The professor needs to go back to class

I know they call ESPN’s John Clayton the “professor,” but doesn’t that mean he has to do the research before he expresses an opinion? If he prefers that the Seattle Seahawks continue into their 35th year of draft futility when it comes to quarterbacks, why doesn’t he just come out and say it, instead of dismissing the alternatives out-of-hand; after all, it was the “alternatives”—Jim Zorn, Dave Krieg and Matt Hassellback—who gave the team some semblance of credibility on the passing side. Mel Kiper Jr. thought that Brett Favre was the steal of the 1991 draft, and who did the Seahawks in their infinite wisdom pick as the first quarterback selected in the draft despite the protestations of Chuck Knox? What does it matter now, the team blew it about as badly as can be done. Sure, draft your next stiff, but with Whitehurst gone don’t waste his slot just because you are afraid that you might bring in quarterback chomping at the bit to get his opportunity, and who would likely leave both your new stiff and Tarvaris commiserating about the future.

Of course, I’m talking about Matt Flynn now, whose last college exploit was offensive MVP of the national championship game. Clayton, if he really was a “professor,” would have explained to a caller earlier today what he saw at the Packer training when Flynn blew the doors off the “competition” in second-round pick Brian Brohm, and sent him packing. He might have made an effort to describe the skill set that allowed Flynn to make fools of critics who were predicting a 45-0 blow-out loss at New England last year. He might have taken greater heed of what people close to the Packers were saying—that they were impressed by Flynn’s fearlessness, leadership and decision-making. Clayton might also have taken note of how one Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sports reporter thought that Flynn looked more effective than Aaron Rodgers during this past preseason. Fantasy football “experts” say that Flynn would be a top-five pick if Rodgers went down. Clayton intimated, in spite of himself, to a clueless Salk that other teams had the same idea, because of the high price tag that acquiring him might require.

But Clayton doesn’t want anyone to even think about Flynn, so he shunts him off to the side with little more than indifference when anyone even mentions his name. All he can say with any “authority” is that at 6’1” Flynn may be too short, as if Rodgers is just tall enough at 6’2.” That’s it? How tall is Drew Brees, and where was his career after five years? Salk says he can’t judge Flynn because of his lack of statistics, ignoring the New England game. No one can definitively know if Flynn will turn-out to be a guy who throws for 4,000 yards every year or becomes a professional benchwarmer, but who will know if a team will not give him that chance?

And if you want you want to play the “what do we really know" game, we can play that to. What evidence did we have that Rodgers was going to be an “elite” quarterback after three years? Certainly no more than Flynn; Rodgers one moment of significant action in three years (against the Cowboys) was much less impressive than Flynn’s against the Patriots. We might also ask why so many teams passed on Rodgers during the draft. San Francisco coach Mike Nolan, who had the number one pick to play with, chose Alex Smith. Why? According to Gary Peterson of The Contra Costa Times, Nolan had a “strong personality who didn’t like to be challenged.” He interviewed Rodgers and Smith separately to ascertain their character before the draft. “He caught a whiff of attitude from Rodgers, and that was that. Smith was chosen based on personality. He is cerebral, introspective, with a distaste for confrontation.” To Nolan, Rodgers was a head case, and his arrogance still shows through on occasion. Observers of their workouts concluded that Smith and not Rodgers was NFL ready. GMs were also wary of Rodgers being the product of the Tedford quarterback stable: Great in college, mediocre in the pros. After his first season as a starter, when the Packers dropped from 13-3 to 6-10, there were people wondering if the right decision had been made.

“He has doubters. Now, he must try to prove them wrong.” This was Clayton following the 2005 draft. I have no doubt that Flynn would like to prove HIM wrong as well. But what do I care? I’m a Packer fan, and I’ve been paying attention.