I'm sure it does. Actually, I hate Kiper and almost all sports columnists. I think their sole purpose in life is to stir the pot and cause as much trouble as they can.
Moving from the 2nd round to the first round is the definition of being a product of the combine. You should move up only as other people drop. This is the Houston problem also.
No that doesnt make him a product of the combine, people rise and fall every year. He went up from mid 2nd to late 1st. A workout warrior who is a product of the combine jumps up the draft then half a round.
Actually the definition of a workout warrior is somebody who moves up a round based on the combine. Olsen had mid to late 2nd round written all over him going into the combine. He came out with the mid to late 1st round tag. Most of the time the first reading was the correct one given that it was based on the person's production and known quantities before he stripped to a t-shirt and skivvies and began jumping around like a frog on speed.
His QBs at Miami sucked...no blocking = no passing game. He led his team in receiving and his team had very shaky QB play.
When was he ever mid to late 2nd round? I would like to see those rankings. Never mind. maybe he was. I guess the question that begs to be asked then is what is the purpose of the combine? If you are suppose to ignore the results then why even have it?
Greg Olsen is no Shockey, no Winslow...... while he may be a solid player, he'll be another 1st rd JETS TE disappointment.......... wouldn't be the worst pick in the world, but there are bigger needs to address at the same value. Besides, Mangini isn't the type to be enamored with the combine #'s (Terry Bradway)
How can you even mention Winslow in the same sentence with Shockey and not mention Gates or Heap? What has Winslow ever done other then miss the first two years? I hope he's no Winslow. If you mean he went to Miami then you are talking two different eras and two way different teams. Last I checked Olsen's coach was fired for being so inept. Which has nothing to do with how he may have coached 6 years before.
The purpose of the combine should be to verify what we already know about the prospects, to standardize the information available (height, weight, 40 times, strength, etc) to all teams, to verify medical status where that is an issue, and to move people down when it becomes clear that they do not have the high caliber skills and assets that will allow them to progress well from the NCAA to the NFL. Nobody should be bouncing up high based on their workouts at the combine. We have anywhere from 1 to 4 years worth of information on these people. We know how they ranked in their previous competitive environment. If they were not a star in college they damn well will not become one in the NFL, it just doesn't work that way. The qualities that would let them star in the NFL would have let them shine even brighter at the collegiate level. It's fine for somebody to move up a bit if a bunch of people in front of them fall. there's no problem if the guy everybody thought was going to be #5 coming in turns out to be #1 when everything is tabulated. But having a player like D-Rob go from top 40 to top 4 in 2003 was just ludicrous. The man is a good player but he was not a star at Kentucky and no way no how was he going to become a star in the NFL. The one area that you might get a little wiggle room in is the big school vs small school prospects. A guy like Walter Payton absolutely rocks the heck out of division I-AA at Alcorn State? Then he has a great combine? Fine, that might justify moving them up a half round even over other deserving people who were in line ahead of them initially.
I would rather see the FO go in a different direction than TE. There are a lot of needs on defense and would like to see us trade down and get more picks, than draft a TE which IMO is a luxury pick.
Here's a scenario for all the Olsen Naysayers(and I'm somewhere in the middle)... Say we take Olsen at 25, and th rest of day 1 looks something like this... 1. Olsen 2A. Blalock(For whatever reason he falls) 2B. Courtney Brown 3. Robison In other words, we fill all our glaring needs w/ guys of legit value. At that point, what is your stance?
And which of those guys had a premium 1st round pick spent on him? Yeah occasionally you get gold from lead. That doesn't mean you should be panning lead in the first round hoping gold will magically show up.
Ok, let me amend the comment slightly: Nobody should be bouncing up high based on their workouts at the combine. We have anywhere from 1 to 4 years worth of information on these people. We know how they ranked in their previous competitive environment. If they were not a star in college they damn well will not become one in the NFL, it just doesn't work that way. The qualities that would let them star in the NFL would have let them shine even brighter at the collegiate level. Ok, now the amendment: Nobody should be drafted in the first round based on projections that they will be a star when they weren't a star in college. If they were not a star in college they're not worth spending star value on in the draft. The qualities that would let them star in the NFL would have let them shine even brighter at the college level. Obviously there are a few players who are not high draft picks who turn into stars, those players are vastly outnumbered by the actual college stars drafted in the first round who then turn into stars. Neither D-Rob nor Greg Olsen were college stars. That made D-Rob and makes Olsen a bad investment for the positions that we took one at and are contemplating taking another at.
Gold from lead? Are you oblivious or ignorant? Olsen has all the tools, but was a victim of an attrocious offense. Go ask any Canes fan about the great o-line who protected Kyle wright last year. While your at it ask about how great Brock Berlin was two years ago.
IMO this is a flawed comment. You have to factor in his surroundings, the Jets should not draft trying not ot make a mistake they made in the past. Olsen at 25 is great value, period
Okay, that's a better way to write it. As for Robertson, he stood out to me when I watched Kentucky play. I was actually surprised he wasn't talked about as being a potential top 10 pick prior to the '03 combine.
