ON THE DL

Todd McShay Talks NFL Draft, Mel Kiper and Carnival Folk(?!) On the DL

Todd McShay from ESPN joins the show to talk about the NFL Draft...for the 1000th time, I’m sure.

But hopefully our show is a little different as we don’t really care about who went where, but rather how ESPN told us who went where.

We start with a rundown of McShay’s year. The draft is over, so when does next year’s process begin? He takes us through the process that starts in mid May and continues on through the summer during camps and into the fall when he evaluates games in addition to his work with the College Gameday Radio crew. He explains that the real scouting doesn’t start for the Draft until about January, after all the kids declare. At that point it’s draft-draft-draft until the end of April. Then it starts all over again.

During the draft, Mel Kiper (more on him in a minute) mentioned that he had Matthew Stafford as the top pick four years ago, and he’ll go out on a limb and say that Matt Barkley, a high school prospect going to USC next year, will be the top pick when he comes out. Seems silly, so I ask McShay how far back to they scout kids? He explains that basically they track the top 150 all year, much like NFL scouting departments do. When it gets closer to the draft, they open up the evaluation to anyone and everyone who has declared. They don’t scout high school kids for the NFL. Yet.

We discuss the difference between the Big Board and the Mock Draft. McShay mocks the mock draft (good) by explaining that basically, mock drafts are more about gathering information from teams than assessing the talent in the draft.

“The mock draft is obviously different (than the big board). I’ve always contended that should be the Mortensens, the Michael Smiths, the John Claytons of the world doing the mock drafts. It’s really not a testament to scouting players as much as it is the information you’re getting from NFL teams.

“If you have one friend at one team that gives you that information a couple days before and says, ‘hey we’re going to take this guy if he’s on the board,‘ does that make you a better talent evaluator? No.”

We talk about previous busts and I ask if it changes the way he evaluates players from year to year. We also discuss the change in styles from college to the pros and how to project a player like Pat White who two years ago wouldn’t be a prospect at all and now is a second round pick because of the Wildcat package. And how much mis-information gets put out by teams...through the media?

We move on to the draft. The ESPN press release said that McShay was going to be on the digital touch screen up in Bristol so why did he end up in New York with Michael Smith on the

board? McShay explains it was a last minute decision to have him as part of the crew in New York, and that they didn’t get to do as much with the digital touch screen as they wanted (note, this explains why Michael Smith seemed totally overwhelmed by that screen.) In short, they look forward to using the board more in the future...even in NYC for next year’s draft.

“Something changed last minute and they had to make an adjustment and we had to go with it. I literally got in the car the night before and drove down. It was their decision and tried to make the most of it. I wanted to be there (Bristol) and they wanted me to be there, but it didn’t work out. The plan next year, hopefully, is for me to be on that board. And we’ve even talked about -- we’ll see if the technology works -- bringing that board to New York City and having it inside right near the stage.”

We’ve buried the real story. According to Wikipedia, McShay got his job at The War Room - since renamed Scouts Inc when ESPN bought them - because he was a CARNIE? Todd McShay was A CARNIE? A carnival worker? Guessing weights of patrons? Sadly, the story is untrue (man I love Wikipedia) but hilarious nonetheless.

McShay has been a shooting star at ESPN so I ask if there’s been any backlash from people who have been there for a long time? And what exactly is his relationship with Mel Kiper? Is his relationship with Kiper a Steve Young-Joe Montana situation or more of a two-back system (like MJ Drew and Fred Taylor), to borrow a football analogy?

“I view it, and I know Mel views it, as a two-back system. He’s told me, and he has no reason to lie to me, that he’s enjoyed it and he’s always wanted to have a second voice. We have a lot of fun with it, to be honest.

“Anyone who has a good friend who you are competitive with and you sit at a bar or on a couch in your living room, and you start talking about team or a player or politics or whatever it is that gets you fired up, you should understand the concept. It’s just two people with strong opinions going back and forth, but I promise you, when it’s over...it’s over. It’s not something that lingers. I can call Mel the second we get done doing a heated argument on TV and it’s not that we’re going to laugh about it because we were serious about it, but we can laugh about something else.

“I haven’t asked for it and I don’t think he necessarily planned on it, but he’s become a good mentor for me and he’s helped me navigate through what can be a very tricky situation when you’re young and building your career and trying to do some of the things that he’s gone through. So I look up to him. I appreciate him. I call him a friend and I know he calls me a friend and it’s been a good relationship.”

Rats. And he seems quite genuine too. First Simmons and Reilly (ahem) and now this. But we talk about how ESPN has created this rivalry with their edict that good TV has to include two guys on split screen yelling at each other. Does he feel like ESPN puts the two of them in too many of those situations?

Last, it’d be silly to have a Draft Guru on and not talk about the draft. So who won this year, and who will be the winner in three years when we look back?

It’s a very candid interview and I appreciate Todd allowing me to hector him so much about Mel. I’m sure he’s used to it by now.

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