Putting the draft to bed

First, on some MSU non-draftees: Travis Key (Minnesota), Ogemdi Nwagbuo (N.Y. Giants) and Pete Clifford (Arizona Cardinals) are confirmed as having free agent deals. Still waiting to hear on Jehuu Caulcrick, Jonal Saint-Dic and others.

    Clifford told me Sunday night that he chose the Cardinals in part because his agency's offensive line mentor is tight with Arizona's OL coach, meaning Clifford will have an idea of what to expect and a little extra support.
    "We kind of know what we're getting into," he said.
    For those of you who are surprised that Saint-Dic wasn't drafted, you shouldn't be too surprised. He was terrific for much of last season (and not just against weak teams. He was great at Wisconsin, blowing up a key goal-line rush late in the game, and against other quality foes), but he has that dreaded "tweener" tag. NFL people don't like his size at defensive end, and he didn't run well enough in testing to promote himself as a 3-4 outside linebacker. That said, someone will give him a chance. He makes plays.
    Other thoughts:
    * Devin Thomas and Kellen Davis were projected by many to go earlier than they did, but I didn't see any mock drafts with Ervin Baldwin on them. The funny thing is, I thought right after the season that he might end up being the next guy picked, after Thomas and Davis. There just wasn't much Baldwin buzz leading into the draft, and the experts had OG, Caulcrick, Nehemiah Warrick ahead of him. Now that he's been scooped up, I wonder what the analysts missed? He's good, and I predict he'll get into that d-line rotation with the Bears.
   * Speaking of Davis, an interesting story emerged out of his draft-day saga (explained in more detail in Monday's LSJ). The Bears people talked about how MSU's former coaching staff had some critical things to say about Davis. Then I got him on the phone and he said he had been hearing that since the Senior Bowl. Apparently they questioned his work ethic, primarily. But MSU's current offensive line coach, Dan Roushar (who used to work for Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner at Illinois) defended Davis and helped convince the Bears that he works hard and is a worthy investment.
    Davis is pretty ticked. I would have to assume that John L. Smith and his assistants were just responding to questions from inquiring personnel people, but Davis doesn't seem to think so.
    "No, I think they took the initiative and went out of their way to tell people," he said. "I don't know what their motives were, but that's the overwhelming feeling I get."
    But that's the thing. What would their motive be? Davis said he never had any run-ins or serious issues while they were here. Also, to sort of defend the former staff, I did hear last year that Davis was picking up his overall intensity, and it seemed to show itself in his blocking. I'm not suggesting he dogged it before, but it's not uncommon for a player to step it up as a senior.
    But he rejected that idea pretty quickly, too.
    "I've been doing the same stuff," he said. "I just got better coaches as a senior."
    * Finally, I have to disagree with those who suggest Devin Thomas made a mistake by leaving early. Was No. 34 disappointing, in light of the expectations? Yes. Would Thomas have gone higher and made more money a year from now after a big senior season? Probably. But would Thomas have opted to stay in January, if he had a crystal ball and the number 34 materialized? I highly doubt it. He's still going to make more than a million a year. There's no guarantee he would have gone top 10 in 2009. And when you balance the potential for more cash against the potential for a senior-year injury, this was still the right move.
    I know I would have made it. Be honest, would you have turned down nearly $3 million in guaranteed cash to stay in school? 

Comments

[David]

Today is a great day! It begins Mike Hart's exodus out of the NFL!

DSR

[sparty1202]

What's up with Caulcrick not getting picked up by anyone? I'm surprised he didn't even get drafted. In todays NFL teams need that power runner, and from watching him run people over the last 2 years I thought he was a locked to get picked at some point on Sunday. Any thoughts or did anyone hear anything?

[witless chum]

The Lions drafted a small-college fullback, supposedly with the idea of using him as a goalline runner. I have to think Jehuu would be a better choice there. He played special teams at MSU, also.

[spartan1979]

Why would the NFL listen to JLS and his staff on Davis? These were the same incompetent idiots that kept Devin Thomas on the bench in 2006.

[spartanfan]

I heard that Caulcrick signed a free agent deal with the New York Jets. The reason he didn't get drafted is that he told many teams (like the Lions) that he really wanted to play for the Steelers, Bills, Jets, Giants or Colts. Consequently, this limited his draft options.

[Herb Riedel]

JLS and his band of merry idiots should shut their pie holes.

[Spartan in St Augustine]

isn't there a holdover from previous regime that someone could ask aobut all this back bitting of Davis?

[Michael Motta]

I think I (and many other people) could live comfortably for the rest of my life merely by putting a million dollars into the bank and living off of the interest, never having to take another job. So for Davis, for intance, he could live off whatever is over a million in his salary this year, and put the million in the bank and be set for life. Not that this will happen, but it's how I see it. Even taking taxes out it's feasible.

Regarding the former staff . . . something strikes me as odd that it's even standard practice for former staffs to comment to potential employers about former student-athletes. I know it's fairly standard practice for one's former employers to only comment to potential employers on things like dates of employment - general stuff rather than specific. I understand that this is due either to law or potential liability.

But Davis wasn't even an employee, he was a student. I know that there are various protections for the privacy of students, and it's difficult for me to fathom that something so personal as "character" or what have you would not be covered by privacy restrictions (unless the student has purposefully provided specific faculty/staff references). Maybe student-athletes sign waivers on this?

I know that if anybody ever called me looking for information on a student-athlete I had tutored at the Smith Center in the past, I wouldn't even acknowledge having tutored that particular person because we were told to be extremely careful about that sort of thing.

[Duh]

Michael Motta: it's called FERPA for you, and it doesn't apply to the NFL scouting process.

Stick to tutoring subjects you know, mmm 'kay?

[Mike]

No idea about the laws your talking about MM but I know an A-Hole when I see one and JL is their poster child. Wish he would bury his head in the sand...

[DCSpartan]

On Jonal, Shawn Merriman and Julian Peterson were once labeled "tweeners". Now they're consistent Pro Bowlers.

[stone]

JLS & Co. bad mouthing their players? Never imagine that, errr, actually I would.

Bad Form JLS & Co.

[steved]

can't wait till Mike Hart takes his "punk" attitude to the real men of the NFL and grind him up and spit him out. Fat and slow is not really the best for a RB in the NFL.

[Coach]

Michael Motta:

First, a million dollars isn't enough to "live on for the rest of your life".....unless you live in Kenya which I think you just might.

$1,000,000 is really about $600,000 after taxes. As far as your "living off the interest" comment. If he puts it in a bank at 3%, he'll get $18,000 year. Now I know YOU can live off that living in a tent on the Banks of the Red Cedar while eating McDonalds three times a day, most people can't.

Factor in tax-crazy Democrats and you'll get even less!

[mikev]

He put $1 million away AFTER taxes. Bonds @ 5% is $50,000/yr. and say $10,000 for taxes. Yup, I could live okay on that, unless the Republicans spend it. Tax and spend Democrats or spend and run up the deficit Republicans.(-:

[Michael Motta]

To the writer known as "Duh", I never said that what was done was illegal, I said it struck me as difficult to fathom given all of the protections for other invasions that employees and students have. Since you know so much about the subject, why don't you enlighten us as to the manner in which "the NFL scouting process" is exempt from confidentiality issues under FERPA and other privacy laws? Is it unusual in this regard or is there broad exception?

Coach, what you're talking about though is choice, not necessity. In mid-Michigan, $18,000/yr. can provide you with a place to live that doesn't even have roommates, and you'd still have about $1,000/month to play with for food and utilities etc. And if you think that eating McDonald's three times per day is one of the least expensive ways to obtain nourishment, you're sadly mistaken. But see what mikev said anyway.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear, but the main reason I made the point about the money wasn't to be so literal, it was to say that once a person reaches a certain amount of money, the rest is gravy. This is regarding all the buzz about "draft position" and did so-and-so screw up or not. The biggest place that can be screwed up (if we're considering just money and not education) is in managing the money that you DO get, rather than in the micro-jockeying to get it in the first place. I certainly wasn't suggesting that Davis just fold after his initial windfall.