It was on Cowherd's show where he claimed a scout reached out to him. Could he be lying? Sure. But my gut tells me he's not. I think John sort of dropped hints to it during his PC. ALso they've been below average draft wise until recently yet the league still views John as an elite GM. The league knows more about the other teams than we realize so why would they hold him in such high regard if the results haven't been great? Drafting was very average to below average, FA has been largley hit and miss too. I think it all fits together but it's also a complete guess.
Thanks. I found the Cowherd clip. He said that "John too often deferred to the coach." But it doesn't specify who wanted whom. What if it was Pete who wanted DK for example? Or are we to believe Pete only wanted the Colliers and Eskridges of the world? While all the good picks were on John?
We do know that Pete coveted fast and physical players, just like Al Davis did.
IMO, there was a disconnect between Pete's vision and the talent acquisition. Pete liked fast and physical players with chips on their shoulders - basically the LOB roster. He wanted a smashmouth type team, which is why he pestered John to get the Lynch deal done. It’s why he wanted ET over Taylor Mays. It’s why he wanted Bruce Irvin, when he was on no one else's first round draft board. Kam, was that a Pete or John pick?
But then in recent drafts, they drafted o-line that graded high pass blocking but not run blocking? And K9 is fast, but he’s not a physical back like a Najee Harris or Breece Hall.
And Waldron was pass happy during his time here. Were they going away from Pete’s vision of a smash mouth team to
get with the times? Did he allow Hurtt to bring in the Fangio scheme to get with the times, when he should have just stuck to what he knew best?
The 2023 team had no identity. Besides Spoon and DK, they were soft. I don’t know if that softness was John deferring to Pete or Pete deferring to John. Or most likely a combination thereof.
But we'll learn soon about what type of team John wants to build going forward.