Dan Patrick (3:33)
Yeah, that's a great point. Stat of the Day brought to you by Panini America, the official trading cards of the program. And pick up some T shirts@dan patrick.com including the backroom guys have their own T shirt. All their names are on the T shirt. And Hughes, your daddy, the T shirt available from the Olympics@danpatrick.com we will update the poll results. New poll question coming up. And you know the interesting part with the combine is somebody is going to make a name for themselves. Somebody's going to move into the first round. Maybe a couple players will move into the first round. And this is what I always find interesting. You watch tape and tape. You can't lie. It's I'm watching it. I see it with my own eyes instead of I'm watching you at the combine now I'm imagining you playing football. So it's different. I see this proof of concept right there in front of me, too. Oh my gosh. And this goes back to Zach Wilson. If you saw the tape at byu, all right, you saw there was talent there. But I only saw it for one year and I don't want a one year wonder. And then you saw the pro day. Oh my gosh. Did you see what he just did? He rolled left and there's no defenders and he threw back right and he threw it 60 yards. It's nice, but it doesn't mean anything. And I think we get caught up in who can jump the highest, run the fastest, who throws the hardest, all of these things. There are certain players in the history of the sport and if I looked at them at the combine, I wouldn't have drafted them. But when you see them on the football field and you go, how did I not see this? I go back to Two players. Steve Largent. I saw Steve play in college and I thought, boy, that guy catches a lot of balls. I didn't think he could play in the NFL. He's a Hall of Famer. And then Jerry Rice, when I first saw him highlights at the combine, I go, I don't know if he can play. He wasn't fast. And then you see him on the football field and he, he's football fast. Now, Steve Larget wasn't football fast. He was football quick. He was unbelievable in running routes and so was Jerry. But you're, you're sometimes caught up in, oh my God, like the three cone drill doesn't mean anything to me. Really. The 40 doesn't mean anything to me. How often do you run 40 yards? Not very often. And the fact that the 40 yard dash was invented by the great coach Paul Brown because a punt was around 40 yards, he wanted to know who was going to get down there on punt coverage. So we came up with a 40 yard dash. I'm more concerned with where you are in, in a, in a five yard window, a ten yard window, because those are real. That's real. Getting off the line of scrimmage and there's certain players where you go, that guy can't miss to the other guy. Where you go, he can't make it. And you're trying to sort through personality traits. And I always say, and I was told this, and I was told this because it actually came true when, you know, my source said, you know, with Ryan Leaf, he talked to people who were around Ryan Leaf when he was at Washington State and he, it was advising a team not to take him. Now, of course he goes second to the Chargers, but you do the background check. Does the guy, you know, is he well liked? Does he love playing? Does he show up early? Is he, you know, a, a true teammate? Is he difficult to coach? Well, that's where you find out your information, the information that he needed because the traits were there. Ryan had incredible talent, probably more talent than Peyton. Big guy, mobile guy, you know, strong arm. All of that played well in the Rose Bowl. But you're still, you're investing, you're investing all of this money or event, eventually investing to $250 million. And you gotta know who that person is. And it's a person, it's not just a player. You know, Fernando Mendoza seems safe. Do I think he's great? I don't think he's great, but he's safe. And that's, you know, when people heard me say this, they're like, why would you make the comparison? If Fernando Mendoza had a Joe Flacco career, would you be satisfied? And I said, yes. Joe Flacco had a really good career. He won a Super Bowl. We, we think the next guy is John Elway. We think the next guy's Tom Brady. They're not. I mean, those players come along, but it's. He would be the fourth quarterback drafted, maybe the fifth quarterback drafted if we go back a couple of years ago. But this year he stands out. Was he, you know, big and big moments. Absolutely. But I think if you're thinking that he's changing the game or he's going to be something, I mean, he's not Josh Allen, he's not Joe Burrow, not Lamar Jackson, he's not Mahomes. But maybe somewhere in that, you know, if you're in that area code, you'll take that. But he might be in that next level down and he's playing for the Raiders. I don't know what you're going to have there. Offensive line, got a new coach in there. Is Ashton Genti going to be a great player? Are you going to trade your best defensive player? Brock Bowers comes back. So there's a lot of questions there, but you got the safest pick probably in the draft. But if you're. My bar is higher. You know, when I look at these quarterbacks that you want them to be difference makers. I don't want you to be a game manager. And, and he may turn out to be that way. I mean, Joe Flacco wasn't the guy that you were gonna scheme against. But Joe Burrow was great in the playoffs, or I should say Joe Flacco was great in the playoffs and he won a Super Bowl. And I think that's the important part. Do we have somebody we can plug in for the next 10 years, 12 years? And if the Raiders have found that quarterback, good for them, because that's. Arizona thought they had their quarterback with Kyler Murray. Miami thought they had their quarterback. I mean, truly thought, and they invested in them. That's why it is really tricky. It's. It's still and always will be an inexact science because it's coach, gm, offensive coordinator, offensive line, who do you have, skill, position, how tough is your division? Like all of these things, you got to factor these things in. It's not just, hey, we're going to draft this guy and we're going to let him play. Well, it seems like, you know, these guys, GMs are giving you two years, maybe, maybe three at the most. I mean, Josh Rosen didn't even get that. Will Levis, Malik Willis, they move on quickly, which is amazing. The most important position in all of sports. And we have one good quarterback who is in this year's draft, maybe two in Ty Simpson. So the most important, well paid position in all of sports and you got one quarterback who is a first round, guaranteed first round. I don't know if Ty Simpson is. He might be out of, you know, by. By necessity, by default, but that's what I find amazing. There's always running backs, there's always wide receivers, there's always edge rushers. You got one quarterback. Yes, Marvin.
