednesday, and one of the first questions he was asked was about the Patriots:

On the Patriots’ draft options with six top 100 picks …
“You’re talking about a draft that has some middle-round guys and late-round guys that will be very good players in this league. You should be able to get some depth in certain positions. Linebackers that they want to get younger, whether it’s Clay Matthews, Brian Cushing, Larry English…a lot of 3-4 type guys. Defensive backfield, not any first round guaranteed stars at the cornerback spot …I like a D.J. Moore out of Vanderbilt as a third-round pick. … He’s a very underrated kid and there are several others that fall in that category. You’re going to get good players that fall for the reason that they don’t have good measurables. Some of the guys with good measurables are busts. The Patriots are going to do extremely well with those picks.”

 

[BradyManny]

DJ Moore as a 3rd round pick? Moore is more often than not projected as a 1st rounder, and when he's not, it's no worse than 2nd.

 

[Mogamedogz]

Kiper is an idiot with an Aqua-Net brush back. He doesnt have a f'in clue. Mayock owns him.

 

[reflexblue]

Just say NO to Mel, hes been around a long time but i just don't take anything he says about players and potential seriously any longer.

 

[PATSNUTme]

My favorite ESPN draft moment:

ESPN's coverage of the 1994 NFL draft was less than eight and a half minutes in which Kiper said, "The Colts have to come out of this draft with a quarterback." Tennessee's Heath Shuler and Fresno State's Trent Dilfer were regarded as sure-fire future NFL stars, and Indianapolis' starter was Jim Harbaugh. The Colts wound up with two of the first five picks. With No. 2, they chose running back Marshall Faulk from San Diego State. With the fifth pick -- Shuler having gone to the Washington Redskins with the third pick -- the Colts were expected to take Dilfer. Instead, they chose Trev Alberts, a linebacker from Nebraska. Kiper's reaction to this was "To pass up a Trent Dilfer, when all you have is Jim Harbaugh -- give me a break. That's why the Colts are picking second every year in the draft, not battling for the Super Bowl like other clubs in the National Football League."[2]
Less than 10 minutes later, at a location away from the draft site, ESPN's Chris Mortensen was interviewing Colts general manager Bill Tobin. Mortensen asked a question about the Colts' bypassing a quarterback with their top-five choices. Mortensen didn't mention Kiper in his question to Tobin. Tobin's 55-second response was "We got a guy up here ... and who in the hell is Mel Kiper, anyway? I mean, here's a guy who criticizes everybody, whoever they take. He's got the answers to who you should take, to who you shouldn't take. He tells us about your team. He tells us about the Rams. Mel Kiper is a tortoise. He tells us about Tampa and everything else. In my knowledge of him, he's never even put on a jockstrap, he's never been a player, he's never been a coach, he's never been a scout, he's never been an administrator, and all of a sudden, he's an expert. He's in our paper two days ago, telling us who we have to take. We don't have to take anybody that Mel Kiper says we have to take. Mel Kiper has no more credentials to do what he's doing than my neighbor, and my neighbor's a postman and he doesn't even have season tickets to the NFL.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Kiper,_Jr.#cite_note-2

I think it was a year or two later that Harbaugh lead the Colts to the AFC Championship game and came a finger nail away from winning.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Kiper,_Jr.#cite_note-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Kiper,_Jr.#cite_note-2

 

[reflexblue]

I was thing about that while i was posting before, it maybe Mels greatest/worst moment.

 

[Maroney TD]

Followed by Trev Alberts leading a HoF career and Dilfer never winning a SB. Seriously though, Harbough had his best year the next year so it's not exactly a false statement that Harbough wasn't that good. Dilfer only had a few good years himself and even in the SB year was pretty mediocre.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Maybe Mel is talking said this because the CB class dropped after very pedestrian 40 times at the Combine. I was pretty shocked when I saw those times; no 4.3's and barely some 4.4's. Wasn't Wheatley 4.3?

 

[Clonamery]

He's not that much different than many of us here except for the amount of money he makes doing it. He's annoying and a month's worth of obnoxious but I admire his passion for the game as I do for many here.

Frankly, I'd rather have him spewing his yap than golden-boy McShay.

 

[Maroney TD]

He's not that much different than many of us here except for the amount of money he makes doing it. He's annoying and a month's worth of obnoxious but I admire his passion for the game as I do for many here.

Frankly, I'd rather have him spewing his yap than golden-boy McShay.

I've gotten so used to Kiper that I actually like the way he says players' names. Its so ridiculous the way he speaks but I enjoy it because its all I know.

 

[BritPat]

He's not fit to hold Mayock's jock.

 

[bakes781]

I'm bumbed I was really hoping Larry English would be dawning the navy and silver this season. Thanks alot Mel!

 

[mcsully]

blast kiper all you want but he's not as bad as the public makes him out to be.. Just for the record, he's a BIG reason people watched the draft.. ESPN had the exclusive deal and would tune into what Kiper had to say.. He has presence where people stop and listen..

I like Kiper but agree Mayock is probably better with his analysis.. But Kiper still makes the story more interesting..

 

[Mogamedogz]

blast kiper all you want but he's not as bad as the public makes him out to be.. Just for the record, he's a BIG reason people watched the draft.. ESPN had the exclusive deal and would tune into what Kiper had to say..

You're right... he may not be as bad as the public makes him out to be... he is probably worse.

Thank god we have an alternative to ESPN for watching the draft now.

 

[letekro]

I've gotten so used to Kiper that I actually like the way he says players' names. Its so ridiculous the way he speaks but I enjoy it because its all I know.

I think he is good entertainment and I think he invented the "a player" thing, such as 'The Patriots could be looking at "a" connor barwin or "a" larry english,' which has to count for something. McShay is highly annoying and sounds like an 8th grader trying to speak with a deep voice.

 

[MetalBleachers]

I think he is good entertainment and I think he invented the "a player" thing, such as 'The Patriots could be looking at "a" connor barwin or "a" larry english,' which has to count for something. McShay is highly annoying and sounds like an 8th grader trying to speak with a deep voice.

How many of us would love that job? How awesome would it be to be wrong around 90 percent of the time and still have everyone asking your opinion?

Good heavens, I'm jealous. :nosmile:

 

[Blizzzard]

Followed by Trev Alberts leading a HoF career and Dilfer never winning a SB. Seriously though, Harbough had his best year the next year so it's not exactly a false statement that Harbough wasn't that good. Dilfer only had a few good years himself and even in the SB year was pretty mediocre.

Was that written by 2 people, or one of your multiple personalities?

 

[Patriot Missile]

I think Kiper does a pretty good job and I've always enjoyed listening to him because you know when he is on he is going to talk about football. I couldn't ask for more than that. He knows the players measurables, stats and knows more about his job since he has been doing it longer than anyone even knew what a mock is.

He was pretty vocal in defending the Pats during spygate stating many times the obvious of which most sensible fans already knew ,which is basically you guys are over blowing this whole situation. Anyway I've always admired his dedication to his field of study which is the NFL draft. You don't have to like his opinion but you cannot deny his knowledge about any of the players coming out. Everyone hits and misses. There wouldn't even be interest with mocks and draft boards if every player that came out was a sure lock to make the NFL. Bottom line,he has hit on some and missed on some. Calling jeff george a mid day pick was classic. He ended up going #1 to the Colts and being a bust.

 

[amazinPats]

I like Kiper very much. He is very passionate about the game and knows more about these college players than I do. I don't understand why people pick on him as much as they do. He's lightened up a lot over the years. No one every gets the draft right. Everybody makes mistakes.

 

[lot11vet]

Mayock is the only one that we should be listening to. Kiper is a complete fool. For him to even suggest that the Pats would pick Pat White because of his potential to run the wildcat and "return the favor" to Miami is clearly uninformed.
1. The wildcat revolves around a running back that has the ability to take a direct snap or throw a pass, not a WR/QB. Honestly if Pat White were to line up in the backfield it would be pretty obvious what is going on. The Wildcat is all about the surprise of the running back is putting his hands on the ball immediately after the snap. So there's #1, he essentially doesn't know what the wildcat is.

2.The "return the favor" and that the Pats would "copycat" Miami is simply moronic. The Wildcat set falls under the realm of trick plays as far as I'm concerned. Trick plays are only used when your back is against the wall and you need to make a play. Miami had limited personell and put the ball in the hands of their only playmaker, Ronnie Brown. We all know that with the weapons we have they won't need the Wildcat. They'll be scoring left and right in the normal offense.

3. If the BB takes Pat White it will be as a WR first and 3rd QB second. It will give them versatility as far as roster spots go. We all know BB likes players that are versatile to provide roster flexability.