Florio Offers Scouting Advice

by Tony | Apr 9, 2010 | College Football, NFL Draft

We realize that here at Zoneblitz.com (and at our baseball site) we sometimes rant on particular topics a little too much.  But sometimes, the subjects of our rants make it too easy not to.

Case in point–last week, Andy pointed out that Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk castigated Jim Kelly for saying that he would be comfortable recommending Tim Tebow to his former team, the Buffalo Bills, saying:

“The fact that he was a quarterback doesn’t make him qualified to determine the round in which another quarterback should be drafted. And it especially doesn’t qualify him to assess overall team needs and determine whether Tebow or any other quarterback should be picked instead of the best player available at another position, or the best player available regardless of position.”

Florio thought this was was worthy of a post, despite the fact that:

• Kelly was answering a question from a reporter, not actually making a recommendation to the Bills in their draft war room (that we know of)
• Kelly admitted he didn’t have enough information to decide whether he was worthy of a 1st round pick, but that he would be ok as a 2nd round pick
• Kelly acknowledged that he’s not qualified to make a recommendation as to whether the Bills should use the ninth pick in round one or the ninth pick in round two to get Tebow

Despite this, Florio added:

“If Kelly wanted to recommend players to the Bills, he should have become a scout upon retiring, rolling up his sleeves and grinding away and visiting college campuses and watching film. “

And this:

“Indeed, we doubt that many/any Bills scouts offered Kelly unsolicited advice about playing quarterback during his career.  He would be wise to return the courtesy now.”

Now, five days later, Florio offers up this gem:

“Even if he’s not ready to contribute at the NFL level as a rookie, his long-term potential likely makes him worthy of a selection in the top 20 picks.”

That quote was featured in a short piece about Jason Pierre-Paul, a defensive end prospect considered a “freakish athlete with unlimited potential”, but one that has raised questions about maturity and his readiness for the NFL with “nonsensical answers to fairly basic questions” during team interviews.

Hey Mike, I doubt that any scouts offered you unsolicited advice about how to try cases during your legal career–it might be wise to return that courtesy now.

Otherwise, some other blogs might start wondering just what you’re getting out of hyping a player that has raised legitimate concerns with his behavior during interviews–not to mention the fact that his “huge splash in only one year of major college football” amounted to only 6.5 sacks and only 7 starts (but still 13 games played)–hardly the kind of production that warrants a first round pick.

But hey, maybe you finally found another way to monetize all that traffic your site gets–I would guess that agents would pay pretty heavily to get a recommendation on a site that so many NFL insiders supposedly visit?