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Marshall Faulk |
After the NFL draft, we asked a group of scouts, scouting directors and general
managers the following questions. Answers from different sources are listed separately.
All responses were given anonymously.
Q. Did the Colts blow it when they took Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams?
A. Hell, no. Ricky Williams is the guy you take if you want to build a running offense
around one man and keep pounding that man. James is a much better complement for a team
that has a young franchise quarterback (Peyton Manning) it is building around.
A. Edgerrin catches the ball better and has more speed. Plus, we were a little worried
about how well Ricky would fit in after being the star for the past four years and having
everything revolve around him.
A. Ricky is almost like money in the bank, while Edgerrin is more like a speculative
stock with great upside but also the chance you may only get average returns.
Q. Why do you think the Colts traded Marshall Faulk away so cheaply?
A. Because they felt once he got his money and a long-term contract with a big bonus,
he would become a fat cat again.
A. Because I feel the Colts and many other teams viewed Marshall as being all about
Marshall and not being a real team guy.
A. Look at his track record. At San Diego State, his best year (arguably) was his
freshman year, when he had the most to prove. In Indianapolis, he had the great rookie
year and went downhill until he was ready to renegotiate his contract.
A. I think they blew it. Last year Marshall Faulk was the third-best back in football,
behind Terrell Davis and Barry (Sanders), and really helped carry the team until Peyton
Manning got his feet wet.
Q. How do the quarterbacks from the 1999 draft shape up against the quarterbacks
from 1983?
A. Everyone will say you don’t have an John Elway, a Dan Marino or a Jim Kelly,
but how many people remember that Todd Blackledge went ahead of both Marino and Kelly and
that Tony Eason and Ken O’Brien went ahead of Marino?
A. Elway was considered the best ever (in college), and Marino and Kelly were right up
there with him until Marino had a terrible senior year in which all sorts of rumors
surfaced about him, and Kelly was coming off major shoulder surgery and people were
uncertain about his health. Otherwise, all three of those players would have been drafted
10 minutes before the first round began.
A. In 1983, everyone had Elway first on his list, and there was a much clearer pecking
order. This year, if you had asked five teams which quarterback they liked the best, you
might get five different answers.
Q. Whom do you consider the riskiest pick of the first round?
A. My vote goes to Dimitrius Underwood, the Vikings’ second No. 1 (No. 29
overall). He was an underachiever in college and did not even play in 1998 because of an
ankle injury.
A. DL Lamar King of the Seahawks. It’s a hell of a jump from Saginaw Valley State
in Michigan to the NFL, and the Seahawks took this guy No. 1 (No. 22 overall).
A. QB Donovan McNabb of the Eagles. He was an option quarterback in college and is
going to a city that knows no mercy and wanted Ricky Williams in the worst way.
A. DE-OLB Jevon Kearse of the Titans. He looks like Tarzan and is the all-time workout
warrior, but the bottom line is (that) he did not make that many plays in college, and
(Florida teammate) Mike Peterson was a much better football player.
Q. Who could be this year’s Marino, a player whose stock fell during his last
year in school but then makes almost everyone who passed on him regret it?
A. LB Andy Katzenmoyer of the Patriots. (He is) almost the mirror image of Marino.
After (Katzenmoyer’s) first year, people felt he was going to be an all-time great.
And then when his (coaches) asked him to change some of the things he had to do, things
just did not work out as well.
A. Katzenmoyer could be Dick Butkus with speed — or another Brian Bosworth.
A. Kearse. If the Titans use him correctly, he could be a more stable version of
Charles Haley.
A. QB Brock Huard of the Seahawks. A year ago he was rated ahead of all the
quarterbacks except Tim Couch, whom some people did not even rate (because he was a
junior), and Daunte Culpepper. |
