Springtime is a marvelous time of the year for American football. National signing day was just concluded and the annual track meet (a.k.a. the combine) is going on in Indianapolis. Why do people watch this? Well, it’s either that or figure skating or bowling. So, can you really blame them?
We are (as of today) 221 days until the start of the regular NFL season and 186 days until college football begins.
So what the heck do we do for the next 100+ days?
We’ll watch Youtube highlights of last season. We’ll analyze, re-analyze and over-analyze anything that happened during the combine and/or national signing day. We will watch some premier league games (at least I will, even though the title is all but settled already). And we’ll probably watch a combination of golf, spring baseball and reruns on our DVRs of the televised NCAAF spring football scrimmages.
Hopefully, you will also read my blog, even though I’ve promised to publish more and have not (thus far).
So, now on to the topic of conversation today. The “next level”. Much of our spring fascination and ongoing debates during this time of year revolve around high school players going to the “next level” (NCAAF) and collegiate players graduating to the “next level” (NFL).
Who will be a success? Who will be a “bust”? Who will be drafted (or signed) with low expectations and become an all-star (ala Tom Brady) player?
For the record, I have not watched nor do I plan to watch any of the Indianapolis track meet going on this week. I won’t rant about this again this year. (although if you do want to see a previous rant you may click here) It is interesting to me that ESPN and others have marketed this thing to the masses in such a way that observers really think NFL teams are learning something here, THEY ARE NOT. If that was the case, then why doesn’t college football have something like this? The answer is that most collegiate coaches have (at one time or another) coached at the high school level. They focus on fundamentals and focus on that with their current rosters. THEY WATCH FILM! Which of course is the ONLY way to understand how well someone plays the game (ANY GAME). Don’t you think that the “real” NFL scouts and player personnel directors look at film 100x more than they tune into ESPN this week? Let’s try to use some common sense here.
I was thinking on this today and here’s what I WANT as a consumer, fan and professional.
I WANT a consistent way to measure how well someone plays the game.
I WANT easy to understand numbers that tell me that Player A is better than Player B and exactly WHY that is.
I WANT player rankings that make sense so that I KNOW (or at least understand better) what players are the best at their position both coming out of high school and entering the NFL draft.
I WANT players to be measured for their on-field ability AND THEN (only then) compare that on-field performance with their performance at the “track meet”.
I WANT historical information telling me that a player had certain rankings/abilities/shortcomings coming out of high school those were developed in a measurable way by (insert name of college position coach here) and because of that he is now a top rated player going to the next level.
IS THAT REALLY TOO MUCH TO ASK?
Think to yourselves, do you make ANY type of decision with significant monetary value without having hard, discernable facts and objective review. Could you imagine buying a car without knowing it’s performance numbers (0-60, mpg, etc)? Could you imagine buying a home without an inspection or information regarding taxable value or utility rates?
Then how pray tell, can you really value one football player vs. another by watching them run between some cones? Better question, how can you believe that NFL personnel do the same?
