Mark Sanchez, the quarterback out of USC, is “moving up the draft board”. That’s the word guised as murmurs and whispers throughout NFL insiders and mock drafters. Sanchez has met with numerous teams and, according to a recent poll conducted by God knows who, 40% of teams in the NFL that have met with Sanchez like him. What? I’m confused. So that means the other 60% don’t like him? How does ones draft stock rise when only 40% of those who you’ve actually met with like you? Why wouldn’t your stock go down? Yes, there are some teams like the Lions, Browns, Seahawks, Broncos, possibly the Jacksonville Jaguars whose eyes are observing with a raised eyebrow the quarterback speculation but come on….. 

Stock rising or falling in the NFL Draft has always driven me crazy. Unless you suddenly fail a drug test, get arrested, get injured or are coming back from an injury, how in the world can your stock rise and fall. Your body of work is your body of work. You mean to tell me that because a guy runs a 4.5 instead of a 4.3 his stock falls even though he’s been a quality receiver in a good conference on a winning team? Stupid I know but I swear to you that’s the way some of these scouts and GM’s think. Maybe that’s why Matt Millen has one of the worst draft records in the history of the NFL.

I was told a long time ago, track stars can run 4.3 40’s but putting pads on them and saying they’re wide receivers doesn’t make them football players or good for that matter and in essence, that’s what these mental giants in football front offices are doing. In doing so, they’re taking leaps with the futures of YOUR franchises. It’s one thing if you take a speedy guy with questionable hands in the 7^th round but when you start talking about a top 10 pick, you’re mortgaging the future on a “hint”, a “hunch”, qualifying his “intangibles”. You simply can’t do that. The combine should be used to merely substantiate your hunch about the capabilities of a particular player. Get to know him, get an idea of what type of character he has, not cause him to jump from a late 2^nd round pick to a top 10. Don’t fall in love with the player, fall in love with his productivity. There’s a lot of guys that I’ve met at the combines who are great guys, fun to be around, great senses of humor, good character people but I wouldn’t want them lining up for my team on Sunday because they simply can’t cut it. Pay for a football player, not a 40 time.