It's almost criminal that the famous "Who is Mel Kiper!" rant from one-time Colts VP of Football Operations Bill Tobin is not on YouTube. As a longtime Colts fan, I have strong memories of the 1995 NFL Draft, watching Tobin rip Kiper upwards and downwards during a candid interview. Tobin insulted everything from Kiper's resume to damn near his manhood.
After the first day of the 2010 NFL Draft, there was no bigger first round bust than ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.
Amazingly, Kiper has used that famous smack-down to his advantage, becoming the figurehead in a rather lucrative “mock draft” business. Prior to Kiper, fans and media did not hold annual mock drafts. They didn’t grade prospects and scout athletes in an effort to place them on their own, private “big boards.” They certainly didn’t make websites (like this one) dedicated to college talent evaluation. Kiper, in many ways, was the driving force behind this mock draft movement that we all know and love.
However, make no mistake about it, last night I got the sense that, somewhere, Bill Tobin was sitting back and having a good laugh at Kiper’s expense. The reason Tobin is probably smiling right now is that after Round One, no one looked more like a draft day bust than Mel Kiper Jr., who has spent the last six months telling everyone with two ears that Jimmy Clausen was a first round quarterback:
Clausen and Bradford are in the top group [of quarterbacks].
...
I think [Clausen] has a chance to be great. His accuracy is outstanding. His leadership is exceptional. People keep questioning his size and I don’t understand why. What’s wrong with 6-2.5, 220. That’s ideal size. In addition to that, his arm strength is above average. Some have said he’s maxed out physically. I don’t understand that. His arm strength will improve once he gets to the NFL. That’s been proven. He’s tough. He played with the flu and the toe injury. He played with a team that didn’t have a great supporting cast. The defense was awful. He had four games where he won on the final drive.
Kiper’s employer, ESPN, has enjoyed throwing him and his nemesis, Todd McShay, into the “Draft Ring of Death” every day on SportsCenter, with both men seemingly at each other’s throats over the subject of Clausen.
Earlier today on ESPN, McShay and Kiper were making “bold predictions” for the 2010 draft and, they both focused on Clausen’s status.
Said Kiper, “If Clausen’s not a successful starting quarterback in the NFL, I’m done.”
McShay then said that Clausen will not go in the top 10 picks.
“I’ll take that,” Kiper said. “I’ll take that one right there.”
So there it is. If Clausen is taken in the top 10, Kiper wins. If he isn’t McShay wins.
Clausen most certainly was not drafted in the top 10. In fact, he was passed over by all 32 teams last night, including quarterback starved Buffalo, Cleveland, and Minnesota (who traded out of the first round at pick #30... ouch!). It’s important to note that Gary Wichard, Clausen’s agent, is a long-time buddy of Kiper’s. Just throwing that out there.
Now, in Kiper's defense, no one could foresee the Chargers, Jaguars, and Bills making the awful first day picks that they did. C.J. Spiller to the Bills at #9 started a cascade of stupidity that did not stop until the Eagles traded up with the 49ers and took Michigan's Brandon Graham at pick #13. As folks like Gregg Rosenthal and Michael David Smith are telling us this morning, teams like the Chiefs and Seahawks thought about taking Clausen early. However, for a team like the Seahawks, who picked at 14 following the disaster that was picks 9-12, they simply could not dismiss Earl Thomas just sitting there.
But, the facts are undeniable. Kiper totally hitched his credibility wagon to Clausen last night, and the kid was passed over by, literally, everyone.
“Who is Mel Kiper?” Mel Kiper is the guy with egg on his face as the second round of the 75th NFL Draft begins today.
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