POLL: The Most OVER-HYPED "Steal" Rookie Who Didn't Do Squat???

[eaterfan]

Who was the Canadian DL who was supposed to be an absolute monster physically but needed time to develop and never did? Vaughn Martin? I thought he was going to be big time.

[Topcat]

Who was the Canadian DL who was supposed to be an absolute monster physically but needed time to develop and never did? Vaughn Martin? I thought he was going to be big time.

Martin was a project from the get go, and after giving it a few seasons, just never cut the mustard...

[Ghost of Quacksaw]

Martin was a project from the get go, and after giving it a few seasons, just never cut the mustard...

On the bright side, Martin was more productive either than Craig Mager or Jonas Mouton, each of whom was drafted in an earlier round than Martin was. (4th).

[dmac_bolt]

Who was the Canadian DL who was supposed to be an absolute monster physically but needed time to develop and never did? Vaughn Martin? I thought he was going to be big time.

His premature legend was cemented in the forums after that video of him blowing up a 160 lb asst coach holding a blocking pad. Lol. If he could have gone against 160 lb asst coaches in NFL games, he would have been HOF. lol, good times.

[dmac_bolt]

Let's not forget this about Te'o

"Te'o is one of the most decorated defensive players in college football history. He won the 2012 Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year Lott Trophy, as well as the Maxwell Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Butkus Award, the Lombardi Award, and the Walter Camp Award. In addition, he was named a national scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation.^[24] One of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy"*

We are all so much smarter and more witty...critiquing things after the fact. Would you have drafted him at pick 38 with this resume, anchoring an undefeated team that gave up 10 points a game? (This, before all the analytics we have now?)

*Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manti_Te%27o

I didn’t want him in any round after watching the Bama game. Unspectacular is a monumental understatement. He got ran around, ran over, and ran thru the entire game.

[Guest]

Let's not forget this about Te'o

"Te'o is one of the most decorated defensive players in college football history. He won the 2012 Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year Lott Trophy, as well as the Maxwell Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Butkus Award, the Lombardi Award, and the Walter Camp Award. In addition, he was named a national scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation.^[24] One of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy"*

We are all so much smarter and more witty...critiquing things after the fact. Would you have drafted him at pick 38 with this resume, anchoring an undefeated team that gave up 10 points a game? (This, before all the analytics we have now?)

*Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manti_Te%27o

I was critical of the Te'o pick when it was made. Again, all of the following pieces of information were 100% obvious. Te'o struggled against Alabama, the team with the most NFL caliber athletes at the time. His lack of athleticism was demonstrated at the combine. He was incredibly slow. John Harbaugh was literally shaking his head after watching Te'o run. That was one of the most, if not the most memorable event that happened at the combine that year. So he was clearly a faller and many had him as a second round guy. (No credit is given to anyone that had him as a late riser. He had a terrible end of his college career and was terrible at the combine. What intervening event changed that? Answer--none.)

At the draft, we traded with Arizona. Arizona desperately needed an ILB and could have drafted Te'o, but they gave the universal "we don't want him" signal by trading away from him and letting us draft him. There were 4 similarly situated ILB prospects and all of them were on the board. We were set to select at #45 and all 4 were still on the board at #38. The trade up was beyond stupid in that situation. Of course, one of those ILBs was going to fall to us. Not every team needed an ILB. (In fact, none ended up selecting one from #39-#44, and while Telesco would not have known that fact with absolute certainty, he should have been able to tell what those teams needed and should have ruled out all or almost all of those teams.)

Again, except where specified to the contrary, all of the above information was known to Telesco before the draft and at the time of the draft. There is zero hindsight involved and you are just wrong if you think to the contrary.

[Guest]

I didn’t want him in any round after watching the Bama game. Unspectacular is a monumental understatement. He got ran around, ran over, and ran thru the entire game.

Exactly right. It was as plain as day obvious that he was not an elite athlete worthy of a second round trade up.

[Topcat]

I was critical of the Te'o pick when it was made. Again, all of the following pieces of information were 100% obvious. Te'o struggled against Alabama, the team with the most NFL caliber athletes at the time. His lack of athleticism was demonstrated at the combine. He was incredibly slow. John Harbaugh was literally shaking his head after watching Te'o run. That was one of the most, if not the most memorable event that happened at the combine that year. So he was clearly a faller and many had him as a second round guy. (No credit is given to anyone that had him as a late riser. He had a terrible end of his college career and was terrible at the combine. What intervening event changed that? Answer--none.)

At the draft, we traded with Arizona. Arizona desperately needed an ILB and could have drafted Te'o, but they gave the universal "we don't want him" signal by trading away from him and letting us draft him. There were 4 similarly situated ILB prospects and all of them were on the board. We were set to select at #45 and all 4 were still on the board at #38. The trade up was beyond stupid in that situation. Of course, one of those ILBs was going to fall to us. Not every team needed an ILB. (In fact, none ended up selecting one from #39-#44, and while Telesco would not have known that fact with absolute certainty, he should have been able to tell what those teams needed and should have ruled out all or almost all of those teams.)

Again, except where specified to the contrary, all of the above information was known to Telesco before the draft and at the time of the draft. There is zero hindsight involved and you are just wrong if you think to the contrary.

Look who we could have had in that 2013 draft at that #45 pick, without even trading up:

2013 draft.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_NFL_Draft

[Boltjolt]

Look who we could have had in that 2013 draft at that #45 pick, without even trading up:

2013 draft.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_NFL_Draft

I was a big fan of Jaime Collins coming out that year and mocked him to us often and I also liked Carradine who ended up a bust.

Also liked Minter who the Cards ended up drafting.

[DragonIce]

Again, except where specified to the contrary, all of the above information was known to Telesco before the draft and at the time of the draft. There is zero hindsight involved and you are just wrong if you think to the contrary.

I left the Cowboys forum, only to find a big guy with a holster and a big gun on a Chargers, forum, LOL. This is about the fifth time on this forum I see you looking for a piss'n contest w/big ass dogmatism.

I have no horse in the race, the quote and link are there for anyone to read.


Again for those joining late. This from *after* the bowl game and *after* the combine. His poor bowl game and 40 time were factored.

four out of the five draft analysts -- NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, ESPN's Todd McShay, SBNation.com's Matthew Fairburn, and CBSSports.com's draft insider Rob Rang -- reviewed this week have Te'o being selected in the first round.

Source: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/m...-of-manti-teo/

The facts are: lots of NFL folk liked the player, warts and all. Argue the point with Jeremiah and McShay, I don't really give a damn. Its ancient history.

[powderblueboy]

Look who we could have had in that 2013 draft at that #45 pick, without even trading up:

2013 draft.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_NFL_Draft

They already had Gates, Ryan Mathews & had just drafted Kendell Reyes & Corey Liuget in 2012.

That only leaves Jamie Collins.

I'm pretty certain someone at a charger forum was banging the table for Collins.

[Guest]

I left the Cowboys forum, only to find a big guy with a holster and a big gun on a Chargers, forum, LOL. This is about the fifth time on this forum I see you looking for a piss'n contest w/big ass dogmatism.

I have no horse in the race, the quote and link are there for anyone to read.


Again for those joining late. This from *after* the bowl game and *after* the combine. His poor bowl game and 40 time were factored.


Source: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/m...-of-manti-teo/

The facts are: lots of NFL folk liked the player, warts and all. Argue the point with Jeremiah and McShay, I don't really give a damn. Its ancient history.

First, nobody is going after you personally, so please do not think that. I apologize to the extent you took my disagreement with your stated position to be anything other than just that.

To be perfectly clear, I appreciate your posts even when I disagree with them and I am glad that you have chosen to become part of this forum. I like that you are here. And in numerous other instances, I agree with your takes.

My intent was to simply challenge your assertion that the criticism of the Te'o trade was somehow based on hindsight. Many people, including myself, thought that trade was awful the moment it was made. There was nothing of a hindsight nature about my opinion and the similar opinion of many others.

Given your own stated history (migrating from following the Cowboys to following the Chargers), I can see how someone that was not following the Chargers closely at that time might not have had their finger on the pulse of what Chargers fans were thinking at that time.

I also do not want to misrepresent what I recall the general mood of fans being then. While there were a good number of people that did not like the pick, there were also a good number of people that did like the pick.

But Manti really did fall short in pretty much the exact way that some of us thought he would.

Now, plenty of other times I have been dead, dead, dead wrong about draft picks. It just happened that Te'o was not one of those times.