Mel Kiper Jr. officially lost it on ESPN when Shedeur Sanders was finally picked by the Browns. The biggest icon of NFL Draft coverage went on a tirade, slamming teams for being idiots when it came to evaluating quarterbacks — with Kiper being a big fan of Sanders out of Colorado.
“The NFL has been clueless for 50 years when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks. Clueless. They have no idea what they’re doing in terms of evaluating quarterbacks. That’s proof. There’s proof. “We know exactly what we’re doing with quarterbacks” … they don’t.”
On the one hand Kiper isn’t wrong. Teams have been botching the quarterback position since the NFL Draft started. It’s not just the infamous stories like JaMarcus Russell or Ryan Leaf that prove this either, but things like Drew Brees falling to the second round, Joe Montana being a third round pick, or Tom Brady in the sixth. There’s a history here of not just picking busts, but letting some of the best players ever fall when they never should have.
The draft has always been an imprecise science. Correctly projecting a player is damn-near impossible because it encompasses college ability, work ethic, team fit, and offensive tendencies — then you need to roll all that up into an organization’s stability, including whether or not they’re on the verge of a coaching change.
Personally, I agree with Mel when it comes to Shedeur Sanders. I get the criticism, but it was ridiculous to see him come off the board after Tyler Shough or Dillon Gabriel. That said, as angry as Mel got, he’s had some MASSIVE stinkers when it comes to projecting QBs as well.
Mel Kiper should have retired in 2018 over Jimmy Clausen
It feels ancient now, but back in 2010 Kiper staked everything on Jimmy Clausen. He slammed teams for passing on Clausen in the first round, vowing that he would become a top 10 quarterback in the NFL. A fresh-faced Todd McShay asked Kiper how long before the bet would mature, at which point Kiper said “give me eight years.”
Clausen was out of the NFL by 2015. Over the course of his six year career he played in 22 games.
The other Notre Dame QB blunder
This one doesn’t make nearly as many “worst of” lists when it comes to Mel Kiper Jr. draft takes, but in 2007 he was utterly mystified that the Detroit Lions took Calvin Johnson with the No. 2 overall pick.
More critically he was hellbent that the Lions should have taken Brady Quinn with the second pick, solidifying themselves at quarterback. Megatron went on to be one of the best receivers in NFL history, while Quinn — well, he’s one of a long list of failed Cleveland QBs.
That time Jamarcus Russell was compared to John Elway
I’d call this a turning point for Mel. In 2007 when the Oakland Raiders took Jamarcus Russell with the No. 1 overall pick Kiper made an infamous comparison, saying Russell was the next John Elway.
The idea here was that Russell was a big-armed, gunslinging QB who could throw the ball a mile. The only issue is that playing the position like that didn’t translate to the NFL anymore, and the woeful inaccuracy made the former No. 1 pick a total liability at the QB position.
Mitch Trubisky: The next Matt Ryan
Kiper was all in on Trubisky in the 2017 NFL Draft. So much so that he said on air there was a massive gap between the eventual Bears bust and everyone else in that class. Kiper saw the QB out of North Carolina as the second coming off Matt Ryan, and his QB class SNAFU in 2017 was legendary,
Here were his QB projections that year:
- Mitch Trubisky: Top 3
- Deshone Kizer: Last 1st
- Deshaun Watson: Early 2nd
- Patrick Mahomes: Mid 2nd
Need we say more?
The incredible love affair with Ricky Stanzi
A lot is made of Kiper infamously saying the Panthers should take Blaine Gabbert over Cam Newton in the 2011 NFL Draft, but it was his love of Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi that was even more confusing.
Kiper compared Stanzi to Tom Brady, saying he would go on to have the best career of any of the QBs taken. This was the same draft class that had Newton, Andy Dalton. Colin Kaepernick, and Tyrod Taylor.
