Draft analyst Emory Hunt was recently on The Ross Tucker Podcast, and a clip from the show of him explaining his concerns with Marvin Harrison Jr. is getting buried on Reddit. He mentions MHJ’s inconsistency in getting off bump press. He mentions how MHJ is not as explosive or doesn’t possess straight line speed, and insinuates that that might be why he didn’t run the 40, given how it would look in the shuffle with these guys running 4.2s and 4.3s. But, surprise surprise, to even remotely suggest that maybe MHJ won’t be the first receiver off the board was met with sharp criticism on the internet.
Our guy @FBallGamePlan has several WRs ranked ahead of Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr.
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) March 19, 2024
Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/eHXG1d1wVM
The first comment on Reddit, where I saw this clip shared, reads “So because there’s no way the media pundits can claim Caleb Williams won’t be the first QB taken, we’ve moved on to MHJ won’t be the first WR taken.” Other comments say things such as “gotta get those clicks” and “he just finished the Orlovsky school of going against the grain for attention.” I’m not saying Emory Hunt is the best draft evaluator on the planet and his word is gospel, but the assumption that just because someone says something that is against the grain just to get clicks is lazy, lazy stuff. It drives me nuts with this clip specifically because I absolutely see the things Hunt is talking about. I don’t necessarily agree that he’s not a nuanced route runner, but I trust that Hunt has done his work to get there. I’m not just shrugging something disagreeable off as fodder for clicks.
Evaluating the draft is hard. I explained it on my Travis Glover film breakdown that you can’t account for fit, and it’s so difficult to project off of limited experience with prospects. Most of us don’t get access to the interviews, so we don’t know personalities. We can’t say for sure where a prospect is going to go. If we like someone and they end up in a bad situation, we’re suddenly wrong! Now, there are people out there that sensationalize things, but they tend to expose themselves with a lack of deep evaluation on prospects. It’s a mix of your usual suspects, the screaming heads on your television who we KNOW aren’t grinding tape every night, and guys that craft takes specifically to piss you off. But, if you take some time to feel it out, you can usually identify those guys and avoid them.
I want to take up for the draft media a bit here today. Information is changing on a daily basis about this event. At the time we built MHJ up, we didn’t know that he wasn’t going to run the 40. Emory has a point that you don’t run that 40 if if can give anyone something to nitpick about you and slide you down their draft boards. Also, MHJ apparently asked if any scouts wanted to see his Pro Day at the Combine, and they all said “we’re good – we got what we need.” Information changes in between the season and the draft itself because teams start getting into interviews, more thorough and accurate testing and measurement is going on at the Scouting Combine, all-star games like the Senior Bowl, and Pro Days. It’s deep, nuanced information that a lot of people don’t want to keep up with on a daily basis! I get that – hey, it’s why you come to us for our opinions! But, you gotta trust that some of us aren’t going to just say something to say something. I wish more people took the time to understand that the NFL Draft is an inexact science…things change….and there are people in this community that you can trust to have done the work to arrive at their own opinion of a guy whether you agree with it or not.
To quote my good pal Easton Freeze, “Give me 20 minutes and a laptop and I promise I can make your favorite draft analyst look like a moron out of context.” Just because we’re blatantly, brutally, and completely preposterously wrong sometimes, it doesn’t mean that we’re all just saying dumb shit to get clicks. That’s all – it’s a pet peeve of mine, people. Be a little more open and a little less judgmental.
Also, of note, I actually have Rome Odunze ranked above MHJ, so I guess y’all can scream at me for my dumbass clickbait next.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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