Merlin's Magic: Silly Season Edition

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With the start of the underwear Olympics in Indianapolis this weekend, the NFL has officially entered silly season. This is the time of year where the teams, media and fans start moving players up and down on the draft board for hundredths of a second on a 40 yard dash, a couple of dropped passes or a minor injury. Players work for months with trainers trying to shave hundredths of second from their times or bulk up to pump out a few more reps on the bench press. Silly, silly, silly. However, this is the game that is played. There is some good going in Indy, but there is quite a bit of silly. This is why you hear smart talent evaluators talk about ‘game speed’ and not 40 yard dash times.

The case of Michael Crabtree covers some of these points. Like some elite prospects of the past, he decided not to fully participate. The NFL doesn’t like this, but he is not hurting himself here. The biggest question about him is can be get separation in the NFL. Running a 40 yard dash will not answer that question. Scouts are going to have to break down game tape to determine if he has enough of a burst to get separation from NFL corners. Does it matter if he runs a 4.51 or a 4.56 in the 40? No, no and no. Crabtree did come in to get weighed and measured. Like some athletes, he is now the incredibly shrinking Crabtree. His 6′ 3″ frame must have shrunk on the plane. The player that came to Indy was a shade over 6′ 1″. Does this make a big difference? No, but it does make a minor difference. Does this drop him? I don’t think so. Then, word of the stress fracture in his foot comes out. Again, this is a minor deal. Some of the silly season talking heads are dropping him on their boards. All this does is put his foot on your radar. Teams would like him to be available for training camp. They will monitor when/if he has surgery and whatever rehab he does. Unless we get worse news, this should not affect his draft status.

Of course, when you show up out of shape and skip town early, you don’t help yourself at all. In my opinion, the interviews are more important than the dog and pony show on the field. Workout warriors will shine, others will fade. Let other teams become infatuated with the latest workout warrior (Michael Johnson anyone?). The good teams value the game tape more than the combine workouts. From player reports, the Chief scouting department was well prepared. Considering all the turnover in the front office, I am pleasantly surprised. Would it be asking too much of Kremlin Scott to let us know if Bill Kuharich is staying on?

One final note on this time of the year. This is the time to disregard what teams are saying about their needs and players they are targeting. In addition to silly season, this is also bullshit season. The bull will be flying fast and furious. Forget about it and stick to what you see, not what you hear. I would like to know what base defense we are running and who the defensive coordinator is.

Tags: kansas city chiefs, Scott Pioli

Prospero1984

Adam:

As I am sitting in my office here in Lubbock Texas. I can't put my mind around why anyone would not want to draft Crabtree at the #3 spot. I mean really, our team is completly set up to where Crabtree in my opinion is the perfect fit for our team. Think about it...... Yes we have a tremendous amount of holes in our defenses...... However, does what Haley did for the Arizona Cards. not ring a bell to anyone????? Really.... Look at what the guy did with two top notch receivers in Arz. what makes anyone of us think that we could not put up even better numbers than they did over there.... Think what he can do over here with Tony/ Bowe / and Crabtree. Sure you might say.... well our off. line sucks....questions about Thigpen..... but Thiggie thrives in the spread, and quality offensive linemen are not as important in the spread offense.

As far as I see it, the KC Chiefs are kind of in the same situation that Texas Tech is in the big 12. They come from a small market in comparison to others..... EX Lubbock vrs Austin vrs. OU. EX: KC vrs. NY vrs. Denver/etc. Yet TECH (thanks to Mike Leach's spread offense can still hang with the big boys, even though we can't recruit the same "type" player that a UT or OU can. In comparison, KC can't find quaility FA's that want to come play for the chiefs.

Here's a thought..... Why not follow the "Mike Leach" movement and play with a system that allows you to thrive on what you have?????

Also, who really cares if Crabtree has a stress fracture in his foot. Honestly, everyone here in Lubbock knew he had something wrong with his foot and was playing injured. But..... look at what he did when he was playing through his injury. In my opinion that really says something about him. At least we know he is not another Brodie Croyle.....

Lets go with Crabtree / Thiggie / and the spread and try to use what works for us now.......

For the record, Adam I agree with you and I think that you are right more times than you are wrong. Crabtree is just that good.......

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Eric Crane

I am glad Andre Smith went all Bryant McKinnie on the draft, so we didn't end up with him. For God's sake we shouldn't reach for a lineman! Especially because some are moving just because others are falling over Merlin's said silliness. I think 40 times at the combine do matter...that's the most pressure they are under to perform and it does give us some idea of who will and won't be prepared.

I would say Crabtree is 6`2-6"3" with cleats on if he's 6 1 barefoot.

Merlin

lol, Crabtree is a fine prospect. I believe we have other, more important areas to address in the draft. Unless his foot is a bigger problem than it looks right now, I still think he goes to Seattle at #4. Right now, my board is Curry, Monroe....... then maybe Jason Smith. It's a work in progress.

Adam Best

Couldn't agree more about game tape, interviews and intangibles meaning more than the measurables. I think the combine is necessary, and the results should be given consideration, but we're drafting football players, not workout warriors.

And I think you have a little bit of a secret crush on Crabtree there. Better hurry and shove that back deep down inside before your "meat and potatoes" football cred is blown.