Ryan Mallett’s stock is going up. Now, you wouldn’t believe that if you read Sports Illustrated, Yahoo sports, ESPN, or various bloggers nationwide that piggy-back off the journalists that pretend to have some great insight that nobody else has.
NFL Mocks, National Football Post, and Walters Football are all websites that have taken their verbal jabs at Ryan Mallett. Some say he is too erratic, inconsistent, has red flags off the field, is a choke artist, and happens to be a tree that can’t move.
The blogosphere erupted with media personalities assaulting Ryan Mallett for a “train wreck” interview performance with the media at the combine. Some blogs had Mallett “plummeting” into the third round. Some said they wouldn’t even consider using a pick on Mallett before the fourth round of the NFL draft. A few voices from the looney box said they wouldn’t have Mallett on their draft boards at all. That my friends, is why they don’t work for NFL front offices.
Fortunately for Ryan Mallett, the rocket-armed quarterback out of Arkansas, there will be a different collection of people drafting players in late April. You know, the guys that actually know football.
The information pouring out of the folks that have real connected sources to the NFL and the teams that will draft have a much different perspective on Ryan Mallett. The information coming straight from the horse’s mouth is much more positive.
While the self-aggrandizing bloggers of the world were digging Mallett’s draft grave because of his interview with them, the people that will draft came away impressed with their more personal meetings with the former Razorback. One high-ranking NFC team executive said in regards to Mallett, “The guy looked us right in the eyes and didn’t dodge anything at all. If we don’t take him, it certainly won’t be a reflection of his time with us.”
That’s interesting. That is exactly what Ryan Mallett told the media would happen during the “train wreck” of an interview. He was very clear that he would answer any questions about any rumors the teams had in their interview, but he wouldn’t address it with the media. Obviously, that makes the media interview a total disaster.
Even though Ryan Mallett had what was dubbed as the “best passing performance at the combine in 10 years,” the web erupted with blogs and articles about his stock dropping because he didn’t let the media know the personal details of his life.
NFL teams were more than satisfied with Ryan Mallett. The people plugged into the league said that Mallett was one of the very best quarterbacks on the grease board when talking about x’s and o’s. In regard to the drug allegations, Bernie Kosar, former Cleveland Browns great, talked to many different organizations about their conversations with Ryan Mallett. Kosar said most teams were fine with the explanation regarding any drug use allegations.
According to the real draft experts, the ones that actually draft, Ryan Mallett’s stock went up after the combine, and not just because he put on a clinic throwing the football. The teams came away more than satisfied with Ryan Mallett’s intelligence about the game of football and his explanation of the off the field red flags. In fact, one AFC executive said he came away “impressed” after he spent some time with Mallett personally.
A week and a half after the combine, the talk of Mallett had died down. Then he had his pro day. Again, while all of the media hounds were focusing on his horrible 40-yard dash time (5.37), the NFL was focused on his mechanics, arm strength, and accuracy.
Once again, Mallett dazzled the scouts with his ability to throw the football. Apparently, his passing performance was even better than his once in a decade show at the combine. Bucky Brooks of NFL.com said that Mallett specialized in “throwing the intermediate to deep ball,” and had “nice touch.” Brooks said that Mallett is “a classic drop-back passer with all the tools to be successful.”
Unlike the mass of blogs that focused on the 40-yard dash, the scouts around Bucky Brooks had a different take. The NFL evaluators around Brooks said that Mallett reminded them of guys like Dan Fouts and Dan Marino that can stand tall in the pocket and deliver a lot of strikes. The scouts didn’t compare Mallett to Byron Leftwich. They compared Mallett’s ability to two hall of fame quarterbacks.
This doesn’t mean that Mallett will be a first ballot Canton guy or even the first quarterback taken in the draft. Some teams are enamored with Cameron Newton, the athletic phenom out of Auburn. There are some teams that reportedly have Blaine Gabbert as the number one quarterback on their draft board. But it’s clear that Ryan Mallett is right in that mix. One NFL executive told CBS Sports that Ryan Mallett was the second rated quarterback on their draft board. That means he has to be ahead of either Gabbert or Newton for them.
Will Mallett be a first round draft pick? The majority of blogs are saying he will not, but the majority of NFL front offices are saying that he will. Who do you think is more likely to be right?
